Representatives from dozens of local arts organizations celebrate achievements, mingle before and after in Costa Mesa.
The 24th OC Arts Awards, recognizing outstanding achievements in the arts, has become Orange County’s most prestigious honor for those who have dedicated their lives to the county’s cultural life. Produced and hosted by Arts Orange County, the county’s nonprofit arts council, the awards ceremony celebrates the contributions of outstanding arts organizations, emerging artists and longtime arts leaders.
Tuesday night’s ceremony – which took place at Samueli Theater in Costa Mesa – was accented by a moving, yet slightly bittersweet moment: special recognition for Pacific Symphony music director Carl St.Clair, who will be stepping down at the end of the 2024-25 season after 35 years at the podium. St.Clair rose from humble, small-town Texas origins to become a major American conductor. He is currently the longest-tenured American-born music director of a major U.S. orchestra.
While it wasn’t certain that he would attend, because he was rehearsing next door at the concert hall, St.Clair did appear at the end of the awards and gave a heartfelt acceptance speech.
“I’ve tried my best at every rehearsal and every concert and every note and every phrase to just put my whole heart into it,” St.Clair said. “The whole institution of the Pacific Symphony does the very same thing because you, Orange County, the arts community, and Orange County at large, you are sitting by our side. You are inspiring us to be the very best orchestra that Orange County deserves.”
He concluded, “If you want to know what’s right, you have to look with your heart, because almost everything that is essential is invisible. Loyalty, honesty, dedication, hard work, trust, belief, mission, understanding, understanding of purpose …. I accept this honor with great, great humbleness and thankfulness. Thank you.”
The Helena Modjeska Cultural Legacy Award honored former UC Irvine dance professor Nancy Lee Ruyter, 91, for her lifetime of achievements. Ruyter is a respected dance historian, teacher and choreographer who retired in 2014 after 32 years in one of the nation’s most respected university dance programs.
Ruyter did not attend because of her advanced age. But Tiffany Ana Lopez, dean of UCI’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts, accepted the award on her behalf.
“I am so pleased and honored to be given this award,” Lopez said from a statement written by Ruyter. “I spent 32 wonderfully satisfying years in the dance department at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts … where I was given a unique opportunity to build upon and develop first-class programming with cherished colleagues. And of course, I loved teaching and directing all of our fine and enthusiastic students. I thank my former colleagues and students for these great and memorable experiences. I’m sorry I cannot be here in person.”
Another Helena Modjeska Cultural Legacy Award was given to Haskell and White LLP, an Irvine-based audit, tax planning and advisory business with a long history of supporting local arts. For 35 years, the company has provided business advisory services to many Orange County arts organizations, as well as charitable contributions and pro bono services.
Rick Smetanka, audit partner-in-charge at Haskell and White, accepted the award on the company’s behalf. He urged other companies and individuals to give to nonprofit organizations in need. Smetanka quoted cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead at the end of his acceptance speech.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world,” he said. “Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. So together, let’s go change the world.”
Achievement awards were given to the following organizations and individuals:
Orange County Music and Dance (Outstanding Arts Organization), which during its seven years has evolved from a dream to provide children arts training to one of Orange County’s premier performing arts schools and is planning a major new facility in Irvine’s Great Park;
Quyên Nguyen-Le (Emerging Artist Award), a queer Vietnamese American filmmaker whose work spans scripted, experimental and documentary formats;
Virginia Arce, exhibitions program coordinator for the city of Irvine, who organizes shows and events at the Irvine Fine Arts Center.
Last night’s awards, held in the heart of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, were hosted by Arts OC president and CEO Richard Stein and Cheer Pan, executive director of the Pan America Chinese Dance Alliance and a member of Orange County’s board of directors.
“I just think that one of the prime missions we have as an organization is to unite the arts community,” Stein said. “One of the ways to do it is to recognize achievements, recognize people who have been around a long time, people who are new, and organizations and patrons; but to do it in the form of a party. We’re the glue that holds the arts community together, and this is our flagship event that does that. People are hungry to connect with their colleagues and their peers, because they’re working in their own silos.”
“I think it was a very humbling experience,” Pan said of her first time as co-host. “I was very honored to be standing up there to represent the AAPI community. That was a big honor for me. Many of the immigrant communities – we stay in our comfort zone, because of the language barrier, and maybe a little bit of embarrassment, we just kind of stay with our own. If not for Arts Orange County, we wouldn’t be connected, we wouldn’t have that opportunity to go out of our comfort zone. So Arts OC is really connecting the communities.”
Arts Orange County has been honoring local artists, arts leaders and patrons with the Orange County Arts Awards since 2000 (except for the pandemic year of 2020). More than 200 people have received O.C. Arts Awards, Stein said.
This year’s awards ceremony featured performances by Ramya Harishankar, an acclaimed champion of dance from India; her son Aashray Harishankar, an accomplished composer and musician; and Gabriel Roldan, a 19-year-old sensation who is a talented singer of ranchera music.
Dennis Kim, concertmaster for Pacific Symphony, delivered a stirring, virtuosic performance on his 1701 Stradivarius violin to honor his music director, St.Clair. He received a standing ovation.
Richard Stein, quoted in this story, is a member of the advisory board for Culture OC.
