The Segerstrom Center for the Arts of Costa Mesa, California likes to set out on their own path when it comes to building a fundraising event. Rather than the traditional route of a gala event, with its live and silent auctions, this evening focuses solely on the celebration. All fundraising has been done in advance. The evening centers upon celebrating its artistic community on the very stage where that art occurs. Catch a glimpse of the evening’s festivities at this year’s Segerstrom Candlelight Concert.
A Night on The Town To Celebrate A Year of Art
The Center holds a centralized role in the theatrical arts community of Southern California culminating yearly at the Segerstrom Candlelight Concert. The event originated as a dinner in 1975 that raised funds for the creation of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The dinner transformed into the annual gala that celebrates a year of building the arts through community.
Guests of the evening are patrons of the year’s $6 million in funds raised supporting the various arts, education and community engagement programs of the center. The evening began with donors greeted by a cocktail reception styled like a Palm Beach nightclub. Guests were then filtered into the Segerstrom Concert Hall where the main event began.
The evening involves celebratory performances including a headliner that in years past has included artists such as Elton John and Andrea Boccelli. This year’s concert was led by award-winning Hugh Jackman singing highlights from his many years of commanding the Broadway stage. Highlights included songs from Les Misérables, The Greatest Showman, and his latest film, Song Sung Blue featuring music by Neil Diamond.
Jackman was joined onstage by a children’s choir composed of Segerstrom students. He also spent time interacting with the audience throughout his songs. The evening closed with the Lucky Devils Band joining the stage for guests to enjoy dancing following dinner.
A Team Effort To Create The Segerstrom Candlelight Concert
Hosting upwards of 350 guests, this private event celebrates members of the Orange County arts community who made another year of Segerstrom events possible through their donations. We take it upon ourselves to match this elite presentation with the level of audio visual production services we provide.
All of this is made possible through our partnership with the Technical and Event Planning team at Segerstrom. The relationship began with Brite Ideas CEO, Greg Christy, who holds a 30-year relationship with Segerstrom’s Technical Director, John Oliphant, and an ongoing relationship with Senior Director of Special Events, Courtney Dudman Donley.
Greg played a part in the Center’s opening and we have been offering production services for the Segerstrom Candlelight Concert for the last 20 years. Collaboration has always been the theme of this relationship and this year’s production was no exception!
AKJOHNSTON also partnered with us and the Segerstrom team. They provided all of the scenic elements of the staging and on-stage dinner including draping, florals and table design. Brite Ideas designed the systems and gear to support these designs, providing the evening’s lighting, audio and rigging. This included the lighting system for the concert, dinner, dancing and audio for the band.
For the first time, we placed the concert rig lighting system downstage of the proscenium that worked better aesthetically with the challenges of the theater’s architecture.
Our work throughout the evening was also in tandem with Segerstrom’s seasoned operational crew. Together, we executed the vision and technical prowess of the evening’s performance.
The Stage Transformation: From Fun Performance to Formal Dinner
The Segerstrom Candlelight Concert culminated in a big moment where the curtain behind the onstage 28-piece orchestra dramatically lifted to reveal the dining design for the evening.
We overcame a very big challenge when, at the last minute, Hugh Jackman offered to play a part in the big reveal. It was the first time we had encountered an artist offering to be a part of this moment!
The orchestra conductor was able to work with the timing and played a reprise from The Boy from Oz so that the reveal could be done live. This was a big hurdle to overcome in our own planning since we’re usually working with pre-recorded music. This meant we were only able to run it once!
Usually the event is a very visual show, with projected images and LEDs creating a visual feast while this year was more scenic and live. This held different technical challenges that we overcame for both the reveal and throughout the show.
See the Big Reveal Moment in Our Event Recap!
What a Segerstrom Candlelight Concert Means to The Community
The overall impression of this year’s Segerstrom Candlelight Concert was that everyone loved it! While the concert portion usually holds a 45-minute runtime, Hugh Jackman provided an entire 90-minute act from his current worldwide Hugh Jackman Tour. His interactive performance went over so very well with the audience!
The current President and CEO of Segerstrom, Casey Reitz, even took the time during setup to stop everyone working on the event and personally congratulate them. Reitz exuded praise to the team understanding the importance of Segerstrom’s key event for the year!
Vendors
Venue, Client, Technical & Event Team: Segerstrom Center for the Arts
Lighting, Audio, Video and Rigging: Brite Ideas
Catering: Patina Catering
Music: Lucky Devils Band
Scenic Design: AKJOHNSTON
Photographer: ZERIS design
Videographer: Colin J. Horan Media
