Film Showcases Local Culture, TV Potential

Hoping to plug local culture as well as the possibilities of community programming, the Arts Council of the Conejo Valley has filmed a segment at the Stagecoach Inn Museum in Newbury Park.

The segment features interviews with several Thousand Oaks residents about the area’s cultural activities, and it will appear on the monthly “Arts Scene” program featured on the city’s community access channel.

It will include a presentation by artist Terry Spehar-Fahcy, who teaches watercolor classes all year at the Edwin Janss Jr. Arts Council Center in Thousand Oaks. Members of her watercolor class will be painting in front of the museum’s barn, where hollyhocks are in full bloom.

Also taking advantage of the Stagecoach Inn flora will be Conejo Valley Garden Club members Lisa Cosand and Eunice Udelf, who will demonstrate various styles of flower arranging as well as the benefits of the gardening organization’s programs.

“The arts council is taking advantage of the availability of community access TV to acquaint residents with the wealth of cultural activities available in this community,” arts council board member Margaret Tavers said in a news release.

“We hope to show other groups, by our example, some of the possibilities for using the electronic media to benefit their programs.”

Through Thousand Oaks’ cable franchise agreement with Tele-Communications Inc., community access television is available to any resident or group with a noncommercial message at the company’s Westlake Village studio.

Training and certification to operate the cameras and other cable television equipment in the field is free.

For more information, call Thousand Oaks’ Media Services Office at 449-2120, or TCI public access coordinators Alan McDaniel or Peter Scovill at (818) 879-5993.