Yvonne Beil | Exploring New Horizons for Local Arts & Entertainment: McCallum Theatre's Vision

Patrick Evans, Host: [: 00:00:00

Randy Florence, Host: Yes.

Patrick Evans, Host: So you should be very nervous. I've already interviewed Yvonne. She was on Eye on the Desert earlier to talk about the brand new season.

Yvonne Bell is our guest who's the CEO of the McCallum Theater. Welcome.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Thank you very much.

Randy Florence, Host: And I wasn't nervous until he told me I had to be. Why do I have to be? You had to be.

Patrick Evans, Host: She's a tough customer, that's why.

at do we've had four or five [: 00:02:00

Patrick Evans, Host: uh, at least. Yeah. Yeah. We, but we always, you know, we've always liked to highlight and I'm, we had SSA from the education department on, and, uh, it's, it's always, we had Gary, the voice of our producer, John McMullen, ladies and gentlemen.

John McMullen, Producer: There was Kaisa, there was Gary, there was Mitch Kirschenfeld. Mm-hmm. And there was Jeff, Jeffrey Norman. Norman. Jeffrey Norman. Yeah.

Patrick Evans, Host: So we've had a nice, long relationship with and, and looking forward to that continuing, and thank you for coming in. I know you're busy because season is almo. It doesn't feel like it, but season is almost upon us.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yes, it's almost upon us. The summer has moved by very quickly. It's August. Yeah. We're planning right now. We're planning on next season. And so we're wanting, we're getting that, trying to get that wrapped up. We go out and actually plan on the Broadway shows. So we're looking at maybe seven or eight Broadway shows for 26, 27.

We'll get those Broadway shows set and then we will put in, uh, everything else.

Patrick Evans, Host: So [: 00:03:00

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yep, absolutely. They're, we call 'em our tent poles, right.

Randy Florence, Host: Well, I'm sure that's very complimentary.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Well, our, our second tent pole then is the, uh, Palm Springs Friends of the Philharmonic because they're scheduling the big orchestras to come in right

Patrick Evans, Host: now. I know they, uh, have a phenomenal schedule including, uh, Josh Ell from the La Cal Mar coming in and part of his farewell tour.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yep, absolutely.

Patrick Evans, Host: Uh, Jenny

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, I think is coming, and that's a premier orchestra in the nation, but that is, it's an amazing series. And Lee Mills the head of the, uh, Friends of the Philharmonic, he then helped us for this season to round out our classical offerings.

John McMullen, Producer: And just so our audience knows, Lee will be with us in the next few weeks.

Patrick Evans, Host: That's right. He is.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Oh, good.

Patrick Evans, Host: Very soon to be a guest here on Big Conversations, Little Bar.

Randy Florence, Host: [: 00:04:00

Absolutely. And by the way, I just want to warn you, this is either the beginning or the end.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: So Great.

Randy Florence, Host: There's no middle ground.

Patrick Evans, Host: Once you appear on this show, I know everybody is skyrocketed to even greater success. We only have successful people on the show. That's right. So, uh. Taking over as CEO, I mean, this is a, a long and storied theater.

And you've been involved in, on the development side

t: Correct. Since, uh, may of: 2021

Patrick Evans, Host: So obviously you're very familiar, but, but this is a different role. So talk a little bit about transitioning into that and, and what the duties now entail. I mean, going out. Selecting the Broadway shows and then filling in the dates.

Robert over at the Wallace. [: 00:05:00

And that's been a lot of fun. When I started in development four years ago, I didn't really need, I knew what I was doing now

Randy Florence, Host: that makes it easier to do the job. Yeah. I

Yvonne Bell, Guest: don't need any help. That's why I eventually had to leave my career.

Randy Florence, Host: I never figured it out,

Yvonne Bell, Guest: but I know I know enough and then I know what I don't know.

So I'm always benchmarking against what are best practices at other, uh, performing arts centers.

Randy Florence, Host: What are some of those? Give us an example of something that you might have picked up from somebody else or one of your previous, like at Center Theater.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Um, well, I talked, uh. Staffing's a big issue. Um, if you look, how are you allocating your staff?

How many people do you have in this department? How are you getting these things done? Uh, we're in some ways we're very similar to the Wallace. We're running a season from September, which is early, but that's our new start of the season. Yeah. All.

ne. Through June, which also [: 00:06:00

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Absolutely, it is. Absolutely. And then you have two months that are down or dark and, but then you're going, so I'm, you know, for my conversation with the Wallace, it was, so how does your staffing model work on that? How many, you know, how are you allocating, what's your, what direction are you going? So it's just, um.

Yeah, it's great.

Patrick Evans, Host: Now, within this, I mean there obviously there's a, a kind of a wide camaraderie and network of great theaters in Southern California. Yep. You mentioned the Seagers seminar in, in Orange County and the Wallace. Yep. Uh, uh, when you, when you reach out to those, are you guys competing for some of the same performers?

r look at it as competition, [: 00:07:00

Um, I think, uh, if they can. Uh, really, uh, activate that audience in Palm Springs. Then I wanna make sure that we then pull from that audience over to the McCallum. Yeah, it's interesting, you know, being from Los Angeles, uh, we are so close to the plaza, but it's really hard for people sometimes to go from Palm Desert to Palm Springs or vice versa.

