OCPAC Hits Fundraising Record

The Orange County Performing Arts Center, which recently issued $180 million in bonds to ensure that an expansion is built on time despite lagging fundraising, announced Thursday that it had raised a record amount of money to support its operations in the last year.

The seemingly contradictory news reflects the continued softness in high-end donations that have plagued arts groups nationwide in recent years, said center president Jerry E. Mandel.

Gifts of $1 million or more needed for the expansion of the arts center are slow in coming, Mandel said, because “the people who give that kind of money are still concerned because of the economy and where it is going.”

In the fiscal year ending June 30, the arts center raised $7.8 million for its operations, $400,000 more than the year before. The money is used to supplement revenues gathered through ticket sales and other earned income.

“We’re very excited to be able to finish in the black in these difficult times for arts funding,” Mandel said.

Mandel said nearly $120 million has been raised toward the $200 million that’s needed to pay for a new theater, a concert hall and an education center. Officials had earlier said they hoped to raise $130 million by the end of 2003. The bonds were issued in May to ensure that the project would be completed on time in September 2006.

Construction began last year and is 18% complete, Mandel said. “We’re going to open on time and on budget in 2006.”