ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

AWARDS

Positive Images: The Media Action Network for Asian Americans honors four works and the people behind them at its sixth annual Media Achievement Awards dinner Sunday night. Cited for contributing to the advancement of positive images for Asian Americans are: Pam Coats, the producer of Disney’s animated feature “Mulan”; Carlton Cuse, Andre Morgan and Stanley Tong, creators and executive producers of CBS’ “Martial Law”; Eric Michael Zee’s play “Exit the Dragon”; and Jeff Yang, founder and publisher of A magazine. The fund-raising event will be held at Gourmet Carousel restaurant in Los Angeles’ Chinatown.

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UCLA Honors: Composer and pianist Philip Glass will be the recipient of this year’s UCLA Performing Arts Award for Artistic Excellence. The presentation will occur in conjunction with the return of “Monsters of Grace 4.0” at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Tuesday at 8 p.m. The Artistic Excellence Award program was created to recognize outstanding individual achievements in the performing arts. “UCLA Performing Arts has a relationship with Philip Glass that is unique in its scope,” said Michael Blachly, director of UCLA Performing Arts. “For the past 10 years, we have been involved as a commissioner or as a presenter of many diverse Glass works.” Past recipients of the award include Marcel Marceau, Alvin Ailey, Mstislav Rostropovich, Kiri Te Kanawa and Bella Lewitzky.

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Of Genesis and the Ark: “Mighty Joe Young,” “Spin City,” “The Practice,” “Dateline NBC” and “Rugrats” are among the 21 winners of the 13th annual Genesis Awards. The Ark Trust Inc., a nonprofit animal protection organization, recognizes members of the news and entertainment media for “spotlighting animal issues with courage, creativity and integrity.” The winners will be honored tonight at the Beverly Hilton in a ceremony hosted by Montel Williams, whose talk show is one of the honorees, and Faith Ford, who has the title role in CBS’ “Maggie Winters.” “In our 13th year, we are truly inspired by the caliber of work being produced by these courageous members of the news and entertainment media,” said Ark Trust founder and President Gretchen Wyler.

TELEVISION

‘Voz y Voto’: Responding to a need for information on the laws, issues and political leaders in Southern California, Spanish-language KMEX-TV will debut a weekly half-hour community-affairs show at 11:30 a.m. today. Hosted by veteran KMEX reporter Rosa Maria Villalpando and Sacramento-based political commentator Armando Enrique Botello of the newspaper La Opinion, “Voz y Voto” (Voice and Vote) will provide viewers with “comprehensive information on the individuals and legislation that will impact their daily lives during the coming local, state and national elections,” according to KMEX general manager Augustine Martinez.

MUSIC

Bronze for Parker: Nearly 45 years after his death, jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker is finally being embraced by his hometown. A bronze sculpture of Parker is being unveiled today in the historic 18th & Vine district in Kansas City, Mo., where Parker’s saxophone wailed into the wee hours as he helped develop bebop in the 1940s. Musicians, jazz scholars and Parker family members are also gathering to pay tribute to Parker, who was born in bordering Kansas City, Kan. He died in New York in 1955 at age 34.

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Hot Accordions: They pushed. They pulled. They squeezed. One of them leaped off the stage and one rapped. But one thing none of the accordionists did was squeeze out “Lady of Spain.” These were hot accordionists, after all, and that would have been lukewarm at best. When all was said and done at the Welk Resort in Branson, Mo., on Thursday, the winner and “America’s hottest accordionist” was Dwayne Dopsie--the youngest son of Rockin’ Dopsie Sr., the late “king of zydeco.” The 20-year-old Dopsie blasted out an original composition called “I’ve Had My Fun. If I Don’t Get Well, Oh Well!” “I always wanted to do things he didn’t do,” the accordionist said of his father.

QUICK TAKES

“Star Wars” director George Lucas has donated $1.5 million to create a new digital studio at USC’s School of Cinema-Television, his alma mater. The facility, to be located in the school’s soon-to-be-constructed Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts, will be named for the late Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, whom Lucas called “one of film’s true greats.” . . . Johnny Carson was doing well a week after quadruple bypass surgery, a spokeswoman for St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica said Friday. Doctors expect the 73-year-old former “Tonight Show” host to recover fully, but he is expected to remain hospitalized through the weekend. . . . Sir Ian McKellen, who did not win an Oscar for his role in “Gods and Monsters,” arrived at the British premiere of his movie Thursday night with Monica Lewinsky, who was back in London on her book tour. They met at a post-Oscar party. . . . Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell’s solo debut album is due in stores this summer, with the Capitol Records release’s first single, “Look at Me,” set to reach radio stations on May 17. . . . Swing and big band music station KLAC-AM (570) puts Gary Thompson in afternoon drive from 2 to 7 p.m. beginning Monday. He replaces Johnny Magnus, who becomes the station’s main weekend personality. . . . Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan will be the guest host with Roger Ebert on this Sunday’s “Siskel & Ebert,” airing at 6:30 p.m. on KABC-TV.