Civic Arts Plaza Has Donor Deal --You Name It

THOUSAND OAKS —  So you have a yen for immortality and deep, deep pockets.

For a mere $2 million, your family name can live forever--embossed on a plaque at the entrance to the Civic Arts Plaza’s Forum Theatre.

Too steep?

For the benefactor-on-a-budget, there’s always the chance to name one of the Civic Arts Plaza’s decades-old oak trees--a steal at $100,000.

Welcome to the world of “naming opportunities,” a fund-raising program in which a generous donation earns arts patrons the right to have a piece of the Civic Arts Plaza named after them.

It’s rather like an auction without any clunky merchandise to lug home.

Trees, windows, doorways, a 400-seat theater--even the hydraulic lift that lowers seats to create the orchestra pit within the complex--all can bear a patron’s or a corporation’s name if the price is right.

Apparently, it is. In the past few months, Civic Arts Plaza fund-raising has reached a frenzied pace.

“You’re looking at a facility that is a known entity, is successful and, most importantly, is in the black--which is very rare among similar venues,” said Bob Lewis, the chairman of the Alliance for the Arts, the Civic Arts Plaza’s fund-raising arm.

“That to people is of significant value in and of itself: People want to be involved with a center that’s successful. No one wants to be involved with a center that’s falling on its face.”

Yet the practice of naming is not without detractors.

Some fret about the increasing presence of corporate, rather than family, names on buildings. Other theater- and symphony-goers find the name plaques tucked near doorways, steps and dressing rooms distracting.

Thousand Oaks City Councilwoman Elois Zeanah has often voiced her opposition to naming a portion of a public building for a private person or company.

And her colleague Andy Fox was similarly uneasy with the alliance’s hope of dubbing the Civic Arts Plaza the “Your Name Here” Civic Arts Plaza if a donor came forward with $5 million. But he is comfortable with smaller naming opportunities.

“We are very fortunate that thousands of generous people have contributed to the Alliance for the Arts,” he said. “But those contributions don’t compare to the community’s contribution of $86 million that paid for the land and building of the Civic Arts Plaza. The center should only be named for the residents who paid for it. In my opinion, some things are not for sale.”

On the alliance’s most recent promotional materials, which board members will start distributing to potential benefactors this fall, the naming of the center is not listed as an option.

Patricia Moore, the alliance’s executive director, said that naming opportunities--if they happen at all--should not take place until plans gel for the development of a science center and retail complex in the 11 acres next to the plaza.

The naming program--in place since before the Civic Arts Plaza opened in 1994--picked up its pace earlier this summer when manufacturer Fred Kavli gave $2.5 million to the alliance and his Norwegian name to the 1,800-seat Fred Kavli Theatre for the Performing Arts.

Just last week, the alliance racked up another coup when George and Diana Jones of Thousand Oaks wrote a $500,000 check and gained the right to name the glistening reflecting pool across from the Kavli Theatre.

In the past year, 15 families and companies have donated at least $50,000 and named various nooks of the plaza, Moore said.

But the Forum Theatre-- where the City Council and Planning Commission meet--the oak-studded park around the modern building, and the street leading to the center are all up for grabs. Asking price? Two million each.

“In the $2-million range, you have choices--people like to shop,” Moore said. “All three have significant exposure. Someone can leave a significant legacy with any of these three.”

Not only will people leave a legacy if they bestow a name on one of these facilities, but they’ll bring the successful alliance closer to its goal of banking $15 million in its endowment by the end of the year. The most recent donation for the reflecting pool brings the nonprofit group within $1.5 million of that goal.

Alliance members say their naming push has been revitalized by Kavli’s donation, which concluded the unsavory saga of Charles E. Probst, the reclusive millionaire who first named the big theater, reneged on his pledge and saw his name stripped from the building’s facade.

“We’re in good financial shape as of today,” said Dick Goodrich, who will become the alliance’s chairman in October. “Naming is just one more way to reach another target--$20 million by the end of 2000. We want to take advantage of the excitement that Mr. Kavli brought about in naming the main theater.”