Yeah. And it's like really? Try the Santa Monica freeway, would you? Yeah.

Patrick Evans, Host: No kidding. Well, but that's the thing, you know, I think we all think in scope and scale because I'm in LA a lot and when I'm in LA like, okay, it's gonna be 45 minutes to an hour to drive wherever. Mm-hmm. But if I'm here in the desert and someone says, Hey, like Randy, he lives in LaQuinta.

He's like, Hey, come on down. I'll grill the stick. I'm like, that's a long way to go for, for a

Randy Florence, Host: steak. Patrick asked him renewed his passport, so

there's a border checkpoint [: 00:08:00

Right,

Randy Florence, Host: right. And it's funny because when we first moved here, it was nothing to go to. Palm Springs and then eventually it was like, eh, we just passed 400 other restaurants. Why don't we go to one that's a little closer? I don't mind

Patrick Evans, Host: going to any one of those locations at the farthest reach of the, it's just coming home.

That's problematic.

Randy Florence, Host: We've invited you to stay.

Patrick Evans, Host: I have dogs that need to go out. Okay. That's also a difficult issue. So, alright. Not competition, but, and you, you mentioned they're kind of your support network. Uh, absolutely. So tell me a little bit about, I mean, obviously you were on the. The development side and in that kind of world for a long time.

Yeah. Those were that, those were your peeps?

r Theater Group, which is at [: 00:09:00

Patrick Evans, Host: that's three different theaters. Three

Ahmanson theater. And then in: 2004

So that was, and we, we were a $60 million operation. Yeah. And I was there for 22 years. And I, it was a blast. We were not only presenting because we had tours come through the Ahmanson, but we were also doing a lot of producing. And that's where you'd lose your money.

Patrick Evans, Host: There's the hole in the boat right there.

There's the

Yvonne Bell, Guest: hole in the boat. And uh, yeah. So

Randy Florence, Host: if you just didn't have to bring in those performers,

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Uhhuh, we, the most successful year at Center Theater Group was the year that we had to renovate the Mark Taper form and it was closed.

Patrick Evans, Host: So you produced nothing. We did, we produced, and we had

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Jersey boys at the almonds bar.

Oh man. And I was like, wow. We have money.

Randy Florence, Host: How many people does the almond eat?

Yvonne Bell, Guest:: 2000

Randy Florence, Host: So, [00:10:00] um, you're at about 1700. 1200. 1200. And, and plaza's gonna be, you were an usher. Seven I. And I'm going to be again, as a matter of fact. Oh, good. You know how many seats there are. I only need to know about the ones in my aisle.

Um, well, my section, um. The difference in those 500 seat difference between the Plaza and McCallum? Mm-hmm. What is that difference in terms of who you can bring in? Are you competing? Will you be competing with the same people?

Yvonne Bell, Guest: I think we wanna tiptoe gently around each other. Um, you know, yes. Because if, if, uh, an artist, I think they're having Lily Tomlin, right?

use it's a, it's an intimate [: 00:11:00

And the, the, uh, McCallum is, uh, it's also an intimate feeling, but it's a, it's a, it's a bigger house. Um, what we've done this season that's been very successful, we started it last season, was, uh, our cabaret series. And that's where we do the, the performance on stage. And it's a cabaret performance with the artist.

Their back is to the audience or to the empty seats I should say. And then there's round cabaret tables and drinks. And so it's, and I really like that. That's really cool. It's really cool. Uh. Yeah, so we're also looking at a jazz series at the end of, uh, end of June, which I think will be neat because Okay, it's like, you know, 110 degrees in June, right?

tivate the different spaces. [: 00:12:00

And are you meeting the artist after a set? And how can you have that three day pass where you're like, I'm gonna go here. I'm gonna go here. Uh, we're partnering with Pacific Jazz Orchestra to make this happen. Uh, Chris Walden's their artistic director and he has. He knows his stuff. He has the connections and my, I meet with him tomorrow and his team.

My directive is let's make this first time successful. And if 200 people come, well, God bless 'em. They're gonna tell everybody. Yeah. And everybody's gonna be, uh, upset. They weren't there. So you have to build these things over time. Yeah. That sounds like a really

Patrick Evans, Host: cool thing. I'm gonna

Yvonne Bell, Guest: look forward

Patrick Evans, Host: to doing that.

I've had Chris Walden and I in the desert before.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: You have?

Patrick Evans, Host: Yes. He's neat. Yeah. He's a very, very neat guy.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah.

Evans, Host: Yeah. Um, okay. [: 00:13:00

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah.

Patrick Evans, Host: But that comes with, you know, great, great advantages, but some challenges. What did you perceive, like when you were stepping in this like, here are the things I need to be careful of because, you know, we we're building on great success. What were you looking out for?

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Wow, that's a really good question.

What was I, what have I been looking out for? I, I, well, you're all, you, you find the things that work. You're not gonna pull the plug on something that's working, but then you also wanna question. Is it really working? Yeah. And you gotta turn over those rocks and sort of, you know, and, and just check yourself.

on staff. They're, you know, [: 00:14:00

Randy Florence, Host: I'm like, so would that be like your fingerprints since you've gotten there, is, uh, we're not going to do what we've always done.

