In an effort to expand community awareness of the need for a Central O'ahu arts complex, the second annual A Night of the Arts fund-raiser, on Saturday at the Mililani Golf Course, will offer attendees an opportunity to share a dream while nibbling on food and soaking in some entertainment.

"This is a community effort," said Edmund Aczon, president of the projected O'ahu Arts Center, which someday may become a wellspring of creative talent. For now, it's mostly a two-phase dream that will include an arts education center in the first phase and a performing arts theater, with seating for 750 to 1,000, in the second.

A nonprofit organization, the O'ahu Arts Center was organized in August 2002 and the group hopes to break ground by 2010, after financing and detailed plans are defined.

"It's still a way off, but we are looking to kick off the arts center on three acres of land made available by Castle & Cooke Homes Hawai'i, the developer of Mililani," said Aczon.

The site would need its own exit ramp off H-2, beyond the Mililani Mauka exit, on the mauka side of the freeway, and would serve the Central O'ahu sectors of Waikele, Waipahu, Mililani, Wai'anae, Wahiawa and up to the North Shore, said Aczon.

The center will come at a hefty price tag, still too early to identify. Initial estimates range from $8 million to $12 million for the center offices and classes, another $12 million for a stage complex.

Saturday's benefit will include restaurant and dessert vendors such as Roy's at Ko Olina, John Dominis, Haleiwa Eats, Jimmy's Lakeside Bakery Cafe, McDonald's, Shanghai Bistro, Big City Diner, Chili's Bar & Grill, Mililani Golf Course Restaurant and Sam Choy's Breakfast, Lunch & Crab. Beverage providers such as Anheuser Busch, Coca-Cola, Paradise Beverages and M&S Brokerage are also participating, with entertainment by Jordan Segundo, Rolando Sanchez & Salsa Hawaii and community groups such as the Mililani High School Drum Line. Councilman Nestor Garcia will emcee.

Also, artist Daniel Wang, who is deaf, will exhibit his Lingnan-style paintings, which combine Chinese elements with Western and Japanese realism; prints will be available for purchase.

The organization needs to implement a capital fund-raising campaign to finance the arts center. The group is awaiting the release by Gov. Linda Lingle of a $200,000 legislative appropriation to help launch the design and begin formal planning.

Aczon said that down the line, the O'ahu Arts Center hopes to tap Mililani resident Jasmine Trias, who placed third in the 2004 "American Idol" contest, to help raise further awareness of the center's potential to help develop local talent.

Aczon, a Mililani resident, owns his own business, Aczon Construction, but he also is field representative for Central O'ahu for Sen. Daniel Inouye. It is in the latter capacity that he defined the prospects of creating an arts resource center at Mililani.

The O'ahu Arts Center is already a multipronged organization. It has staged a Mozart Festival, and plans to schedule another in 2006 to mark the composer's 250th birthday anniversary. A juried art show, Sept. 10-Nov. 5, will be held at the Honolulu Country Club art gallery; the theme is dreams, said Aczon.

A writing competition, open to students and adults, also will be held to continue to draw out and expose talent in a variety of disciplines in the community.

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.