Supporting Players

Used to be, the play was the only thing.

Now upscale jewelers are sharing the spotlight at Orange County arts events.

From souvenir giveaways to breathtaking jewel exhibits, international corporations such as Tiffany & Co., Mikimoto and Cartier in Costa Mesa are using arts events as marketing vehicles--opportunities to showcase merchandise.

Upscale jewelers draw from annual special-events budgets in the six-figure range to make cash and in-kind donations to arts organizations. That helps the Orange County Performing Arts Center, South Coast Repertory and others defray operating costs and woo potential donors. At the same time, the jewelers get to introduce their wares to the very people who can afford them.

It’s a three-way win, say arts and corporate leaders.

“The arts get support, the companies get recognition, and the women get exquisite jewelry to wear,” said Bill Thomas, director of Mikimoto at South Coast Plaza.

Case in point: During a gala sponsored last month by the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa--where tickets sold for $2,500 each--Mikimoto made in-kind donations worth $60,000 when it gave away pearl necklaces worth $200 each to 230 women guests and $60 brass travel clocks to as many men.

Arts organizations are always on the lookout for financial support.

“Corporations help us meet our financial goals by helping us get donors to our events,” said Terry Jones, the center’s vice president of development.

The newest player on the scene: the House of Harry Winston of Beverly Hills, New York, Geneva and Tokyo.

At the invitation of the center, Winston will make its premiere appearance in Orange County next month when it picks up the tab for a stylish cocktail and hors d’oeuvre reception for 200 guests at the Center Club in Costa Mesa.

Up for gawking: jewelry worth millions.

Center patrons have been invited to ogle the ice before attending an opening-night performance--partially underwritten by Winston for an amount the company declined to disclose--of the American Ballet Theatre at Segerstrom Hall.

“It’s smart marketing,” said Judy Rosener, professor at UC Irvine’s Graduate School of Management. These days, she added, “Corporate giving is very much tied to the bottom line. Used to be, they gave to be a corporate citizen.”

Never mind that Winston has no store in Orange County.

“We want to reach out to our nearby community,” said Dawn Moore, Winston’s West Coast sales director. “And performing arts venues just scream for beautiful, glamorous evenings where both women and men can enjoy the opportunity to wear some of the beautiful pieces they own.

“We believe there’s a strong client base for Harry Winston in Orange County,” Moore added. “It has that old-money look--perfect for the timeless look of Winston.”

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A decade ago, Tiffany & Co. set the standard for corporate participation on the Orange County arts scene when it opened a South Coast Plaza store with a lavish benefit for South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa.

Guests sipped Domaine Chandon during an in-store reception, gazed at showcases filled with sparkling goods and then dined in a voluminous white tent in the parking lot.

The event marked the first of dozens of Orange County arts events supported by the prestigious jeweler.

“Tiffany has been supporting the arts for 161 years,” said Tiffany vice president Jo Qualls, manager of the Costa Mesa store. “Our founder, Charles Louis Tiffany, was one of New York society’s greatest philanthropists. He felt that people who appreciated both design and the arts were the clients he wanted to have--did have.”

Corporations known “first and foremost for their jewels want them to be seen by as wide an audience as possible,” explained Qualls. “Not all of the audiences visit the store.”

With stores in the country’s top social meccas, Winston--like Tiffany, Cartier and Mikimoto--is no stranger to building relationships with nonprofit institutions.

At a benefit luncheon last fall in Southampton, N.Y., for example, Winston thrilled the charity set when it delivered trays of jewels with each gourmet food course.

And when actress Goldie Hawn schmoozed with guests at a recent Los Angeles gala, she sported a 103-carat diamond pendant on loan from Winston.

“Stars become models, walking advertisements, for wonderful pieces of jewelry in the nicest sense of the word,” explained a Winston spokeswoman in New York. “Remember, we were the first to lend jewels to stars attending the Academy Awards.” (Actress Jennifer Jones premiered the concept at the 1944 Oscars.)

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During a fall gala staged by Opera Pacific at the Four Seasons hotel in Newport Beach, hundreds of opera buffs watched as models in cat-suits pirouetted under a spotlight in $6 million worth of diamonds--courtesy Cartier Inc.

“We want to reach out to the community by offering financial support--but we also want our product to be recognized,” said Arlene Dungca, manager of Cartier at South Coast Plaza.

Dungca doesn’t expect guests to come rushing into the store the next day. “But, eventually, some visit,” she said. “A few weeks later, someone who saw a gorgeous piece, or heard about the hype, will come in.

“They may not buy the exact thing they saw at the event,” she said. “It may be something that went with one of the big pieces--like a bracelet or a pair of earrings.”

Said Betty Moss, executive director for the Orange County Business Committee for the Arts: “Upscale jewelers have become part of Orange County’s cultural fiber.”

While center leaders are careful to cultivate corporate largess, they are also cautious about overexposing donors to marketing hype.

“We never give out donors’ names or addresses,” Jones said. “And we always make it very voluntary for our patrons to attend events such as the Winston reception. We help make it possible, hope they come, but that’s where we stop.”

Jones also tries not to offend sponsors who already are on board. “When the Harry Winston possibility came up, I called Mikimoto to let them know it was in the wind. We like to give our current donors first right of refusal,” he said.

Mikimoto isn’t losing any sleep over Winston establishing a temporary camp in one of its retail territories.

“They know the importance of being a strong member of a community,” Thomas said. “We’re after the same dollars--and that’s all right. A woman can wear her diamonds Friday, her pearls on Saturday night.”

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Arts organizations also are after the same dollars. How do they feel about competing with corporate supporters for a portion of their patrons’ disposable income?

“My feeling is that people who want to be philanthropic also want to enjoy some of the finer things in life,” Jones said. “It’s different money from the same person.”

In recent years, Jones said, “the center has received about $100,000 annually from . . . the jewelry industry” to help pay for center operations. In May, Qualls will chair the Pacific Symphony’s 20th anniversary gala for as many as 1,000 people, in which a galaxy of blinding baubles will be on display.

Not all will be from Tiffany & Co., which in recent years has made donations of $100,000 to the symphony.

“I’m inviting all the major jewelers from South Coast Plaza--Mikimoto, Cartier, Bulgari, Black, Starr & Frost, Fred’s--to participate,” Qualls said. “It’s the Symphony of Jewels. Doesn’t it make sense to have all the jewelers involved?”