COUNTY FIRMS GARNER 4 BUSINESS-ARTS AWARDS
Four Orange County recipients--the Fluor Foundation, C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, Mission Viejo Co. and Irvine Co.--are among seven California winners of the 1985 National Business in the Arts Awards, which are being presented today at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The other California-based honorees in the 19th annual awards program are the Atlantic Richfield Co. and Foundation of Los Angeles, BankAmerica Corp. of San Francisco and Nissan Motor Corp./USA of Carson.
The awards are presented annually by the National Business Committee for the Arts, which was founded by leading corporate figures to act as a liaison between arts organizations and businesses.
Overall, awards for outstanding support to the arts were given to 44 businesses or foundations from 18 states. The Irvine Co. and Nissan are first-time recipients.
“We’re delighted by the four Orange County awards--it’s the most yet for us. We believe this signifies the increased national recognition of what we’re doing for the arts in this area,” said Virgina Donohugh, assistant director of the Orange County Business Committee for the Arts, an 80-member organization modeled after the national body.
A winner for the fourth straight year, the Fluor Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Fluor Corp. of Irvine. The foundation, a major arts patron in the West and other regions, was cited for several programs, including one in which the company matches arts donations made by its employees. David Tappan Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Fluor, heads the Orange County Business Committee for the Arts.
The Segerstrom firm of Costa Mesa, recipient of a national award for the third year in a row, is a leading supporter of the Orange County Performing Arts Center. The firm also was recognized for its art in public places program, which commissions outdoor art for commercial developments, and for providing rent-free space in the South Coast Plaza Mall to the Laguna Beach Museum of Art.
This is the second consecutive award for the Mission Viejo Co., which has donated a site for a proposed county natural history museum. Harvey Stearn, a company senior vice president, is the first Orange County resident to be appointed to the California Arts Council, the agency that coordinates the state’s arts grants.
In winning its first national award, the Irvine Co. of Newport Beach was honored for several programs, including the Bren Events Center, a sports and cultural center being built at UC Irvine. The company was a major underwriter for two Olympic Arts Festival exhibits held in 1984 at the Newport Harbor Art Museum.
