Broadcom founders give $5 million to Opera Pacific
Alex Coolman
SANTA ANA -- A Corona del Mar arts patron announced today a $5-million
grant to Opera Pacific, a gift that will boost the opera’s outreach
efforts and become the foundation of its endowment.
Susan Samueli, wife of technology company Broadcom Corp. co-founder Henry
Samueli, said her enthusiasm for the overall artistic quality of the
opera and the strength of its youth programs were major factors in her
and her husband’s decision to make the donation.
“Opera Pacific exemplifies the kind of artistic excellence that Orange
County needs and deserves,” she said.
Samueli, a mother of three, said the opera -- which performs at the
Orange County Performing Arts Center -- has been an enriching experience
in her children’s lives, and one that she hoped to make available to more
young people.
The gift, said opera executive director Martin Hubbard, represents a
major step forward in the opera’s efforts to build its endowment and will
provide a certain amount of fiscal breathing room for the organization.
“It’s the kind of thing that lets the art shine forward and doesn’t have
us all the time scrambling for money,” he said. About $1 million of the money will be applied to the organization’s New Opera Pacific Fund, which
will be used for a variety of operating expenses. The balance of the gift
will form the seed money for what organization directors hope will
eventually be a $20-million endowment.
The donation comes as the most dramatic example of the opera’s return to
financial prosperity after a brush with hard times only a few years back.
Two and a half years ago, the organization labored under a $2-million
debt and experienced difficulties with its creative direction.
Improved attention to fund-raising efforts and the galvanizing force of
artistic director John DeMain, who joined Opera Pacific in 1997, has
turned things around, said Hubbard, who was himself brought on in 1998.
“We’re not only alive and well,” he said. “We’re getting rather strong.”
Samueli made her announcement in the cavernous space of a Warner Street
office building that will become Opera Pacific’s new headquarters
starting in September. The space will house rehearsal stages and offices
for administrative and fund-raising work, as well as teaching rooms and a
warehouse.
The opera company’s facilities have, in the past, been spread out at
three different locations in Irvine and Costa Mesa.
“This new home will consolidate all of our operations,” Hubbard said.
Opera Pacific acquired the building for about $1.5 million, a purchase
funded by a variety of donors.
Broadcom also announced today that it planned to donate $3 million to UC
Irvine for the formation of a research center for developing
technologies.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.