Patrick Evans, Host: Right. Right. Well, trying new things. I mean, I think first of all, expanding the season isn't huge. And I know that Gary Keefe, when Gary was on here, he, he said that right up front that that was one of the things that he envisioned, that he wanted to be much more of a year round. Yep. Uh, you know, gathering place.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yep.

Patrick Evans, Host: Uh, and resource for the community and it. Clearly you guys are, are working within that, that f you know, framework.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that goes back to we have an expanding population in the, in the Coachella Valley, and we wanna make sure we serve the entirety of the valley. I know that sounds like very grandiose and big, but let's make sure we have programming, that there's programming for everyone.

en it comes November through [: 00:15:00

So that's, Gary

Randy Florence, Host: talked about that also. Well, you a more inclusive audience, right? Yeah. And

Patrick Evans, Host: because you know, you have your core audience mm-hmm. And, and often your core audience and the people who are the, the donor class as well. Yeah. There's a big overlap, but you wanna reach out. I know that, that there's a big push to reach out to a, a broader cross section of the Coachella Valley.

another, uh, ticket brochure [: 00:16:00

And that was it. Yeah. And now you know, we're really leaning into social media. We're really leaning into how to, how to leverage our relationships so that. I mean, it's, it was easy back then, right? It's not easy. Well, people

Patrick Evans, Host: got the brochure and they bought their season and you were kind of done.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: We were kind of done.

Yeah. Yeah. It's

Patrick Evans, Host: a different, and there are, is that attributable? Because there are more places to go see shows. I mean, it didn't used to be. That's right. I know. I know that like Acrisure and McCallum don't compete. They're, they're two different, you know, giant. There's a big stadium kind of thing versus, you know,

Yvonne Bell, Guest: yeah, there's a big cross crossover audience though.

ve done to this community is [: 00:17:00

Patrick Evans, Host: Anca is Paul? Is Paul coming back this season?

Shh. He's one of my favorite anyway. Don't favorite performers. Okay. He does not like me. That is true. Um, there's a, there's a whole story there. Keep,

Yvonne Bell, Guest: keep your January open.

Patrick Evans, Host: Okay. I keep it my birthday month. Oh, okay. I think I can tell Yvonne this story. It's a funny story. Well, I think you should. It's a hilarious story.

I'll tell you this story because it's a funny story. So I went to see Paul an. He was performing not at the McCallum. And I was, and I sat down next to, um, there were three couples and they were like, well, you're kind of young for a Paul Lanka fan. And they're like, well, I, I've always enjoyed his music.

Mm-hmm. And da and they're like, obviously he's a concert. But I'm like, you know, all the songs. I'm like, yeah, no, I'm, I'm, I'm a fan. And they're like, and I said, well, you guys aren't exactly. The same demographic either, and said, well, we're we're his kids. They were all three his daughters. Oh gosh. So at the end of the concert, they're like, you should come back and meet dad.

on, you'll love it. So we go [: 00:18:00

First daughter hugs, shakes, hands with the son-in-law. Next daughter hugs, shakes, hands with the son-in-law. Third, same thing. He gets to me, he looks at me and goes. Who the fuck are you serious? Seriously, a hundred percent serious. And, uh, and so

Randy Florence, Host: you probably have a seat waiting for you. Uh, yeah. I feel like when Paul, I'm on, I'm on

Patrick Evans, Host: a list with Paul Enka.

I don't know if it's deal, but it was because the daughters were like, no, no, dad. This is Patrick Evans and he's the weather guy here and he's a big fan. And then he was, he warmed up, but it was really clear, like yeah, he wasn't expecting anybody else. What are you

Randy Florence, Host: doing in this room?

Patrick Evans, Host: Yeah. That's

Randy Florence, Host: good.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah.

That's my Paul Anka story. So what are you

Randy Florence, Host: personally looking forward to this season?

Yvonne Bell, Guest: All the dance.

Randy Florence, Host: Yeah.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: I am so excited about the dance.

ve expanded your dance? Yes, [: 00:19:00

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah. We're bringing in, uh, Parsons. Uh, body traffic out of La Complexions out of New York.

Complexions was founded by two, uh, Alvin Ailey dancers, uh, mom X, um, it's Mom X Alice. And the reason I lo and I saw him maybe 30 years ago in LA at the Wiltern. It is dance, but it is, uh, so visual. They have a lot of visual illusions on stage that are so creative that you're, it's amazing. I was

Randy Florence, Host: looking at their site today.

It's pretty, isn't it? Cool. Be really, really cool. I know. Yeah, yeah,

Yvonne Bell, Guest: yeah. So I, that's, that's my favorite. Of course, all the Broadway. Broadway will be a lot of fun. It always is. Um, and our Broadway Isn't Broadway. That's been, um, uh, been a show that's been out there for 10 years that, you know, we're like. As Gary likes to say it, they're down to, uh, two people in a truck

they've been on the road so [: 00:20:00

John McMullen, Producer: You guys have some desert debuts this year. Uh, with theaters, right.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Uh, debuts, I

John McMullen, Producer: think like isn't it the desert debut with like four shows I think that are coming

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Oh, that have first here.