Some of the Civic Arts Plaza’s other prominent donors include the Los Angeles Times, GTE California, Shapell Industries, Amgen, Courtly Homes and the Janss and Tesoro families.

Motivations for plastering a name on part of a building are as individual as the donors themselves, Moore said.

“Some people do it to leave a legacy,” she said, on a recent tour of the Civic Arts Plaza that stopped at headliner’s and chorus dressing rooms ($100,000 naming opportunities), elevators for the disabled (a $25,000 naming opportunity) and Moore’s own office (a $50,000 naming opportunity).

“Some companies think it’s a good way to spend their marketing dollars to gain exposure.”

Other people, such as Dirk I. Gates, name items in memory of a lost loved one.

When cancer took the life of his young wife, Gates named a graceful oak tree in her honor. This way, Moore explained, his children have someplace peaceful and beautiful to go when they think of their mother.

“Other people give gifts and don’t know a naming opportunity comes with it,” she continued. “Some people see naming as a way to be a part of the latest thing in town. Especially when this place was going up, contributing was the ‘in’ thing to do. Other people do it for the ego and recognition--that’s OK, too.”

Clinical psychologist Priscilla Partridge de Garcia chose from a jumble of reasons when she and her husband, Pedro, donated to the alliance and named one of the glass entry doors to the main theater.

“I believe we [as a society] give lots of money to career counseling and crime prevention but not enough to education and arts and music,” she said. “And I think art is what makes us human.”

But she also liked the visibility of the spot that bears her name.

“I want to be able to show it to my grandchildren when we come to the theater,” she said. “I want them to know it’s there and what the arts mean.”

A few potential patrons have shied away from big naming opportunities, fearing that their neighbors might cast sidelong glances their way in the grocery store, Moore said.

Before Kavli came forward and named the Civic Arts Plaza’s main theater, the alliance was unable to craft a deal with another willing, but publicity-wary, donor.

While it has happened only rarely, the alliance has turned away donors, including one resident who wanted to buy a $50 brick and put graffiti on it.

The group would likewise think carefully before naming part of the building for a company whose values would be offensive to the community. So don’t expect a dressing room named after Hustler magazine.

Barring overtures from Larry Flynt, the alliance believes its naming practices are worth continuing. Members said the opportunities facilitate fund-raising and visibly show gratitude to the people whose contributions keep the Civic Arts Plaza’s doors open.

“It’s one of the things we can do to thank and recognize our donors,” Moore said. “You really can’t thank them or recognize them enough.”

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Leaving a Legacy

You, too, can have your family’s name embossed on a piece of the Civic Arts Plaza. Here’s a look at the prices that have been paid or are being asked or a few of “the naming opportunities” at the plaza:

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1. $2.5 million Kavli Theatre

2. $1 million Parking garage

3. $2 million Forum Theatre

4. $500,000 Reflecting pool

5. $500,000 Mezzanine terrace

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The Name Game

In all, the Civic Arts Plaza has more than $16 million worth of “naming opportunities” scattered across its grounds. Here’s a sampling of what’s available:

* The street leading to the Civic Arts Plaza, which would put the donor’s name into the Thomas Guide and on ticket stubs: $2 million.

* The five-acre park surrounding the Civic Arts Plaza, future home of a holiday festival complete with outdoor ice rink: $2 million.

* The intimate 400-seat Forum Theatre, home to political and theatrical drama: $2 million.

* The 1,000-vehicle parking structure--complete with a long-needed paint job: $1 million.

* A fountain for the reflecting pool or either of the center’s elegant terraces: $500,000 each.

* The headliner’s dressing room, where the likes of Broadway legend Bernadette Peters, former O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark and country singer Lyle Lovett prepared for performances: $100,000.

* Any of the gnarled oaks dotting the site: $100,000; other types of trees: $50,000.

* A Yamaha grand piano, the wardrobe shop or the Alliance for the Arts’ executive director’s office: $50,000 each.

* A seat within the theaters: $1,000.

* An engraved brick in a walkway outside the Civic Arts Plaza: $50.

Source: Alliance for the Arts