Fund--Raiser’s Assessment : Long Haul Seen for Cultural Center

A professional fund-raiser told the San Fernando Valley Cultural Foundation Thursday night that the long-term future looks bright for an ambitious plan to build the Valley’s answer to the Music Center but that the project cannot be financed in the next five years as had been hoped.

John Kirkman of the San Francisco-based fund-raising firm of Jerold Panas & Partners Inc. said the $70-million fund-raising campaign required for the project is out of reach at the moment.

The foundation hopes to build a theater complex in Warner Center and an arts park and concert hall in the Sepulveda Basin.

In a report presented at a meeting of the foundation’s board of directors in Woodland Hills, Kirkman recommended that the foundation start with a scaled-down campaign to raise $12 million to $15 million.

Swift Action Urged

Kirkman recommended that the foundation almost immediately launch an annual campaign for $1 million, but said it would take up to 18 months for the major fund-raising campaign to be organized.

Kirkman said he has identified several individuals and businesses that he believes would make donations in the six- to seven-figure range.

Professional fund-raisers say, however, that a major campaign for donations cannot begin until 20% to 30% of its goal is already committed. By that standard, the foundation could not begin a $70-million campaign, Kirkman said.

Kirkman also noted that the potential donors he interviewed believe that the total cost will rise to more than $100 million before completion of the two projects, to be called Arts Park LA and Warner Performing Arts Square.

‘Your Case Is Compelling

“Your case is compelling and dramatic,” the fund-raiser said in his report. “The foundation has a story to tell which is unequaled in the greater Los Angeles area. More importantly, you have potential donor constituents who are ready and eager to hear this story and respond in a significant way.”

But Kirkman said the foundation has not done a good enough job in telling its story. He said potential donors are “generally unaware of the nature of your plan.”

Kirkman suggested that the foundation will need about 2,000 more supporters before it can start a fund-raising campaign. The group now is supported by about 150 people who make regular contributions.

“This response will be conditioned on your ability to communicate your case, dramatize the development of Arts Park LA and Warner Performing Arts Square and publicize the many contributions the foundation will ultimately make to the quality of life in the San Fernando Valley,” Kirkman said.

“It is our opinion that, if the foundation is content to proceed with the development plan over the next 10 years or so, the $70-million total objective is obtainable.”

The board took no action Thursday on the recommendation. But it did agree to hire a development director to try to expand the board and lay the foundation for the money-raising campaign, said Luke Bandle, the foundation’s general manager.

Several board members said recently that they had expected the disappointing news and were preparing to start a phased development of the cultural complex, beginning with inexpensive open-air performance stages and grass-seating areas in the Sepulveda Basin and Warner Center.

Kirkman’s report gave the board no reason to doubt that the ambitious cultural project can be completed later, and board members said they plan to carry it out, perhaps in the mid-1990s.

Kirkman said the corporate donors with whom he spoke agreed that the Valley needs public cultural facilities and endorsed the concept of building two separate arts centers.

But board members concurred with his assessment that the immediate prospect is limited.

Competition for money and audiences from other cultural projects as well as doubts among corporate donors about the Valley’s need for major theaters will limit the project for now, they said.

Kirkman’s findings were made public after Thursday’s meeting in a three-page summary of the 70-page report he handed to the board.

Much of the full report consists of a person-by-person analysis of the foundation’s current board, with suggestions on how it could be strengthened, Bandle said.

That information may become the basis for a “deep and dirty” re-examination of the organization of the board, Bandle said.

None of the report’s commentary on board members was made public.

Because the foundation is a private organization and receives no money from government, it is not required to conduct its business in public and has never done so.