John McMullen, Producer: Yeah.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. That would be Beautiful Noise. Hades Town.

John McMullen, Producer: I can't wait to see Beautiful Noise. Beautiful noise is gonna be amazing. I am like such a huge Neil Diamond

I ever saw was Neil Diamond.: 1969

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah. Wow.

Randy Florence, Host: And Beautiful Noise is just an amazing album.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah. Have you seen the show?

No,

Randy Florence, Host: I

Yvonne Bell, Guest: haven't. I've seen pieces of it. It, it did not do well on Broadway. Yeah. But, uh, a friend of mine had invested in it and she goes, Yvonne, the only reason I invested is because it's gonna do well on the road.

Patrick Evans, Host: And it has been doing well touring. Oh,

Yvonne Bell, Guest: hugely.

Patrick Evans, Host: So how many of, of the things that you bring into the theater do you actually get to see beforehand?

Yvonne Bell, Guest: [: 00:21:00

Yeah. Um, the other thing that's really cool we're doing that we've never done before, and that is we're teching, uh, the Grinch who stole Christmas. Uh, and what that means is the Grinch that stole Christmas, it's been around for a while. Yeah. But they're mounting a new. Uh, new touring production of it. They have all the pieces together and they need out on the road.

sure that all the pieces fit [: 00:22:00

Perform the tour here, so Wow. In a, in a way sounds like

Randy Florence, Host: their tech rehearsal. It's

Yvonne Bell, Guest: their, their tech rehearsal and then we're, uh, three, three performances of launching the tour. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah, and I, if we can do more of that. Absolutely. I wanna do more of that.

Patrick Evans, Host: So you guys are really trying some new, and I mean, that seems something that you guys have not done No.

Previously in the jazz series coming up. That's right. That. Yeah, we, so trying new stuff.

Randy Florence, Host: Yeah. And do you see any changes coming up physically to the theater in the future? B particularly based on some of the new stuff you're bringing in?

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah. I mean we, you know, and you got

Randy Florence, Host: the bar up on the second floor, right?

ome of us. Certainly for me. [: 00:23:00

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah. And the sippy cups, huh? Oh yeah. Yes. Okay.

Randy Florence, Host: Well it's nice to have those, 'cause I was a, an usher. Um. Right after we opened, after, uh, COVID.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Oh

Randy Florence, Host: yeah. And that was a very interesting time.

There were no sippy cups. No. How about ED

John McMullen, Producer: walls?

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Oh, for

John McMullen, Producer: visuals with shows. Is that something that the theater's looking at for the future?

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yes. I know that in the New York Times a couple weeks ago, there was a big article on, uh, LED visual effects and how so many of the shows on Broadway had it this season.

It used to be maybe 10 years ago, you'd see a show and they, they used video effects. I'd always roll my eyes and go, oh, that is such a sorry, way out of solving that creative problem. You just put a video up. Right. But it's not like that. It's gotten so sophisticated,

John McMullen, Producer: but I think things like a America's Got Talent mm-hmm.

rical performance these days [: 00:24:00

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well,

onne and John Neil Diamond in: 1969

I'm still there. Uh, I mean, I think that, you know, and, and especially if you're gonna start to try to attract a younger audience here Yeah. To do those sorts of things and you know. In television, we're always trying to figure out what is, what are the kids watching and what, you know, what is grabbing their attention.

So I'm sure for theater it is the same kind of challenge.

Randy Florence, Host: Yeah, yeah. Big time. You, you mentioned, um, an increase in, um. Potential attendees to the McCallum coming from an maybe an increase in population mm-hmm. Here in the valley, how do you guys look at that? How do you analyze and say, here's what's happening in the valley to help you figure out what you want to do the, the following year is there?

re there just people walking [: 00:25:00

Yvonne Bell, Guest: That's a, that's a very sophisticated question. Uh, we'll, who should I be talking to? Who we'll need to get to that sophistication. Okay. Uh, it, you know, really there wasn't a market when, when Mitch Schenfeld was there, he was, he booked everything.

Yeah. He was the marketing guy. He worked with a designer on the brochure. He was kind of the one man show on that. And you

Randy Florence, Host: just hoped he had good taste. Yeah. So that he'd be bringing in good stuff. Yeah. And thankfully you generally did.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yes. But now with, we have a, we have a marketing department. And it's, that is, it's great.

And we're, we have a, we're using an ad firm out of, uh, New York that is just steeped in theater. Pete Sanders is our fabulous publicist out in New York. I Pete's sitting

Patrick Evans, Host: right over there.

shows, knows everybody. You [: 00:26:00

You got Pete Sanders. Ooh,

Randy Florence, Host: let's mention his name a few more times. Yeah, yeah,

Yvonne Bell, Guest: yeah. No, he's a big deal.

CEO of said McCallum Theater.[: 00:27:00

Ready and we are back with from the McCallum Theater, Yvonne Bell, who has become the CEO this year, but working in development prior to that for the last, what, four years? Yep. Yep. Thereabouts. Uh, one of the things you. Uh, we're credited with revising Reviving the Muse program and kind of reinvigorating that.

