Gail Sugamura, 2015-16 Principal, Stanley Elementary School
The Guilds of Segerstrom Center for the Arts’ Membership Event on Thursday, September 8 at the Mesa Verde Country Club was an unqualified success. More than 100 performing arts lovers learned more about the Center and its largest support group, The Guilds of Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
Event Chair Pat Faust welcomed guests. The Guilds Chairman Gail Daniels and Center Board Vice Chairman of Support Groups Carol Wilken recounted a bit of The Guilds and Center history. The Guilds was the Center’s first support group, organized to raise funds to build a world-class performing arts center here in Orange County. Since the Center opened in 1986, The Guilds have directed their activities and fundraising to supporting the Center’s education and community engagement programs that serve more than 300,000 students and families, schools and other community service organizations throughout Southern California.
Prospective Guilds Members Joyce Kamen, Susan Shahian with Guilds Member Terry Thacker
Among the many Center education programs that guests learned about was the annual Disney Musicals in Schools program. Gail Sugamura, principal of Stanley Elementary School, shared her school’s experience and what it meant to her students. DMIS is offered free of charge by the Center to Orange County students from low-income families attending public elementary schools without arts programs. The program was designed to create sustainable musical theater programs in public elementary schools. School teams are trained by Center teaching artists and provided with the training and tools necessary to support student productions and empower them to continue keeping musical theater alive for years to come.
Sandra Hovanesian, membership chairman of The Guilds, talked about the pride of affiliation with the Center, meeting like-minded, theater-going friends and other benefits to Guilds membership, such as special ticket offers and invitations to exclusive Guilds and Center events.
The morning event ended with a raffle for tickets to two of the Center’s most exciting shows Beautiful – The Carole King Musical” and the Center’s presentation of American Ballet Theatre’s holiday treat, The Nutcracker.
Carol Wilken and Sandy Bass, Parliamentarian, The Guilds
Enthusiasm was palpable as the meeting drew to a close. Everyone was engaged and talking about all they had heard. Guilds members explained various membership options and how to select one of the 21 chapters to join that would best met their needs and interests.
For information about membership in The Guilds of Segerstrom Center for the Arts, contact Sandra Hovanesian, shovanesian10@yahoo.com or 949-376-5135
The Guilds of the Center
The Guilds of Segerstrom Center for the Arts is one of the largest and most prestigious support groups for a non-profit organization in Orange County. There are 21 chapters of The Guilds, which is comprised of about 1000 members. The Guilds is respected and admired for its contributions to Segerstrom Center for the Arts and is emulated by many other arts organizations around the country. Guilds members are Center ambassadors, spreading the word about the Center among their friends and neighbors and encouraging them to enjoy and use this great community resource.
The Guilds raises funds for the Center, Orange County’s largest non-profit arts organization. Guilds members have contributed more than $15 million dollars in support of the Center since their organization was founded. Their support helps the Center to present its renowned performing arts series, which includes dance, Broadway shows, cabaret, jazz, classical music, family entertainment, cutting-edge theater and many free and low cost performances and events. Close to the heart of The Guilds is the Center’s education programs that reach hundreds of thousands of young people and educators each year with performances and arts-in-education programs at the Center and on school campuses.
The Guilds sponsors the Children at the Center initiative, which provides volunteers who assist the Center’s Education Department with bus-ins, the Family Series and other special events attended by young people. During the holiday season, The Guilds also holds its Toy Drive in conjunction with the U.S. Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots®, which benefits deserving but less fortunate Orange County children. One chapter of The Guilds is Performing Arts Junior (“PAJ”). This chapter provides young people ages 11-18 with opportunities to attend varied performance events and to learn about the performing arts. PAJ members are required to donate community service hours to an arts-service activity each year.
Members of The Guilds know that the arts can change lives, uplift and inspire, and represent and unite the community. Since opening in 1986, the Center has achieved national and international acclaim for the exceptional range and quality of its presentations, and members of The Guilds are proud to be part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts family.
Segerstrom Center for the Arts is an acclaimed arts institution as well as a beautiful multi-disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering unsurpassed experiences, and to engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.
Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center is Orange County’s largest non-profit arts organization. In addition to its six performance venues, Segerstrom Center is also home to the American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School, where students ages 3 – 14 are taught by acclaimed teachers utilizing the renowned ABT National Training Curriculum in studios utilized by the world’s greatest dancers and choreographers.
The Center presents a broad range of programming for audiences of all ages, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret,
contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events.
The Center’s education programs are designed to inspire young people through the arts and reach hundreds of thousands of students each year. In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independently acclaimed organizations: Tony Award®-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.
Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region’s major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
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