O.C., Alaska Arts Scenes Compared

When Tom Tomlinson arrives in October to take over directorship of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, he will find a community and an arts scene in some ways very similar to, and in other ways quite different from, what he is leaving in Anchorage, Alaska.

Both communities are conservative to begin with, both are suffering economic downturns after periods of great prosperity, and both are relative newcomers when it comes to utilizing and supporting performing arts centers.

The biggest difference may be that, while the Orange County center was built and is operated with private money, the center in Alaska was built by the city and depends on public funds. Tomlinson--unlike Thomas R. Kendrick, the man he is replacing--has been an unabashed advocate of government funding for the arts.

While both Tomlinson and Kendrick seem to prefer presenting dance and Broadway musicals, Tomlinson has supported some controversial programming, something Kendrick assiduously has avoided. Even Tomlinson’s definition of “mainstream” evidently is broader than Kendrick’s, encompassing comedy and popular music, areas Kendrick generally has deemed inappropriate for the Orange County hall.