Mm-hmm. Tell me about that and the importance that has to the theater and, and the ongoing operations.

nprofit, I've the, for three [: 00:28:00

So when I got to the McCallum. Uh, it was, it struck me that the muses were kind of over here. Mm. Oh. And it, and then the Macallan was over here and I was like, no, no, no, no. We're all one big happy family. Um. And that has been, so that's been very rewarding. When I first got here, I think they raised, they were raising maybe $300,000 and this last year they presented a check for, uh, almost $800,000.

Wow. So when you, when you lean in and you have really smart women that care so deeply about the performing arts and uh, theater arts, education for children, astounding things can happen.

lorence, Host: Yeah. We need [: 00:29:00

Would love that. If we could get our

Patrick Evans, Host: wives to listen to the podcast, acknowledge then we might be able to get them. She's just happy

Randy Florence, Host: I'm leaving once a week. That's

Patrick Evans, Host: right.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: That's all

Patrick Evans, Host: that's

Randy Florence, Host: for

Patrick Evans, Host: the podcast. My wife asked me, what are you doing? I said, well, I'm recording a couple of PO and she's like, oh, you're still doing that.

That's great. That's with Randy. Thank you for paying attention, sweetheart. Uh, I had the pleasure of him seeing the, uh, muse Gala this year.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yes.

Patrick Evans, Host: That was a lot of fun.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: That was a lot of fun. That's quite

Patrick Evans, Host: a group,

Yvonne Bell, Guest: those women. It's It is. It is. And that that event is driven by them. They go out and they find the auction items, they think thematically about what this is gonna look like.

The band table decorations, they are really into it. And they're,

Randy Florence, Host: they're competing against the results from the previous years. Yes. So they get pretty aggressive out there in the market. They do. Yeah, they do.

ut the season. Uh, they were [: 00:30:00

Uh, had a, had a big meeting. Oftentimes, you know, I get an email and say, can you mc this? Okay, we'll send you the timeline. That would, now we met at the theater. We went over everything. Like, it was very, I got a list of all of the auction items, all of the silent auction. Like, some of this I don't need, but that's okay.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah. Did,

Patrick Evans, Host: did they give you a paddle? Oh yeah,

Randy Florence, Host: sure. That came, of course, that came with it. Hey, I wanna get to know Ivan a little bit. Where are you from? Los Angeles. Born in Los Angeles? Yes. But you ended up at SMU.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Wow. You've done your homework. I

Patrick Evans, Host: have LinkedIn like everybody else does. We were just on the campus of SMU.

It's a beautiful campus.

e LA airport. Yeah. Uh, when [: 00:31:00

And my parents couldn't afford, we couldn't go on a college tour. I never knew even knew that was a thing. Yeah. So I signed, I'm like, mom, I, I think I wanna go to SMU. And I applied to a few co uh, colleges. I got in and I got a partial scholarship and I never saw the campus. And my parents literally dropped me off at LAX.

Said bye. They didn't even fly with you to

Patrick Evans, Host: No.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: No. Couldn't afford it, huh? I had to take a taxi. See at the, see at the break. I took a taxi from the airport in Dallas to Bose Hall at SMU and my trunk was there. And, um. You know when you're 17, you think you own the world. Yeah. Yeah. And then you go out into it and it is frightening.

Randy Florence, Host: Is that your first time away from home?

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Uh, yeah, to that extent.

Randy Florence, Host: Yeah.

nd it was so different than. [: 00:32:00

Patrick Evans, Host: what made you pick SMUI mean, and you grew up in la there are plenty of great colleges right? In your neighborhood.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Well, Dallas was a really big show at the time.

Patrick Evans, Host: Ah, oh yeah.

And

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Charlene Tilton went to SMU

Patrick Evans, Host: Oh, yes. The pop culture influence. The pop

Yvonne Bell, Guest: culture influence. No, I, I, I would've

Randy Florence, Host: followed her a

Yvonne Bell, Guest: number of places. Well,

Patrick Evans, Host: I wanted to grow up to be, uh, Larry Hagman, so, you know, there you go. So I get the, I get the Dallas though.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: No, and they had a good, uh, they had a Meadow School of the Arts.

There, which was a really, it's a really good art school. Mm-hmm. Continues to be. Um, and I did SMUI did it in four years. Um, it was, it was a culture shock, but I think that's the thing I learned from it. I was like, wow, there's people with fur coats and BMWs. Huh That wear a lot of makeup and have big hair.

Okay. Really big hair. Really big hair. So I became, and they all

Randy Florence, Host: had guns in the back of their trucks.

e and, and I kept with it. I [: 00:33:00

And they were like, no, no, no, no. I'm like, okay. So when I, after I graduated, I came back to LA and I just, because I wanted to work, there was a lot of people at SMU, uh, young women getting MRS degrees.

Randy Florence, Host: Yes, yes. Even more of them now I hear. Yeah, even more so. I'm like, okay,

Yvonne Bell, Guest: well I came back and um, then I heard this, uh, museum was, uh, gonna be opening on Grand Avenue.

