Arts Orange County, an independent nonprofit arts council, gathered Tuesday to mark decades of advocacy and support for the arts and related education.
Founded by Bonnie Brittain Hall in 1995, the council in 2000 began celebrating the county’s creatives for their individual contributions to the area’s arts collective.
Those honorary proceedings hit another milestone, and Arts Orange County pulled out all the stops for its 25th Orange County Arts Awards.
A veritable who’s who of the county’s arts scene shuffled into Samueli Theater at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa for the special occasion. The evening included recognition of artists and arts organizations alike, as well as various showcases of the performing arts.
Patrick Brien, newly appointed president and chief executive of the organization in July, and Tiffany Ana Lopez, the dean of UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts, welcomed guests as the masters of ceremonies.
Richard Stein, who had succeeded Brittain Hall in leading Arts Orange County as president since 2008, received a special recognition award. His career included a 17-year stint as executive director of the Laguna Playhouse, where he helped produce more than 100 plays and directed several.
Stein also chaired the John Wayne Airport Arts Commission and previously served as president of the Laguna Beach Alliance for the Arts. He was appointed this year to the California Arts Council by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Recalling his arrival to Orange County in 1987, Stein referred to it then as “a land of opportunity, especially for risk-takers,” adding that taking risks is “the defining characteristic of artists.”
The Helena Modjeska Cultural Legacy Award, the organization’s lifetime achievement honor, went to Laguna Beach artist Jorg Dubin and arts patrons Jared Mathis and the Moulton Family.
Dubin’s notable works in the area include a 60-foot-tall sculpture called “Mercury Falling” at Skyloft Apartments in Irvine, as well as “Semper Memento,” a Sept. 11 memorial built from two beams of the World Trade Center that can be seen at Monument Point in Laguna Beach’s Heisler Park.
The honor was “a big deal to me,” Dubin said in his remarks, adding that it came as a bit of a surprise after almost 50 years of creating art in the county.
“The path of an artist is not an easy one, which makes this award even more meaningful to me,” Dubin said. “I’m truly honored and humbled by receiving this. … Remember that the soul and vitality of communities is often measured by how we treat our creatives, so if you know an artist or musician or a creative person of all stripes, please let them know how much you appreciate what they bring to your communities.”
Mathis, a member of the Laguna Hills City Council, is president of the Moulton Museum and chairman of the board of trustees for Laguna College of Art + Design. Mathis also serves on the board of governors at Chapman University and has spent a dozen years as a board member of Laguna Playhouse.
Genevieve Williams, who opened the GW Contemporary gallery in Laguna Beach in July, was recognized as an emerging arts leader. She previously served as director and curator of the Honarkar Foundation. Locally, she has also been involved with the Peter Blake Gallery.
“Curating is often quiet, behind-the-scenes work, so this recognition is especially meaningful,” Williams said. “Over the past decade, I’ve had the privilege of organizing more than 100 exhibitions in Orange County and beyond, always with the goal of bringing ambitious, thoughtful art to this community.
“This year has been particularly significant because I’ve launched my own gallery, GW Contemporary in Laguna Beach. It’s a space dedicated to collaboration, championing artists locally and internationally, and fostering experiences that extend beyond the exhibition. To have that work recognized now, in the moment of generational shift with a new wave of artists, curators and collectors emerging, feels incredibly rewarding. It’s exciting to not only be a part of that transition but to be considered a leader with it.”
The evening’s performances included an excerpt from “Legends,” an original musical composed by Bin He, honored as the outstanding artist at the event.
Conductor of the South Coast Chinese Orchestra, He has played the piece on stage using a variety of instruments that included bamboo flute, cello, viola, violin, piano and a guzheng, a Chinese string instrument.
Later in the evening, there were demonstrations in the disciplines of dance and vocal music.
Katherine Lingle captured the crowd’s attention in a solo dance performance, accompanied by pianist Gialan Tonthat.
The final performance brought twins Hannah and Ruby Huntington together in song.
California State University, Fullerton was recognized for contributing to the built environment. A new visual arts complex has come to life at the college, which invested $65 million into a project that included the adaptive reuse of two buildings and brought two new structures to the campus.
The visual arts complex houses spaces for arts education, crafts, curation, graphic design, and new media, among others, and it was placed next to the college’s performing arts center.