gala – South Coast Plaza https://www.southcoastplaza.com Fri, 21 Oct 2022 15:37:18 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 South Coast Plaza Celebrates OCMA and the Arts https://www.southcoastplaza.com/stories/2022/10/south-coast-plaza-celebrates-ocma-and-the-arts/ Tue, 18 Oct 2022 05:03:50 +0000 https://www.southcoastplaza.com/?p=83597

SOUTH COAST PLAZA CELEBRATES OCMA AND THE ARTS

Orange County Museum of Art debuts its new $95-million architectural jewel at Segerstrom Center for the Arts

After years of dedication and effort by OC arts patrons and museum board members, including significant support from South Coast Plaza and its owners, the Orange County Museum of Art has completed its move to Costa Mesa. Finally! The opening of a visual arts museum on the Segerstrom Center for the Arts campus completes the Segerstrom family’s vision for an expansive and inclusive center of art, culture, and commerce, which has long been part of the grand design for greater South Coast Plaza.

A 24-hour grand opening celebration, attended by more than 10,000 guests who waited patiently in hours-long lines that wound around the Segerstrom Center for the Arts campus, officially opened OCMA. The free event was the public’s first opportunity to tour the new, 53,000-square-foot museum designed by Morphosis Architects, under the direction of Pritzker-prize winner Thom Mayne and Partner-in-Charge Brandon Welling and explore its five inaugural exhibitions, activating the museum with music, food, films, yoga, dancing, and more.

The 24-Hour Grand Opening event culminated two weeks’ worth of events that began with the Million Dollar Donor Dinner, chaired by Jennifer and Anton Segerstrom and sponsored by Cartier. OCMA CEO and Director Heidi Zuckerman welcomed guests to the first official event at the new museum. She acknowledged the generosity of lead donors, including Jennifer and Anton Segerstrom, the most significant supporters of the museum to date.

OCMA OPENING GALA

A few days later the Opening Gala raised more than $2.1 million for the museum and honored artist Sanford Biggers, whose sculpture sits on the museum’s expansive outdoor plaza where the dinner was held. The gala was chaired by Jennifer Segerstrom and co-chaired by Lisa Merage, was presented by lead sponsor South Coast Plaza, and included table sponsorships by Gucci, Saint Laurent, Kering/Balenciaga/Alexander McQueen, Jennifer and Anton Segerstrom, and Elizabeth Segerstrom. Laurent Claquin, head of Kering Americas, was one of many guests from the worlds of luxury retail, fashion, and art that are centered at South Coast Plaza.

OCMA opening gala chair Jennifer Segerstrom in Alexander McQueen and co-chair Lisa Bhathal Merage in Lanvin

ON THE SCENE

Alette Segerstrom and Anton Segerstrom in Saint Laurent

Elizabeth Segerstrom in Dolce&Gabbana and Heidi Zuckerman, CEO and Director of OCMA

Laurent Claquin, President of Kering Americas, with Sholonda Dean in Balenciaga

Molly Downing in House of CB and Debra Gunn Downing in Badgley Mischka

Lucy Sun in Dries Van Noten and Lisa Merage in Lanvin

 

 

The opening festivities actually began last spring with a fashion event for Orange County Museum of Art trustees and donors sponsored by South Coast Plaza. For guests anticipating the Opening Gala who were wondering what the Utopian Black Tie dress suggestion meant, South Coast Plaza stylists Kim Apodaca and Jackie Rose offered an inspirational style preview at OCMAExpand, the museum’s interim location. Models descended the stairs in exquisite ensembles from Valentino, Lanvin, Thom Browne, Gucci, Monique Lhuillier, Roger Vivier, Givenchy, Oscar de la Renta, and Lafayette 148 New York. The stylists got creative, demonstrating how much a change in clutch or shoes can impact a look.

Additional opening celebrations for the new museum included the Artist and Artworld Party, which welcomed artists, longtime OCMA contributors and Southern California cultural leaders, as well as a Civic Dedication that inaugurated the building and brought together Orange County’s civic leaders. Anton Segerstrom spoke at all the opening galas and the civic dedication, thanking donors, the architects, and all those who helped inspire and fund the museum’s big move to Costa Mesa.