And I thought, well, I have an art history degree. I wanna go work in a museum. And I started as membership secretary before moca opened on Grand Avenue. And I was opening mail and stamping, uh, $35 membership checks and taking angry calls from people that, um, 'cause they didn't have their membership card and they didn't have their, their invitation to the opening.

Randy Florence, Host: And you couldn't just point 'em to a website. No,

I couldn't point 'em to the [: 00:34:00

Randy Florence, Host: To actually, you had to answer the phone. It's better

Yvonne Bell, Guest: now. Yeah. So I, my joke with myself is I started in the mail room literally. But you did. I did. And I, I learned the whole, I ended up falling in development.

And I loved it. I was like, this is great. I get to kind of be the bridge between people who love the art farm and the organization to help that organization succeed.

Randy Florence, Host: Did you know you were gonna come back to California, uh, after SMU, had you thought that far ahead?

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Uh, no, I didn't really know. I didn't know what I'd do.

I, I, and then at the very end I'm like, I just, I gotta get outta here. I've got enough. It's too much hair. It's too much hair.

Patrick Evans, Host: Yeah. So, from the museum, what was your next step?

Exposition Park. I had been [: 00:35:00

I was hired on to do research on the campaign because they were going to be building and opening the new California Science Center, and I was part of the, the team that raised ultimately $131 million. Wow. To open that. To open phase one of the science center. And that was, that's where I got all my campaign experience.

And I think what really, uh, resonated with me is Exposition Park is in an underserved area of Los Angeles and I'm like, this is my city and there needs to be resources. The California Science Center was a free museum, and I was kind of a latchkey kid. You know, I had a. Key to let myself in because both parents were working.

, I'm like, this is a really [: 00:36:00

Randy Florence, Host: have you taken that

Yvonne Bell, Guest: to the McCallum? Uh. I think, well, I think I took what I learned at the science center. I absolutely took over to Center Theater Group.

Randy Florence, Host: Okay.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Because Gordon Davidson, who was head of, uh, center Theater Group, I started there in 99.

He wanted a third theater, and that was the Kirk Douglas. And so. That was, I was like, well, I can raise that money. He, oh my God, we had a model and we'd lugged the model around and we'd be meeting, and he got us a few meetings with um, uh, Kirk and, and Douglas. Well, the final meeting, he goes, Yvonne, come on.

like having a conversation, [: 00:37:00

And, um, uh, Yvonne, why don't you tell, why don't you talk to Anne about what you need and what we need? And now I'm just going to, uh, uh, uh, Kirk and hang out with, and I are gonna go out there. And I was like. You little shit, you just threw me under the bus. So I asked, I I, uh, I asked for 3.5 million. She said, uh, it was a $12 million project at the time.

And, and she says, well, uh, we're gonna do 2.5. And I said, well, will you help me get, raise the additional. Uh, funds, and she said absolutely. So they did 2.5 and then maybe a year and a half later, their son Michael did. Douglas did a million. Wow. And it was in honor of his father's birthday. Oh. So I've met, you know, been with Kirk and Ann many times.

I've never met [: 00:38:00

Patrick Evans, Host: You just Good to know. Now I know who we're gonna, yeah. Yeah. You just

Randy Florence, Host: say to her, do you still have a context? I, I, yeah. We'd like three and a half million dollars.

That's,

Yvonne Bell, Guest: yeah. Yeah. It's sort of, we'd like you always say, we'd like you to consider. Right. We'd like you to think about,

Randy Florence, Host: did you have any idea walking in, kind, what the range was that you'd be talking about?

Yvonne Bell, Guest: I, I did. I did. I, I, and this

Randy Florence, Host: is pretty brave, that's why I'm asking all these questions. No, that's really something to walk into a room like that.

Patrick Evans, Host: Oh. I think development is so, it's so daunting to me. And I work with a lot of people in development and I do a lot of charity work at town, but the art of the ask is, I mean, it's so, there's, there's science to it, but there's so much art artistry to it. Yeah.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: It's, I find it intuitive. I've never had somebody get mad at me.

like, you know, be insulted. [: 00:39:00

Randy Florence, Host: Well, presumably they kind of know why you're there, right?

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. And you, you just, yeah. You have to make sure

Patrick Evans, Host: they are expecting the ask at some point. But gauging where that ask is going to be is, is, I, I think a real talent, a real skill. The, the

Randy Florence, Host: gulp that I imagined was having the nerve to say, oh, well, could you help us get the other million?

But that's, that's where I would've passed out.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah. And, and sometimes you just need to, you know, swallow and be brave and like, okay. Um, because you're, you're doing it in the best interest of the Yeah. Organization, the community, the mission,

nce, Host: and they wanna do [: 00:40:00

Yvonne Bell, Guest: do it. Yeah.

Randy Florence, Host: What's the most you've ever gotten from a single donor?

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Uh, at one time or over, over the course of a relationship?

$8 million, I'm thinking. Yeah. Um, that's a good amount of money. It's a good amount of money. And the donor that did that for me, um, and this was back at Center Theater Group, she was on the board of Hebrew University in, uh, American Friends of Hebrew University. Hebrew University is in Israel. Mm-hmm.

