Q & A : New Blood for Music Center

Madison Offenhauser, a 29- year-old real estate agent with a lot of nervous energy and good business connections, is the kind of donor/volunteer the Music Center would like to see more of. For it to survive and flourish in the decades to come, the center must encourage younger Angelenos with time and money to spend it on the Music Center.

Offenhauser, an agent with June Scott & Associates, has been involved with the center’s upcoming L.A. Alive! weekend of events that wrap up a year of fund raising. He’s been most closely involved with the Carnivale on June 1, which features Sergio Mendes Brasil ‘99, emcee Fritz Coleman, a lambada band, dancing, drinks and dinner--an event he hopes will draw a younger contingent to the Music Center. He’s also a member of the Music Center’s two-year-old, 25-member associate cabinet, a younger division of the regular cabinet, which guides the center’s fund raising. Members are required to contribute $10,000 over five years. Here Offenhauser talks about what it takes to get his peers involved in fund-raising.

Question: Does your generation feel an obligation to contribute time and money to support the arts and other charities?

Answer: I think everyone is starting to, and I think a reason is the way Los Angeles is evolving. Everywhere we turn there’s a new gallery or orchestra, and people are starting to attend things more. The more aware they are of what’s going on around them, the more they feel they want to give something back.

Also, I think they realize that if they keep going to all these things that Madison’s putting on, sooner or later they’re going to get the question, “Do you have your checkbook with you?” Seriously, that’s all part of it.

Q: Do organizations know that there is a relatively untapped resource of people in their 20s and 30s who can contribute to different groups--maybe not as much as their parents, but something nonetheless?

A: I think they’re beginning to realize it. But once you know the segment you want to target, you have to figure out how to draw it. Especially in my age group, from about 27 on, is when people are becoming more and more able to give money. I also think (the potential donors) are looking for a different type of social life. When you’re just out of college, you look for something, and once you get a bit older, the Roxy’s a little much. I started thinking, there’s obviously more than one other person in Los Angeles who feels the way I do. Where are they? And it’s amazing how fast these people band together.

Q: So what are groups going to have to do to lure more young people?

A: First, the events have to be . . . innovative. With our age group, we have fads and trends that we’re subjected to, and I think the events have to stay up with the times. They don’t have to be trendy, but something that’s going on right now. And you can’t do the same thing over and over again.

Hopefully, the people who get involved have a loyalty to the group, but also they’re doing it because they want to meet a lot of people, so there has to be a social angle. I don’t think at our age we’re ready to just give money.

And in Los Angeles, there are so many people who move into the city, and they ask, “L.A. is so huge, where is the center? How do you meet people?” Get involved in these groups. And it’s just a matter of letting everybody in Los Angeles know that these groups exist.

Q: Some people your age weren’t raised listening to classical music and have never seen a ballet or opera. How do you sell them on it?

A: Actually, the people who haven’t been exposed to it are usually the people who are most interested because they’re just curious, they want to see what it’s like. Some of those aren’t that familiar with what the Music Center has to offer; they think it’s just “Phantom of the Opera,” and they don’t know everything it’s got. But I think that’s changing.

Q: The Music Center is also competing with other causes wanting money, some very high-profile and linked with big-name stars like Sting, Bono and Ted Danson.

A: I think everybody’s competing with somebody, no matter what it is. All we want is to get enough people that truly care and are very loyal to the Music Center, and we seem to be very successful at that.

Q: Is it difficult to get people to volunteer their time as well as their money?

A: You have to realize that people want a lot of things to do, but there’s a point at which you have to stop. You can’t demand too much time. The best way to do it is be extremely organized and get people to do their part, but don’t ask them for an incredible amount of time. They’ll give as much as they can, but it’s really hard when you’re young and trying to get ahead--we can’t take days off. So a lot of things like meetings end up being at night or on the weekend.

Q: What got you involved with the Music Center?

A: I was involved with In the Wings (one of the Music Center’s social groups for young professionals) for a while, and I wanted to get more involved with the Music Center. Then I was brought in to help with the first L.A. Alive! event two years ago. I liked it so much I just kept doing it and got more and more involved, and then got involved with the associate cabinet and other arms of the Music Center. There are so many things that everybody wants to do in L.A., but they don’t know how to get involved. And actually, the Music Center is the easiest group to get into. It’s like a big family. It’s funny: I think a lot of people have this stigma about it that the people are very stuffy and it’s an older crowd that runs it, which isn’t true at all.