As part of the extensive and overwhelmingly positive national and local media coverage of the new museum, the Orange County Register said that “the museum’s opening means nothing less than the end of Anton Segerstrom’s 16-year personal quest to see this permanent location built in Costa Mesa, the fruition of an $8 million gift from him and his wife, Jennifer, and the fulfillment of their years of fundraising many more millions.”

“My father Henry Segerstrom told me years ago that all great civilizations have a cultural component,” Anton said in the Register story and in his remarks at the openings. “It was the impetus for the creation of Segerstrom Center for the Arts.”

Anton Segerstrom with artist Ed Ruscha

❝

My father Henry Segerstrom told me years ago that all great civilizations have a cultural component… It was the impetus for the creation of Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

❞

ANTON SEGERSTROM, SOUTH COAST PLAZA

Photos by Ryan Miller, Capture Imaging

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]]> OCMA Hosts its first Art Sense Gala https://www.southcoastplaza.com/stories/2021/10/ocma-hosts-its-first-art-sense-gala/ Fri, 15 Oct 2021 23:55:13 +0000 https://www.southcoastplaza.com/?p=62583

OCMA HOSTS
ITS FIRST
ART SENSE GALA

The Event Raised $1 Million for the Museum under construction

Exactly a year ahead of its public opening date, the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) held its first Art Sense Gala at the construction site of the museum’s new building next to the South Coast Plaza campus.

The sold-out gala with a futuristic theme drew 280 guests and netted $1 million for the museum and its operations.

Located at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the new building was designed by Morphosis Architects under the direction of Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne and Partner-in-Charge Brandon Welling, both of whom were present. OCMA is being built on land given as a gift in 1998 by the Segerstrom Family and South Coast Plaza as part of their vision and long-standing commitment to the arts..

Jennifer and Anton Segerstrom (Photo by Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging)
Anton Segerstrom and Heidi Zuckerman (Photo by Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging)

After being introduced by Anton Segerstrom, OCMA trustee and Partner at South Coast Plaza, Heidi Zuckerman, the dynamic new CEO and Director of OCMA, said, “You’re all living the profound, but yet simple vision that was put together by 13 audacious women 60 years ago next year. You are bringing the best of modern and contemporary art here to Orange County to be shared by our community, but also our nation and everyone who comes here to visit. 

“

I believe access to art is a basic human right. It’s not a privilege. That’s what we are doing here. Your support of OCMA is transforming lives.

”

HEIDI ZUCKERMAN, CEO AND DIRECTOR OF ORANGE COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART

The gala guests included Jennifer Segerstrom, Segerstrom Center for the Arts’ Casey Reitz and Naomi Reitz, artists Jennifer Guidi and Sarah Cain, Sean and Aga Green, recent Michelin-star awardees Yassmin Sarmardi and Tony Esnault of Knife Pleat at South Coast Plaza, Paul and Lilly Merage, Bob Olson, Lucy Sun and Warren Felson, Raj and Marta Bhathal, Teri Kennady, Alison Beaumont Hoeven, Britt Meyer, Carl and Janet Nolet, Ken and Stephanie Grody, Jim Pick and Rosalyn Laudati, and Pat and Aleeza Maciariello.

The evening featured wines selected by a master sommelier, caviar and dancing under the stars to music sets by DJ Dylan Regan.

OCMA Exterior under construction during the 2021 OCMA Art Sense Gala at the Segerstrom Center For The Arts on October 8, 2021 in Costa Mesa, California. (Photo by Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging)

ON THE SCENE

Carol Perry, Tony Esnault and Yassmin Sarmadi

Heidi Zuckerman, CEO and Director, OCMA, Architect Thom Mayne and Carlos Gonzalez

Molly Downing, South Coast Plaza stylist

Jennifer Guidi and Brooklin Soumahoro

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