Jerusalem. She was on their board and she always wanted to go to their, the board meeting in June, she took me three times to Israel. Wow. And I was like, yes, I'll carry your bags. Yes. And I was in, uh, and a lot of times she didn't wanna do the, the other, um, activities that were being planned. So we'd get other people and play canasta in the lobby of the King James, king James Hotel.

lem. Wow. That's awesome. I, [: 00:41:00

Patrick Evans, Host: You know, it it, I mean, in your business it's all about the relationship and sometimes those are you, you kind of plant a seed for a long period of time before it bears fruition, right? I mean, oh yeah.

You're working on this. Yeah. Working with donors, developing that relationship, establishing that trust to get to the point where you can say, Hey, now where we can, let's talk. Yeah. Yeah.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: And the relationship is the most important thing. So sometimes you don't even get to the, to the, to the ask to be honest, I will never sacrifice a relationship for money, period.

And I won't accept a large donation that, um. If I, if I strings

Randy Florence, Host: attached

Yvonne Bell, Guest: just yes, strings attached, or I know that I cannot, if I accept this, I'm not gonna be made able to make this donor happy. Oh. And I don't want that headache. They don't want that headache.

tting my checkbook away now. [: 00:42:00

Yvonne Bell, Guest: but

Patrick Evans, Host: I had my change purse out.

What will this 75 cents get me? Yeah, I was looking forward to the Patrick Evans Pavilion at McCallum, but maybe not

ner sitting at our, our table: 2019

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yes. How,

Randy Florence, Host: how did that come about?

Uh,

I know that you've helped so [: 00:43:00

Can we honor. At the, at, uh, for the LA drama critics, and I was like, no. She goes, yeah, you, you need to do this. And, and I'm so glad I did. It was so much fun because I think you can't just care about, you know, center Theater Group or the McCallum. You have to care about the whole artistic community. And there are so many, you know, struggling small theaters that are producing good work in LA and it's, it's like, how can we.

How can we help them? How can I give them fundraising advice? How can the artistic team at the at center theater group uplift them so that taking a play they've done and then putting it on the tape on, excuse me, the, uh, Kirk Douglas Theater stage for a two week run to get a wider audience. Yeah. To get more professional, um, uh, artists behind it.

, and that kind of stuff is. [: 00:44:00

Randy Florence, Host: Probably more important than necessary now. Yes. Than it has been at any other time because of kind of the. The, um, war Against the arts Yeah. To some degree or another that's taking place right now.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah, it is. It is in the whole NEA. Mm-hmm. And there's actually, uh, there's a, there's a big clash right now about, uh, these big organizations.

Are you gonna take that money that the NAA is awarding you or not? Right? And there's a camp that says, I'm not gonna take the money. And then there's another camp that says, no, I'm gonna take the money. And it's actually the smaller. Arts organizations that are a bit more socially motivated that are saying, we're not gonna take that money.

re just like, we don't wanna [: 00:45:00

Randy Florence, Host: Yeah.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: So it's, it's.

It's, it, it causes rifts inside the whole community.

Randy Florence, Host: Are you having challenges with any funding? Uh, at the McCallum right now? No. Is it most of yours private?

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yes.

Randy Florence, Host: Yeah.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Except

Randy Florence, Host: Patrick didn't write his check yet, but,

Yvonne Bell, Guest: well, we're

Randy Florence, Host: still talking about the Patrick Evans Pavilion we had. Yeah.

Patrick Evans, Host: So that's, there are some designs that we need to go over

Yvonne Bell, Guest: this, this local, uh, cities here are very, very.

Supportive and, uh, city of Palm Desert just made a multi-year, $1.5 million, uh, pledge to us. Rancho Mirage is consistently supportive with, I believe, like $75,000 every year. Um, LA Quinta's, uh, also been supportive. Uh, we're gonna start in conversations with Indian Wells. Um, but yeah, so that's the gover, that's the government support and the pride people have.

Yeah. In, in, in this, well, it's an

, Host: important, you know, [: 00:46:00

And, anyway, so let's get back to the season that's upcoming. Some, tell us some of your exciting picks that you're really thrilled to present this year.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Uh,

Patrick Evans, Host: I know you're starting to focus on next year, but let's talk about this year.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah. Oh, pull. I brought my program.

Patrick Evans, Host: I don't know what just happened there, but

Yvonne Bell, Guest: I was sitting

Randy Florence, Host: honest miraculously,

Yvonne Bell, Guest: and lo and behold, lo and behold, she's got a program.

Yes, I have a program because I knew you'd be asking me that. And we do almost like 130. I mean, you expect me to remember all that. Um, you know, what we've really built up is the Broadway Legends, and we have Megan Hilty, uh, coming out. She was in, uh, I first met her when she was at nine to five at the Ahmanson.

sh on Broadway and smash the [: 00:47:00

Wow. Uh, in New York. Um. Oh, we have Alan coming, coming. Really? Yes. I am such a fan. Yeah. I, I saw him in Cabaret, uh, in New York and he was amazing. He was also on The Good Wife, but I love his dry sense of humor. Yeah. And I, this is his own show and it's selling really well, and I'm like, yeah. I'm glad people know how D Diddy is.

