Endowment / Foundation

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Segerstrom Center for the Arts

The Segerstrom Center for the Arts opened in 1986 after the family, led by Henry Segerstrom, donated a five-acre parcel of their Costa Mesa land holdings and...

Segerstrom Center for the Arts logo

Segerstrom Center for the Arts

The Segerstrom Center for the Arts opened in 1986 after the family, led by Henry Segerstrom, donated a five-acre parcel of their Costa Mesa land holdings and seeded construction with significant private capital. The wealth originated with C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, the agricultural and commercial development enterprise that transformed thousands of acres of Orange County ranchland into South Coast Plaza and surrounding office, hospitality and retail assets. The Center's campus now spans 14 acres and contains three major performance venues: Segerstrom Hall, the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, and Samueli Theater. SCFTA operates as both a presenting house and a landlord for independent non-profit arts organizations. The resident companies — Pacific Symphony, Philharmonic Society of Orange County, Pacific Chorale, and South Coast Repertory — program their own seasons while leasing space from the Center. This hybrid model creates a blended revenue stream: earned income from Broadway touring productions and facility rentals, supplemented by contributed income from a donor base anchored by families including the Argyros Family Foundation, which funded the 2017 Julianne and George Argyros Plaza and the Center for Dance and Innovation. The Orange County Museum of Art also opened a permanent building on the campus in 2022, adding visual arts to SCFTA's performing-arts footprint. The Segerstrom Center maintains an endowment fund whose principal balance is not publicly disclosed. The Center's executive leadership, including President Casey Reitz, is active in national industry groups including the Performing Arts Center Consortium and The Broadway League, where Reitz holds Tony Awards voting privileges. The adjacent South Coast Plaza shopping center — still owned by the Segerstrom family — remains one of the highest-grossing retail properties in the United States per square foot, creating a symbiotic relationship between the family's commercial and philanthropic holdings that is unusual among American performing arts institutions. Unlike most regional performing arts centers that function purely as venues, SCFTA's structure as a campus developer and landlord for independent arts organizations makes it a de facto cultural district operator. The Center's model depends on a small number of anchor donor families rather than broad-based municipal funding, concentrating governance and capital decisions among a tight circle of Orange County legacy wealth — a governance profile more closely resembling a private foundation than a typical public arts institution.

General information

Firm type

Endowment / Foundation

Year founded

1986

AUM

Undisclosed

Location

Region

North America

Country

United States

City

Costa Mesa

Corporate office

600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, United States

Principals

Casey Reitz

President & CEO

Sector focus

Media & EntertainmentReal EstateEducation

Frequently asked questions

Who runs investment and programming decisions at Segerstrom Center for the Arts?

President and CEO Casey Reitz leads both executive management and artistic programming for the Center, a role he has held since 2020. Reitz is a voting member of The Broadway League and represents the Center in the Performing Arts Center Consortium. The Board of Directors, drawn heavily from Orange County's legacy commercial real estate families, approves major capital allocations and endowment spending policy.

How does SCFTA's campus model differ from a typical performing arts center?

SCFTA operates as both a presenter and a landlord. The Center programs its own Broadway and dance series while leasing theater and rehearsal space to independent resident companies — Pacific Symphony, Philharmonic Society of Orange County, Pacific Chorale, and South Coast Repertory — each of which manages its own artistic and financial operations. The Orange County Museum of Art, an entirely separate non-profit, opened a permanent building on the campus in 2022. This campus-developer structure is unusual among American performing arts institutions.

How is SCFTA related to South Coast Plaza?

Both SCFTA and South Coast Plaza sit on land originally owned by the Segerstrom family and are still connected through family governance. Henry Segerstrom, who led the Center's founding in the 1980s, also developed South Coast Plaza into one of the highest-grossing U.S. shopping centers. The family's commercial real estate holdings and the Center's non-profit operations remain geographically adjacent and share a donor base anchored in the same family wealth.

Which families beyond the Segerstroms are significant donors to SCFTA?

The Argyros Family Foundation is the most prominent co-donor after the Segerstroms, having funded the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza and the Center for Dance and Innovation, both completed in 2017. Additional major gifts have come from Orange County families with deep ties to the commercial real estate and technology sectors, though the Center does not publish a comprehensive donor list.

Where does SCFTA's operating revenue come from?

The Center relies on a mix of earned income from Broadway touring productions, dance presentations, facility rentals, and ticket fees alongside contributed income from individual donors, corporate sponsors, and foundations. The SCFTA Endowment Fund provides annual operating support, though its total balance is not publicly disclosed. The Center does not receive a formula-based municipal subsidy, which distinguishes it from performing arts centers in most other U.S. cities.

Is SCFTA primarily a Southern California institution or does it have national reach?

While physically rooted in Orange County, SCFTA is a nationally significant presenter. Its Broadway series is one of the largest touring markets on the West Coast, and its dance programming — including regular engagements by American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet — draws audiences from across Southern California. President Casey Reitz's Tony voting role through The Broadway League places the Center in a small cohort of non-New York institutions with formal influence on the commercial theater industry.

Does the Segerstrom Center for the Arts invest directly in commercial productions?

SCFTA does not publicly disclose direct investment or co-producing activity on Broadway or touring productions. The Center's primary business model is presenting and venue operations, not production capitalization. Any co-producing activity would likely be routed through the Segerstrom family's private investment entities rather than the 501(c)(3) organization itself.

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