Irvine’s Korn, Manager of Cultural Affairs, Resigns. : Arts: The official will become executive director of a New York facility after the City Council voted to eliminate his position.

IRVINE — Henry Korn, cultural affairs manager for the city of Irvine, has resigned to become executive director of an arts complex in Long Island, N.Y. He will assume the new position in early September.

Korn said Wednesday that he accepted the post as head of the Guild Hall Museum and John Drew Theatre in East Hampton because it is a “wonderful opportunity” and because the Irvine City Council voted last month to eliminate the jobs of Korn and his secretary for a savings of roughly $160,000, according to city officials.

Korn, 47, was hired in 1990 to manage the city’s Cultural Affairs Commission, which was eliminated in the fall for a savings of $11,768.

He helped the city secure grants for art and cultural programs, and, among other endeavors, he created the Irvine Arts Festival, which drew about 4,000 to some 25 events last April.

The Guild Hall complex, which consists of a 400-seat theater, four art galleries, an arts education center and a library, is “in the heart of the Long Island art colony and is on the verge of a period of growth and expansion,” Korn said.

In his new post, he will be earning more than $100,000, his salary and benefits package in Irvine, but not more than $125,000, he said.

The Irvine City Council last month also voted to set aside a one-time allotment of $100,000 toward the formation of a new nonprofit local arts agency that would become solely reliant on private funding over the next few years.

The new agency could be formed by an existing organization, such as Art Spaces Irvine, which raises funds for public art works in the city, or any group of arts supporters who attain nonprofit status.

While the city will continue to fund the Irvine Fine Arts Center (receiving more than $1 million for the 1993-94 fiscal year) and the Irvine Barclay Theatre (receiving $425,000), other arts activities “cannot depend upon the city” for funding because of budget constraints aggravated by continual reductions in the money it gets from the state, Mayor Michael Ward said Wednesday.

Michael D. Ray, Art Spaces Irvine president, said his board will vote next week on whether to seek to become the city’s new local arts agency, a move he supports.

He said he hopes the city in the future “will see fit to become a major donor to an arts agency” instead of privatizing such support.

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For now, Pat Fierro, manager of Irvine’s Community Services Department, will take over Korn’s responsibilities, city officials said.

The City Council eliminated 33 positions when it passed its 1993-94 budget of $63 million last month.

Before coming to Irvine, Korn was director of the Santa Monica Arts Commission and Foundation for four years, helping that city install 15 public sculptures and raise $250,000 from businesses.

Before that, the native New Yorker ran a local arts agency in New York City and was administrator of the city’s Jewish Museum.