Eclectic Orange to pause, slow down

The annual Eclectic Orange Festival will skip a beat, then slow its tempo. After five consecutive fall fests of stylistically diverse music, theater and dance condensed into six weeks, its organizer, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, has decided to forego a 2004 event and resume next winter, with festival events spread out over several months.

The next Eclectic Orange will run from February through June 2005, with dates and performers to be announced in September. By going slower, the festival can give audiences a better chance to sample more offerings and get a better taste of the artistic diversity Eclectic Orange aims to promote and underscore, said the society’s executive director, Dean Corey.

The Philharmonic Society also on Friday announced a return to fiscal balance for its overall operations in 2003-04. It spent $3.9 million and netted an unaudited surplus of $51,000. Contributions totaled $1.9 million.

The small surplus reverses deficits of $387,000 in 2001-02, attributed to sales declines following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and $164,000 in 2002-03, when a high-priced Eclectic Orange attraction, the French equestrian troupe Theatre Zingaro, failed to zing at the box office.