Personal Touch Becomes Art

Bye-bye, ballrooms. When it comes to fund-raising, arts organizations are heading for home.

The Newport Harbor Art Museum, Opera Pacific and the Laguna Art Museum all have instituted at-home party series to help supporters feel like family.

Let’s face it, says Patrick Flynn, managing director of Opera Pacific, “When you sit at a table for 10 in a ballroom you can really only talk to people on either side of you, and if there’s noise and music, sometimes you can even write that off.”

While the three organizations recognize the value of an all-out gala, there’s a trend toward wanting more intimacy, Flynn believes. Intimacy leads to real friendship--the cornerstone of every successful arts organization.

Last week, the Newport Harbor Art Museum kicked off its $150 per-person dinner series at the Emerald Bay home of developer Jim Baldwin and his wife, Nancy.

On the menu, besides Coquilles St. Jacques and rack of lamb, was the chance for approximately 40 museum supporters to ogle the Baldwin’s ethnic art collection and hobnob with new museum director Michael Botwinick.

Botwinick enjoyed himself so much that he thought the granite and teak-clad home--highlighted last year in Architectural Digest magazine--might work as a locale for the museum. “But, too bad, there’s not enough parking space up here,” he joked. “I like this night,” he added. “Orange County has beautiful taste.”

Next week, Marion and Jack Shea will stage a dinner party for museum supporters in their art-filled Palm Springs enclave. The stone and glass digs were created to house the Shea’s cache of contemporary art, featuring artists such as Diebenkorn, Robert Rauschenberg, Alexander Caulder, Frank Stella and Ellsworth Kelly.

Le Vallauris--the desert’s answer to Maxim’s--will cater the bash, which will unfold around the swimming pool, says Marion Shea. “A trio will play Cole Porter--that kind of thing,” she says. “I’m looking forward to it.” (This bash is such a hot ticket the museum added 10 seats and there’s still a waiting list.)

Joan Beall, a member of the Newport Harbor Art Museum’s board of trustees, will welcome fellow arts supporters into her Corona del Mar home in June for a Pacific Rim-themed dinner. Beall, wife of Rockwell International top gun Donald Beall, says the event will give supporters a chance to visit her new home. “We’ve been in Orange County less than a year,” she says. “This will be nice for us. We want to support the museum.”

When Charles Desmarais became the director of the Laguna Art Museum in 1988, he found its annual Perspectives dinner series a good way to meet members of the local arts community. “Our dinners are extremely popular,” Desmarais says. “We sell out every year.”

Not only do Laguna Art Museum supporters promote intimacy through their gatherings, they use them to pinpoint new friends for the museum--potential donors. “And they help us to identify new trustees,” Desmarais says. “The dinners are a feast for someone new to the community.”

Social Scoop: About 70 Orange County Performing Arts Center donors will enjoy a first on Thursday when developer Kathryn Thompson stages a dinner party in her Emerald Ridge home.

The very private Thompson avoids entertaining on a grand scale (unless, of course, its in a vast ballroom where she regularly oversees some of the county’s most prominent charity balls).

But, as co-chairman with Rick Muth of the Orange County Performing Art Center’s fifth anniversary gala in September, the arts philanthropist thought a poolside, sit-down dinner in her home would be a nice tribute to the people whose donations help make the Center possible.

During the party, donors will learn about the gala and have the first chance to buy tables for the event. According to Thompson, gala proceeds will be used to help underwrite the weeklong celebration in September.

The party marks another first--the debut of the Hyatt Regency Irvine as an off-site caterer at an arts function. “The dinner is going to be beautiful,” says Thompson, wife of developer Gus Owen. “The Hyatt is going full bore on the menu; they want to make a statement.”

Thompson, a Center board member, says the anniversary bash will be as glamorous as the one that marked the Center’s opening in 1986. “The community is going to have fun ,” she promises.

Among guests who plan to attend the Thursday night affair: Irvine Co. executive vice president Gary Hunt and his wife, Joanne; opera activist Richard Engel with his wife, Jolene; Don and Claudette Shaw; Glen and Dotti Stillwell; Elaine and Bill Redfield; Pat and Marvin Weiss; Tom and Marilyn Nielsen; and Tom and Joyce Tucker.

Angels of Gold: Don’t tell Angelitos de Oro there’s a recession going on. They wouldn’t believe it. On Friday, Anne Badham--president of the group that supports Big Brothers / Big Sisters of Orange County--presented a check for a whopping $130,000 to Jo Alexander, the organization’s director.

The presentation came during “Fashion Extravaganza V” at the Hyatt-Regency Hotel in Irvine. Fashion show producer Carlton Burnett pulled out the sartorial stops. On view: Sedate and wild silhouettes from international designers such as Peter Lai, Henry Hayag, Dinorah Dao, Celia Tjada and Barbara Ranr. Betsy Jaques was chairwoman. Maria Crutcher was the event’s honorary chairwoman. Over the past 30 years, Angelitos de Oro (angels of gold) has contributed more than $1.3 million to Big Brothers/Big Sisters, a nonprofit agency that coordinates programs to help children of single-parent homes.

Mardan Award: The Mardan Center of Educational Therapy honored Thomas R. Testman--a managing director of Ernst & Young--on Saturday night at the Hyatt Regency Irvine. Co-chairing the 14th annual event was burger mogul Carl Karcher and James Sweeney, chairman and CEO of McGaw Inc.

Testman was honored for his work on behalf of the Orange County community. Mardan, established in 1962, is a nonprofit school designed to assist students who are learning disabled. About $75,000 was raised.