Vanishing Acts : In Last 10 Years, Many Dance and Music Groups With Noble Visions Ran Smack Into Reality--and Failure

The Orange County Performing Arts Center recently reported a banner fund-raising year, and the Philharmonic Society of Orange County finished its season with a surplus of $1.9 million.

But while these organizations are thriving, at least a dozen other music and dance groups have dropped off the county map during the past 10 years (see related story, F2). Often founded by idealistic individuals without deep pockets, the fledgling groups ran into various obstacles, such as lack of money, audiences or suitable places to perform. And once the center opened in 1986, becoming the focal point of the performing arts scene, the competition for resources intensified. The meek could not survive.

“We had been in Costa Mesa before the arts center was built,” said former South Coast Symphony music director Larry Granger, who now holds the same position with the Santa Cruz County Orchestra.

“Things looked promising for a group to be supported by the community. Then the center was built,” he said. And the Pacific Symphony, with its larger budget, moved to Costa Mesa. “That made it difficult. There were a lot of emerging groups. The situation among them became divisive. The philosophy was, ‘There’s only a certain amount of money out there. If we don’t get it, somebody else will.’ ”

Donors, it seemed, only wanted to back a clear success.

“It was like having football teams. It was more important to choose one and have a winner than accommodate others or find that each had a place,” Granger said. “I was even asked, ‘Why should there be more than one orchestra?’

“Clearly, the large corporations and big donors wanted to have a major successful orchestra in the county. They didn’t feel the need to support smaller organizations.”

Likewise, when the Orange County Symphony of Garden Grove folded in 1994 after a decade in existence, orchestra officials cited the glut of small orchestras in the region all competing for money from the same donors. The group tried booking higher-profile guest artists such as pianist Vladimir Feltsman as a way of boosting its cachet among individual, corporate and government arts supporters.

South Coast, which played most of its concerts at Orange Coast College’s since-refurbished Robert B. Moore Theatre, was also hampered by a less than glamorous image.

“We didn’t see ourselves playing at the center,” he said, because the rent was prohibitive. “We did concerts at the Irvine Barclay Theatre . . . but it’s kind of a mixed bag and mostly offers the university’s performances. It’s difficult for groups with small budgets to counter that image.”

South Coast, which was born 1984, died in ’92.

“At some point in the early ‘90s, I would have left South Coast anyway. But it’s still disappointing to me that after years of trying to develop something, it hasn’t survived.”

Money problems also plagued the California Ballet Theater, formed in 1989 by two UC Irvine dance faculty members.

“The university ran into financial problems,” said co-founder Donald Bradburn, who still teaches at UCI. “There were cutbacks, even in terms of maintenance and sweeping the walkways.”

As a result, the group lost its funding, and the university dashed their plans to raise money on their own.

“So what we did was make it a class. Myself and El Gabriel were teaching classical repertory and pas de deux and all that sort of thing, hoping by going that route we could keep it viable.”

Said co-founder James Penrod: “We began paying for it through our regular operating funds, trying to get enough people to enroll into the course we were offering as a touring ensemble. We were doing some performances. When [modern dance choreographer] Donald McKayle came on board [at UCI in 1989], we moved into another direction that really fits our teaching model better--doing different kinds of dance forms, ballet, modern, jazz and ethnic dance.”

That course evolved into the UCI Etude Ensemble, which has performed in Dallas and elsewhere. McKayle has secured private money for the group, which now represents the school of dance at most functions.

“We’re still strong in ballet,” Penrod said, “but [now] there are other avenues [here] for our students to work in.”

Another Orange County start-up has flourished, but only by shifting its performances primarily to the Los Angeles area. For a while, Southwest Chamber Music, founded here in 1987, played in both counties.

“We had a very loyal group here that we worked hard as hell with for eight years,” said founder Jeff von der Schmidt. “But we couldn’t push it much past 50 to 80 people. And in Pasadena, where we currently have a season, we have no problem. We’re selling out at the Huntington Library. We get more people to a recital of solo flute music by Stochhausen than we could get at a concert [in Orange County]. We’ve made money at the Armory Center for the Arts--with electronic music!”

In Orange County, the group would see flashes of extraordinary enthusiasm. Von der Schmidt recalled an encounter with a fan at a Newport Harbor Art Museum concert. After the performance of probably Schumann and Elliott Carter, the man approached. “ ‘That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard,’ ” he told them and wrote out a check for $240.

“We never heard from him again. . . . That really indicates this refreshing, naive enthusiasm there, but in terms of understanding the long-term development an organization like ours needs, you come up a little bit short.”

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Finding places to play was also a problem.

“We have had two locations in 10 years in Pasadena,” Von der Schmidt said. “But in Orange County, we moved after our first year at Santa Ana High School to Newport Harbor Art Museum. After a full season there, we had one year where we split concerts between the museum and Chapman University.”

The group (then called Southwest Chamber Music Society) settled into regular concerts at Chapman. “But Chapman didn’t really ever know what to do with us. We felt we couldn’t get the dates we wanted.”

The Orange County Performing Arts Center also presented the chamber music society over three seasons, but it offered no long-term commitment. “We haven’t been in O.C. now, probably for three full years, maybe four.”

Like Granger, Von der Schmidt found local fund-raising difficult.

“We couldn’t get grants. The perception was, ‘If you’re not going to be at the center, you’re not going to get the funding you need.’ It’s a compliment to the center, but it’s also a dilemma for small groups.”

After Orange County’s bankruptcy, the group watched its donations dry up.

“We were playing in O.C.,” Von der Schmidt said, “but the concerts were being funded by people living in Pasadena. We didn’t want to continue. Frankly, you get a little nervous going to a concert with Elliott Carter and worrying if anybody is going to be there. My stomach couldn’t take it.”