Arts Center Ends Fiscal Year in Black--Again

The Orange County Performing Arts Center, the county’s largest cultural institution, reported Thursday that it ended fiscal 1997 with “a small surplus,” putting it in the black for its 13th consecutive year.

The center’s total operating expenses--or, annual operating budget--were $22,512,674 for the 12-month period ending June 30, up 23% from $18,273,000 for fiscal 1996, according to the annual report submitted Thursday to the center’s board of directors.

Center president and chief operating officer Jerry E. Mandel declared himself and board members “very pleased” with the results.

Paid attendance for all center-presented events in 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and 300-seat Founders Hall averaged 74% of capacity, for a total of 271,398 tickets sold. Box-office receipts came to $10.9 million, up 7% from $10.2 million in fiscal 1997.

The five regional organizations that also present programs at the center release their figures separately. Those groups--the Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, Opera Pacific, the William Hall Master Chorale and the Pacific Chorale--have yet to report because their fiscal years end at different times.

But total attendance for all events presented in both halls by all the regional organizations--the only collective figure the center can release--also came to 74% of capacity.

That compares with 70% attendance for center-presented events in fiscal 1996 and overall attendance of 73% for all presenting organizations.

The annual operating budget of $22.5 million includes ticket sales and other income (such as rentals and food services) totaling $16.5 million; contributed income for operations of $5.4 million and additional income of $615,000 for the endowment fund. That yielded a surplus of $12,260, the center reported.

Contributed income to the operating fund matched the previous year’s. The total donated income of $6 million was down from last year’s record high of $8.9 million. That amount was inflated, a center spokesman said, by an extraordinary, onetime bequest from an anonymous donor who died in 1997.

The majority of the 23% increase in total expenditures resulted from the cost of the four-week engagement of the musical “Show Boat” last summer, a poorly attended replacement for “Sunset Boulevard” in the center’s Broadway Series.

The disparity between that increase and the 7% increase in total box-office income is explained by “Show Boat,” which averaged only 51% attendance (compared with one-week runs of 92% for “The King and I”; 89% for “Annie”; 87% for “Smokey Joe’s Cafe”; 79% for “Forever Tango,” and 73% for “Big”).

Fortunately for the center, Livent Inc., Canadian-based producer of “Show Boat,” had contracted for 90% of box-office receipts, center officials said. Thus, it absorbed 90% of the loss, minimizing the center’s risk.

Average attendance for center-presented dance programs came to 69% (up from 55% in fiscal 1996); 73% for pop music and family programs; 83% for classical music concerts; 81% for the Jazz Club and 72% for the Cabaret Series, both in Founders Hall.

Meanwhile, the center’s endowment fund grew to $19.3 million on investment income of $1.8 million and cash contributions of $840,000. The center also met budget expectations for its repair-and-replacement fund for building maintenance, transferring $710,000 into that reserve. Additionally, $100,000 was transferred into the programming reserve, designed for investment opportunities in unusual programs, bringing it to $1.15 million.

The center sponsored a total of 211 performances, 133 in Segerstrom Hall and 78 in Founders Hall. Total performances by all groups came to 255 and 79, respectively. The center’s educational programs “reached more than 250,000 children,” the report said.

The figures are preliminary, pending an outside audit.

Also Thursday, Mark Chapin Johnson was re-elected chairman of the board for his third consecutive term. Three new candidates were elected to the board: Alfonso G. Cordero, Mark S. Howlett and Ronald M. Simon. Johnson also appointed new member Michael S. Gordon.