The city awarded $85,000 of its $100,000 endowment fund to provide financial support for artistic, recreational, sporting and educational events; the remaining $15,000 was reserved for unanticipated funding requests.

The Community Events Endowment Fund was established in 1985. Since then, the community funding review committee appointed by the City Council has studied requests and decided who gets the funds and how much they get. Applicants must demonstrate a financial need and prove that the requested funds will be matched.

This year, 54 applications sought $287,755 in funds. The committee recommended 48 event grants that came to $85,000. Of those, half were for arts and half for sports. On Nov. 18, the council unanimously approved the grants.

Big Brothers Big Sisters was given $3,500 for two concerts in May and June. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Conejo/Las Virgenes was given $1,000 for a Winter Showcase Film Festival in January. California Shakespeare Company will present Will Power Shakespeare Hour using a $2,800 grant. Kingsmen Shakespeare Company received $6,000 for the annual Shakespeare Festival at California Lutheran Festival. A Chinese New Year celebration in February will be presented by Conejo Chinese Association with the help of a $500 grant.

Conejo Civic Ballet received $3,000 for performances of "The Nutcracker" and "Snow White." Conejo Players also received $3,000 and will use it for a children's workshop. Conejo Youth Orchestra got $2,500 for a music festival and another $2,500 for winter and spring concerts. Moorpark Civic Ballet will perform "The Nutcracker" in Thousand Oaks at the Civic Arts Plaza with the help of $750 from the city.

The Scandinavian American Cultural Foundation received $3,000 to use for the Scandinavian Festival in April.

Conejo Schools Foundation got $2,000 for an alldistrict music festival. Conejo Valley Adult Education was awarded $3,500 for a children's concert series and $1,000 for a parent talk lecture series. Shows for Conejo Valley Unified School District kindergartners, first- and fifth-graders were given $3,000 for Performances to Grow On.

A grant for $1,000 was given to the Redwood Middle School Band. Thousand Oaks High School Band Boosters was awarded $1,500, and Newbury Park High School Choral Boosters was given $3,000 for the San Francisco Heritage Festival. Westlake High School Band Boosters got $3,060 for band competitions in San Francisco and Reno, Nev.

Newbury Park High School and Thousand Oaks High School were each awarded $4,000 for their Every 15 Minutes programs to prevent drunk driving. NPHS will hold its event in March. TOHS' was held earlier this month. The boys' basketball boosters at TOHS received $500 for a tournament in March, and the football boosters at TOHS got $1,000 for a golf tournament held in August.

Los Robles Master Chorale will perform at University Village thanks to a $1,000 grant. New West Symphony's music educators program got $3,000. The Oaks Chamber Singers received $500, and Village Voice Chorale was granted $2,000 for winter and spring concerts. The Youth Commission was given $1,500 for the Rock the Oaks concert in February.

A memory walk for the Alzheimer's Association was awarded $1,000. The American Red Cross received $500 for a cots, blankets and hugs event in February. Conejo Open Space Foundation's Education Trail Days program for fifth-graders was given a grant of $1,690.

Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club will have a field day emergency awareness event in June, for which organizers received $400. Conejo Botanic Garden's Matilija Poppy Festival was given $500. An award of $1,000 went to the Conejo Valley YMCA for this year's Turkey Day Dash.

Youth and Senior Congress events sponsored by the Conejo/ Las Virgenes Future Foundation got $1,500. The Discovery Center for Science and Technology got $1,000 for Super Science Sunday to be held in March. Equestrian Trails Inc. Corral 27 was given $300 for Day of the Horse.

Las Vegas Cool, held in October by Hospice of the Conejo, was given $1,500. The organization also received $500 for their December Tree of Life event.

Military Order of World Wars got $1,000 for their November Veterans Day ceremony. Many Mansions will have a 30th Anniversary Gala in May and was awarded $1,500 for the event. Oakbrook Chumash Interpretive Center's second annual Tribal PowWow was granted $1,000. An open house at Ride On in April received $500, as did a Hearts Club tournament sponsored by the Rotary Club of Thousand Oaks.

Thousand Oaks Girls Softball Association received a $1,000 grant for a Memorial Day tournament. Thousand Oaks Women's Club was given $500 for a fashion show in March. The Wellness Community was granted $2,000 for Cancer Survivor Day in June.

According to the committee, six applications were denied. Theater Experience of Southern California was not awarded because the productions are in Oxnard and do not benefit a wide section of Thousand Oaks. The Conejo Valley Genealogical Society's request was also deemed by the committee as not benefiting a wide cross section of the community and was denied.

Requests by the Assistance League of Conejo Valley, Rachel's Challenge Club of TOHS and FOOD Share were denied because the committee said they did not fall under the criteria of events. Maple Elementary fourth grade also requested money, but the committee said the program did not benefit a wide section of the community and was not an event.