Ambitious Budgets: Where It’s All Going

The county’s leading arts organizations say they are planning budget increases of up to 35% and are altogether seeking at least $9 million in donated operating funds for 1987-88, up from about $7 million in 1986-87. The cost for new buildings and operating endowments planned in the next five years could add another $50 million to $90 million in donations being sought.

Among the major costs projected by local arts groups:

-- The Center projects an annual deficit of at least $4 million to $5 million. With about $14 million in uncollected pledges, it owes $10 million to banks. Center officials plan to raise $5-million cash for an operating endowment by 1990. And if they can pay off at least $5 million in bank loans, they plan to build a second theater starting in 1990, at an estimated cost of $10 million to $15 million.

-- Newport Harbor Art Museum will receive a prime 10-acre parcel at Newport Center from the Irvine Co.--contingent upon raising at least $10.5 million in private funds--as the site for a new $20-million building, which museum officials hope to start in 1988 and complete in 1992. The building would be three to five times larger than the 23,000-square-foot facility the museum has occupied since 1977. Museum officials will be looking to private sources for the entire $20-million construction cost as well as a $20-million endowment.

-- Bowers Museum is embarking this year on a $12-million expansion. The $12 million will come from Santa Ana, but director Paul Piazza predicted the expansion will eventually lead to budget levels of up to $2 million above its $2-million budget for 1987-88, which the museum will have to seek from private donors. He also said the museum will seek $20 million to $30 million in the next five to 10 years for an operating endowment and the cost of buying artworks.

-- South Coast Repertory is trying to raise $12 million to $1.7 million to pay off the theater’s new, 11,000-foot extension for offices and rehearsal space, $3.5 million to start an operating endowment and the rest for operating funds over five years and various other capital spending.

-- Laguna Art Museum has just completed a $2.2-million expansion of the museum and has $200,000 worth of pledges from corporate and individual donors yet to collect. The expansion, adding 12,000 square feet to the existing 9,000, is being used primarily for gallery space.

-- Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton is hoping to raise $5 million in the next several years to add a 7,000-square-foot building to increase its current 2,200 square feet of gallery space. Money would also go toward building a separate administration building and an outdoor area for music performances and social functions to benefit the center.

-- A planned Irvine city theater project at UC Irvine has exceeded initial estimates of $9.5 million by $2.3 million. The city has committed $9.5 million for the 750-seat theater, which would be used for music, drama and dance. Irvine Councilwoman Sally Anne Miller, a leading proponent of the theater, has said the rest of the $11.8 million total will have to come from private donors.

-- The Pacific Symphony is planning to increase its operating budget from $2.3 million in the 1986-87 fiscal year to $3.1 million in 1987-88, one of the largest increases of an operating budget among performing groups.