The curtain may rise to a shortfall

FIVE months from opening night, fundraising for the new Orange County Performing Arts Center symphony hall that architect Cesar Pelli has clad in waves of glass is $70 million short of its goal. Center leaders no longer expect to raise the money in time for the Sept. 15 debut, saying the anticipatory buildup and the hoopla of the celebration should boost a lagging campaign toward a happy conclusion.

Borrowing $180 million through a bond issue has ensured completion of the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which backers predict will carry the Costa Mesa center toward its goal of being recognized nationally as a peer of such cultural fulcrums as New York's Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. But unless fresh donations pile up in time, leaders of the Orange County center face having to explain why the new jewel comes with a big mortgage attached -- and why an organization proud of never having run a deficit in its 20-year history could have to confront unprecedented financial challenges.

As things now stand, OCPAC will need to keep searching for huge sums to complete funding for the hall while also ramping up its annual fundraising from $8 million to $11 million to pay for operations. A consequence of expansion is higher ongoing costs, including interest payments on the construction bonds that would total $4.7 million a year at recent rates of about 2.6%.

"With a $70-million goal in six months, you're going to need people to come in with some pretty large gifts," said Vaughn Welty, head of the Southern California office of Brakeley Briscoe, a national fundraising consultant. "It's a pretty big chunk to me."

A long downswing in the $200-million campaign's fortunes began in 2002, after a blowup on the center's board led to the resignation of two leading donors, both high-tech billionaires. At that point, a funding drive begun with overwhelming optimism during 1999 had raised nearly half the money -- $96 million in donations and pledges. Only about $37 million has come in since, according to center officials. Two cases of embezzlement also have struck discordant notes in what OCPAC's leaders initially expected would be a triumphal march toward funding and building the hall. The second theft, uncovered last September, involved the disappearance of $1.85 million from bank deposits over five years -- the largest embezzlement in memory from an Orange County nonprofit.