Arts Center to Step up Security

Jerry Mandel, president of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, has hired a security consultant for the 3,500-seat venue following the recent terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. “We are taking this very seriously,” he said. Mandel said he hopes to have a report prepared in two weeks.

* The Cypress Recreation and Park District will sponsor a free benefit concert Friday for the New York City Police/Fire Widows and Orphans Fund. Donations will be collected at the concert “Let Freedom Sing, Celebrating America,” which will feature the 40th Infantry Band, the Cypress Interfaith Choir and the Cypress Masterworks Chorale. The concert starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Civic Center Green, 5275 Orange Ave. Information: (714) 229-6780.

* Video artist Jem Cohen’s “This is a History of New York” will replace the video installation of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s “Helicopter Quartet,” Oct. 6 through Jan. 6 at the Orange County Museum of Art, 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach. The Stockhausen video was canceled because it was being remixed and could not be ready in time.

Cohen’s “History of New York” constructs a fictional landscape of the city from prehistory to the Space Age. The 1987 work lasts 22 minutes. The museum is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. $5.