Leadership Test Awaits New Chief of OCPAC

COSTA MESA — With officials expected to name a new executive director soon--a decision is to be made this week and an announcement could come as early as next week--the Orange County Performing Arts Center is turning a corner in an arts and entertainment scene that has changed significantly since the center opened in 1986.

The 3,000-seat venue--a privately funded, tax-exempt, nonprofit institution--has faced increased competition from the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, which stole not only some of OCPAC’s thunder when it opened just over the county line in 1993 but also some high-end cultural attractions that might have come here instead.

Meanwhile, within the county, the Irvine Barclay Theatre, which opened in 1990, has been offering appealing cultural events that may not all be in direct competition with OCPAC’s but which nonetheless siphon off some of the local audience’s disposable income for arts and entertainment.

Competition from other performing arts centers that have sprung up in Southern California in recent years remains minimal because the distances among them are too great to draw overlapping audiences. But the close-to-home competition--and other factors, from the needs of local performance groups to OCPAC’s overcrowded booking schedule--indicate that the center will have to expand operations with a second hall if it is to thrive on the level envisioned by its founders.

Besides having to deal with a downturn in attendance for the center’s prohibitively expensive dance presentations, the incoming executive director will have to deal with questions of building a second hall, such as fund-raising, operation, programming and figuring out just what kind of a hall to build.

A preliminary study has estimated the cost of a second hall at between $90 million and $115 million. But it has yet to be decided whether the hall would be just for musical concerts, or an all-purpose theater that could also host plays, pop acts and dance concerts. The decision will affect not only the cost, technical capabilities and seating capacity of the hall, but also the viability of local groups who want to keep presenting programs at the center.

With only one auditorium now available (except for a 350-seat “black box” used for some small recitals and lectures), the center says it must pass up some major attractions because there is no room in its booking schedule. Paradoxically, local choral companies must vie for dates in a hall that often is too large and costly to rent for their purposes.

Question: What other issues will face a new executive taking charge at the center?

Answer: Redefining the center’s mandate for programming, which has consisted of ballet, classical music, opera and musical theater.

Q: Does the center produce these events, or does it just rent to other producers?

A: It does both. Along with its dance series, the center puts on a Broadway series of nationally touring musicals, occasional symphonic concerts, some jazz and a smattering of pop attractions. Local organizations rent the center to perform or present classical music, opera, choral music and touring world-music attractions.

Q: How large is the center?

A: It’s a 3,000-seat venue. It cost $73.3 million to build and was financed entirely by private contributions. For fiscal 1995, the most recent year available, it listed total operating expenses of $21.4 million; earned income of $18.5 million; contributed income of $4.7 million; and a reserve of $1.8 million.

Q: How does that compare with other local nonprofit arts groups?

A: The center dwarfs them all. (See chart, page F2.)

Q: How does the center function without a president?

A: Judith O’Dea Morr, the programming director, was appointed acting executive director after the abrupt resignation in July 1996 of Tom Tomlinson as president and chief operating officer. Morr is in charge of the center’s day-to-day administration. Her salary has not been disclosed but doubtless ranks at the top among local arts administrators, probably equaling Tomlinson’s, which was $162,000 in 1995. Morr has said she does not want to be a permanent replacement for Tomlinson. When a new executive director is appointed, she will remain as programming director.

Q: Does the center have other highly paid executives?

A: Yes. At least four others make about $100,000 each. (See accompanying story.)

Q: Who is the most important member of the center’s board of directors?

A: The center’s largest donor, Henry Segerstrom. His family donated the land for the center and has given more than $10 million in cash to the center, bringing the total value of Segerstrom family contributions to more than $14 million.

Q: Who is the next most important influence?

A: Center chairman Mark Johnson, who has given the center more than $850,000 (including $450,000 in the past year) and who has been running the center’s administration with Morr in the absence of a permanent executive director. Johnson is a multimillionaire pharmaceuticals entrepreneur who, according to a center spokesman, is regarded by board members as the “wave of the future.” They hope he will bring new leadership blood to the center, not to replace the old guard so much as to shore it up. Johnson is 51 years old.

Q: Why did Tomlinson leave?

A: It remains unclear. Center officials say he resigned. An insider has said he was ousted. Certainly, the circumstances of his departure were unusual: He cleaned out his desk and submitted his “resignation” without giving notice.

Q: Has Tomlinson gone on to another job?

A: Yes. He has been hired as managing director of the Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit.

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What They Made

A comparison shows that OCPAC’s president has ranked first in salary among arts executives in Orange County. All data are for fiscal or calendar year ending in 1995, except for Philharmonic Society numbers, which are from fiscal year 1996. Total compensation packages for employees as listed below includes benefits and expense accounts:

ORANGE COUNTY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

* Total revenue: $30.2 million

* Total expenses: 29.4 million

Tom Tomlinson, president and chief operating officer*: $183,000

Robert D. Foreman, stage technical supervisor: 129,815

Philip A. Mosbo, executive vice president: 109,007

Robert Stewart, stage technical supervisor: 102,958

Richard A. Johnson, director of finance and administration: 100,967

* Left in July 1996

PACIFIC SYMPHONY

* Total revenue: $7.9 million

* Total expenses: 6.3 million

Carl St.Clair, music director: $145,100

Louis G. Spisto, vice president and executive director: 117,500

SOUTH COAST REPERTORY

* Total revenue: $7.2 million

* Total expenses 6.6 million

Martin Benson, artistic director: $94,000

David Emmes, producing artistic director: 91,000

Sue Van Gemert, director of advancement: 82,004

Paula Tomei, managing director: 73,528

PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY OF ORANGE COUNTY

* Total revenue: $3.2 million

* Total expenses: 3.0 million

Dean Corey, executive director: $99,600

OPERA PACIFIC

* Total revenue: $5.3 million

* Total expenses: 5.2 million

David DiChiera, general director*: $110,250

Richard Owens, managing director*: 85,124

* DiChiera resigned in 1996; Owens left in 1996

BOWERS MUSEUM

* Total revenue: $3.1 million

* Total expenses: 2.7 million

Peter C. Keller, president and executive director: $102,405

James Stathakis, director of administration: 64,541

Armand Labbe, director of research and collections: 60,821

IRVINE BARCLAY THEATRE

* Total revenue: $1.9 million

* Total expenses: 2.0 million

Douglas Rankin, president: $94,736

G. Christopher Burrill, director of operations: 58,864

LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE

* Total revenue: $1.4 million

* Total expenses: 1.3 million

Richard Stein, executive director: $53,000

Andrew Barnicle, artistic director: 47,500

NEWPORT HARBOR ART MUSEUM

* Total revenue: $1.0 million

* Total expenses: 1.2 million

Michael Botwinick, director*: $132,000

Bruce Guenther, curator: 59,250

* Left in February 1997, after Newport Harbor became the Orange County Museum of Art

Source: Internal Revenue Service; Researched by JAN HERMAN / Los Angeles Times