Art Museum Landscapes

Local art-scene watchers have long predicted that the Orange County Museum of Art will get a nice new site for expansion from one of the county’s two leading developers. Yet only one of those land barons has stepped forward.

At least, it appears, until now.

Henry T. Segerstrom, whose family donated the land for the Orange County Performing Arts Center, invited OCMA officials last year to discuss moving the museum to a site across the street from the Costa Mesa center, which is planning a multimillion-dollar expansion that includes a concert hall and facilities for South Coast Repertory theater.

But that’s old news. What’s new?

Donald L. Bren, chairman of the mighty Irvine Co., may have thrown his hat into the ring.

“Don Bren has offered up a site . . . not that far away from the existing museum” in Newport Beach, said a well-connected OCMA insider, adding that the offer is “conceptual.”

Irvine Co. spokesman Larry Thomas denied that any land offer had been made. “There is no basis to that story,” Thomas said. Charles D. Martin, recently reelected to a third term as OCMA chairman, wouldn’t confirm or deny the offer.

“There are multiple sites that are currently opportunities for us,” Martin said, “and there are new alternatives that we’re working on even as we speak.”

In any event, news on the move front is one of many things OCMA supporters will celebrate Sunday when the museum honors artist Manuel Neri at its sold-out 12th annual Art of Dining fund-raiser, Martin said this week.

The museum’s exhibitions have received mixed reviews since it emerged three years ago from the consolidation of the Newport Harbor Art Museum and the Laguna Art Museum (which regained autonomy in 1997). Nor, Martin said, is the museum drawing enough visitors from beyond Newport Beach and environs.

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But OCMA is on solid financial ground, which was a primary goal of the merger, Martin said.

Last year’s $1,000-a-plate gala fetched more than $710,000, which contributed to “extraordinary” gains that have resulted in an operating surplus for each of the past three years, he said.

Meanwhile, the museum’s budget grew by $1 million to roughly $3.7 million this year, and its endowment, which was practically nonexistent three years ago, has topped $7 million.

More visitors came through in the past year, too. Attendance at the main site and the museum’s South Coast Plaza annex reached 301,278. Although visitors to the heavily trafficked mall site made up most of the boost, the increase totaled 64,250.

“I’m thrilled with the attendance numbers,” said museum director Naomi Vine. “It says to me that there’s an audience for the exhibitions that we’re doing.”

Membership grew by about 250 to 2,100, as well, a museum official said, though 60% of those members live in and around Newport Beach and Laguna Beach. Even before the merger became official, museum leaders expressed interest in serving the entire county, north to south.

“We need to do a better job on that,” Martin said. “We’re having a series of meetings to talk about ideas on how to launch programs that are going to expand participation. We’re also going to put a big priority on expanding our membership and attendance through more marketing.”

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A decision to move to a larger site closer to central Orange County--which also has long been discussed as a way to broaden the museum’s reach--is overdue, Martin added. And the most talked-about possibility has its drawbacks.

Martin said he suggested to founding center chairman Segerstrom that the blueprint for the center’s expansion include the permanent closure of Town Center Drive to traffic. This, Martin said, would better link the museum with other components of the planned expansion, such as an 1,800-seat concert hall that would be built south of the center across Town Center.

A spokesman for C.J. Segerstrom & Sons confirmed this week that, although the street may be blocked off for special events, the center’s still-evolving plans do not call for a permanent closure.

And what about a site, perhaps donated by powerful OCMA trustee and private collector Bren, near the museum’s current home?

In the late ‘80s, Bren gave an adjacent 10 1/2-acre lot to the Newport Harbor Art Museum, which hired internationally renowned architect Renzo Piano to design an expansion. The recession of the early ‘90s killed the project.

Martin would not discuss the Bren possibility, but the notion doesn’t jibe with the idea of a more centrally located museum. So deliberations continue although, Martin insists, the pace has recently quickened.

“I know that this decision-making process has dragged on, but we’re trying to make the right decision, and we’ve had good opportunities,” he said. “We need to make sure we’ve explored every possible avenue so when the selection is made, it’s a great selection and something that will last 100 years.”