FIRST OFF . . .

About 400 Californians are expected to converge on the Capitol in Sacramento on Wednesday to lobby the Legislature and Gov. George Deukmejian for more money for the arts. The occasion, Arts Day, is sponsored by the California Confederation of the Arts, an advocacy organization. The confederation wants to raise the state’s current $14.6-million arts budget by $5.5 million. The governor has proposed a $1.1-million increase. Deukmejian has been invited to an Arts Day reception, but, confederation director Susan Hoffman said that, like last year, the governor won’t be attending: “Apparently he had other things on his schedule.”