O.C. Performing Arts Center Adds Encore to Good Year

The economic house is in order, and the public’s embrace of what’s presented by the Orange County Performing Arts Center remains gratifying, center leaders declared Thursday in reviewing the just-concluded fiscal year at the center’s annual members’ meeting.

Then they turned to the imposing prospect of raising the roofs on two additional performance houses: a proposed 1,800-seat concert hall and a 500-seat theater next to the existing 3,000-capacity Segerstrom Hall.

Mark Chapin Johnson, outgoing chairman of the nonprofit center’s board, and Roger T. Kirwan, the new chairman, climaxed the 75-minute meeting in the center’s small auxiliary theater, Founders Hall, with visionary pep talks for the $200-million fund-raising drive ahead.

“It will be fun, and we will be proud of what we are going to do,” Kirwan said, hailing the project as a legacy for Orange County generations to come.

“The vision and the wealth are unquestionably here for this,” said Johnson, who is spearheading the new capital campaign. “It’ll make a difference in our quality of life and our sense of who we are.”

Center officials say the expansion is needed because Segerstrom Hall is too busy to accommodate demand for arts programming.

Segerstrom Hall hosted 207 paid performances, up from 198 a year ago; 300-capacity Founders Hall also was busier, with 109 shows, up from 81. Overall paid attendance for the two theaters was 427,361, a 13.4% gain from 376,657 a year ago. Paid attendance ran at 75% of capacity.

The 227 performances presented by the center itself marked an increase from 211 last year. They accounted for 72% of a schedule rounded out by offerings from regional performing arts groups such as the Pacific Symphony and the Philharmonic Society of Orange County. Center-sponsored shows generated 274,049 paid admissions, a gain of 2,651, or just under 1%, over 1997-98. Average paid attendance for center productions was 73% of capacity, a tick down from last year’s 74%.

Despite virtually flat attendance, the box office take from center-sponsored events shot up 25.6%, from $10.9 million to $13.7 million. In an interview Thursday, center president Jerry E. Mandel attributed much of the increase to record-setting runs by “Chicago” and “Riverdance,” Broadway road shows that commanded high ticket prices.

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Broadway shows are the only branch of center programming where profits are expected; those productions ran at 80% of capacity, a significant gain over the 68% of a year ago. Part of the rationale for building a second concert hall, to be used by the Pacific Symphony and touring orchestras, is to free dates at Segerstrom Hall for longer runs by popular Broadway road shows, Mandel said.

The center has won acclaim for its dance series--”We are considered one of America’s leading presenters of ballet,” Mandel said. But dance performances drew only 64% of capacity, down from 69% a year ago.

“We will not shy away at all” from booking top ballet companies, Mandel said; center officials will try to improve their marketing of dance, he said, while hoping that a new generation of stars comparable to Nureyev and Baryshnikov arises to spark audience interest.

Losses from ballet and classical programming, along with reduced rentals, left the center with a $7.1-million gap between its total income of $19.6 million and its expenses of $26.7 million.

Fund-raising efforts during the year made up the deficit, netting $7.1 million in donations. Donations were up $1.1 million from the previous year--an 18.3% improvement. More than a quarter of the annual budget--26.6%--was paid for by donations.

According to center figures, 73% of spending paid for performances and educational programs; 13% went to administrative expenses, 7% to cover the cost of fund-raising, and 3% for maintenance with a $100,000 reserve for special artistic events.

The center’s endowment grew from $19.3 million to $20.4 million during the fiscal year; the center counts $1.1 million in as-yet-unreceived pledges in the endowment total.

Although the endowment grew, the investment returns were subpar. In an interview Thursday, Rick Johnson, vice president of finance and administration, said the center’s conservative investment strategy is geared toward generating average annual returns of at least 10%. This year’s return was 8.2%, he said, down from 13% last year and 21% two years ago.

Johnson said that over the last six months, center officials have reviewed their investment strategy and decided recently to put part of the endowment into growth stocks and foreign stocks, after sticking to more conservative “value” stocks. Johnson said the endowment is invested 30% in the bond market, which has fared poorly lately, and 70% in stocks.

“We have to be more conservative by nature,” Mandel said. “We cannot, as a nonprofit, lose our donors’ money.”

How to find donors willing to ante up $200 million for the proposed expansion will be the center’s crucial issue in the near future.

In his speech to the members, departing board chairman Mark Johnson noted that, though visionary, the project isn’t unrealistic. He said that at $519 per square foot, the estimated construction cost falls “at the lower end” of the range for comparable recent arts centers built elsewhere.

Johnson will remain a key figure as he recruits major donors for the expansion. He said the center is close to reeling in a “legacy gift,” which officials hope will be in the $50-million range and serve as the cornerstone of the fund-raising campaign. “I think I’ve got it, but I can’t talk about it,” he said.

“We look forward to announcing major gifts very soon,” added Kirwan, the new chairman.

As a parting act, Johnson awarded the Chairman’s Cup, an annual honor recognizing outstanding volunteer service to the center, to William Lyon, a prominent Orange County developer and 14-year veteran of the center’s board, and to Dorothy B. Stillwell, chairwoman of the center’s biggest annual fund-raising event, the Candlelight Concert.