Granting wishes for local artists with Arts Orange County

Bonnie Hall, executive director of Arts Orange County, announced

the organization’s 2002-03 grant recipients. This will be the fifth

year Arts Orange County has assisted deserving local groups, to date

providing nearly $400,000 in support.

The funding for the current round of grants is coming from

aviation giant Boeing Co. With its generosity, Arts Orange County

will be able to provide grants for 11 small and mid-sized arts

organizations.

Hall commented, “The funds are designed to help these

organizations take a leap forward administratively, artistically or

in developing their audience.”

Twenty-thousand dollars in funding will be divided among the

recipients, which include the All-American Boys Chorus; Anaheim

Museum; Broadway on Tour; California Choreographers Dance Festival;

Friends of Santa Ana Parks, Recreation and Community Services;

Huntington Beach Art Center; Muckenthaler Cultural Center; Orange

County Center for Contemporary Art; Placentia Founders Society; Rude

Guerrilla Productions; and South Coast Dance Arts Alliance.

A FRENCH OPEN

One of the most handsome couples on the California Riviera,

restaurateur David Wilhelm and his exquisite wife, Paula, a marketing

executive with Newport Beach’s Strada Properties, invited the crowd

to an open house at their bistro and champagne bar known as French 75

in Laguna Beach. The celebration, which unfolded on Bastille Day, was

the Wilhelms’ way of offering their thanks to the Newport-Mesa crowd

for four years of patronage.

At the open house, Gray Goose martinis flowed and French and

domestic wines were poured to complement the delectable hors

d’oeuvres that were passed by the white-gloved staff. The crowd

mingled from the intimate bistro onto the stone terrace, toasting

summer on the Orange Coast, renewing friendships and saluting Wilhelm

for his creativity and his standards of excellence.

A REEL SCREEN

Summer is really hot at the Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort. The

resort is screening movies right on the sand throughout the month of

August. The Newport-Mesa public is invited to bring their beach

chairs, along with the entire family of course, to enjoy the summer

evening and view some G-rated film entertainment projected on a giant

9-by-12-foot screen placed right on the sand.

The Movies on the Beach schedule will continue Friday with a

screening of “Snow Dogs.” On Saturday night, “Who Framed Roger

Rabbit” will take the Back Bay by storm. Then every Friday and

Saturday night throughout the month of August films will be shown on

the beach, with no admission charge other than parking.

General Manager Andrew Theodorou reports that guests are welcome

to take advantage of campfires on the beach for roasting marshmallows

and making s’mores.

SHAKESPEARE, ANYONE?

If Roger Rabbit doesn’t tickle your fancy, the Newport Beach Arts

and Cultural Services Foundation will present Shakespeare by the Sea

at Grant Howald Park on Aug. 11 in Corona del Mar. Shakespeare’s

“Much Ado About Nothing” will premiere at 6 p.m.

What a marvelous way to introduce your children to a classic

performance. The evening is free to the public. For more information

on the event, call (949) 717-3870.

A 20TH ANNIVERSARY

John and Cherie Morris will open their hilltop ocean-view estate

Sunday in observance of the 20th anniversary of the Alzheimer’s Assn.

of Orange County. The wine and hors d’oeuvres reception is set to

begin at 4 p.m.

Organizers will introduce Heidi Shurtleff, the new president and

chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Assn. of Orange County.

Linda Sheck, an advocate for those with Alzheimer’s disease,

shares: “We are truly in a race against time. Orange County is facing

a serious epidemic. By the middle of this century, some 140,000 of

today’s Orange County’s baby boomers will have Alzheimer’s disease.

For most of them, the process that will destroy their memories, their

lives and their savings has already begun. We can only avoid this

crisis if we begin to act now.”

* THE CROWD appears Thursdays and Saturdays.