Uh, Sutton Foster. She's amazing. I don't think she's really dating Hugh h Hugh Jackman, though. No, I, it's weird. I don't know. So he won't be here. No.

Patrick Evans, Host: Sorry, Randy. Sorry,

h. Uh, damn it. She was one. [: 00:48:00

And she's done some TV stuff and she is just, she is down to earth. She did, uh, the drowsy chaperone for us. At the almonds and she broke her wrist during one of her cartwheels. Oh my, no. Yeah. Yes. They actors get hurt and she, they had to, you know, cut out the, the cartwheel eventually, but she just, you know, kept on going.

Oh my gosh. Yeah. Oh my goodness. I mean, the, the stamina of some of these people. Um, I got

Randy Florence, Host: a paper cut here earlier, but I'm, yeah. When you persevere, I'm gonna make it through the show. We're proud

Yvonne Bell, Guest: of you. We're proud of you. Yeah. Workman's comp.

Patrick Evans, Host: I see a picture of Jay Leno.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Jay Leno, he's part of our comedy series.

's a delightful guy, just so [: 00:49:00

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. He's sold out, I mean, I'm sure two, two or three performances.

Patrick Evans, Host: He's phenomenal. He changed the oil in my car when he came. He's great.

He loves oil. He cars.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah. Yeah. And then we also, uh, we have the, uh, the lecture series, the, uh, Nat Geo, and that's where we bring in the scientists. And I never knew scientists were so articulate and engaging.

Patrick Evans, Host: Oh, no. That's a great series. It is. I've seen a couple of those, and they're, they're phenomenal.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: They're phenomenal. And they, they're really good storytellers.

Patrick Evans, Host: They have to pick the right scientists. Some are not.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: That's true. But the ones I've seen, I'm like, oh my gosh. They have you hanging on the end of the, you know, story. And I, I, I think for me, that's what it's all about. It's being a good storyteller.

Yeah. Yeah. And then you're just like, okay. And what happened next? Not wanting the show to end. Yeah. Yeah. Did the Lion eat you?

rence, Host: I think it may. [: 00:50:00

Yvonne Bell, Guest: . She's leaving the show. Yes. But they always bring great artists with them. Yeah. And we have storm large also in our, our holiday show, and she's so talented. Yeah.

Can't wait for that one. I'm so excited. Storm March.

Patrick Evans, Host: Storm March is performing with Michael Feinstein. I'm gonna see that. So they're doing at uh, at, uh, at the La Arboretum. Uh Oh wow. Part of the Pasadena Symphony Pops?

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yes. Oh, good. Yeah. My

Patrick Evans, Host: wife and I are going, so,

Yvonne Bell, Guest: yeah, because Michael Feinstein heads that up.

Patrick Evans, Host: Yes. The

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Pasadena Park.

Patrick Evans, Host: Yeah, he's the conductor. Yeah. Uh, I had one of my favorite interviews of all time happen. Two, actually. One was with Barry Manalow on the stage at the McCallum. The other one was with Michael Feinstein. And, and, uh, he did this fun thing. Uh, he knew that I liked the song Summer Wind.

e gonna start the interview. [: 00:51:00

Randy Florence, Host: So that's cool. Yeah. And did you?

Patrick Evans, Host: Yeah, I did. I finally got it right. Yeah, I was just,

you didn't have to fire him.

I'm like, come on kid.

John McMullen, Producer: Since you're working on 26/27, can I make a request?

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yes.

John McMullen, Producer: To have Rufus Wainwright brought back to the McCallum. I've seen him there before and I love him and I see that he's doing a lot of interesting stuff lately. So

Yvonne Bell, Guest: you got it!

John McMullen, Producer: He was so good a couple years ago when he was here.

Randy Florence, Host: He was really good. Okay.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Really

Randy Florence, Host: love, uh, rufuss. Yeah. Well, shoot. Let me, I got a list of people.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Yeah. Bring it on.

Randy Florence, Host: Can we get David Clayton Thomas back?

Patrick Evans, Host: Yvonne, this has been so much fun. Thank you so much. I know that you're, you know, in the midst of getting ready. To open the doors and you're planning the following season.

I know you're super busy, but we appreciate you taking the time to come chat with us.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Well, I appreciate your show and I appreciate what you do in the desert.

we hope your career has not [: 00:52:00

Yvonne Bell, Guest: You know this, this gig is my swan song, so hey, what the hell?

But this is a

Randy Florence, Host: pretty cool, if you gotta go, this is a pretty cool place to go.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: Absolutely. Yeah. I know

Patrick Evans, Host: and of course we are so grateful to the McCallum Theater Sponsorship. A big conversations little bar. Yes, wait. If it weren't for that, Randy wouldn't be able to afford guests to come here. So it's uh,

Randy Florence, Host: well, I'm, they're not paying the ushers yet.

Yvonne Bell, Guest: When they do, it's

Randy Florence, Host: a volunteer position. It is a volunteer position. You're gonna to go back to that. It's so much fun.

Patrick Evans, Host: Yeah. Yeah. That's very cool. I'm ready. Very cool. If on Bell, our guest, the CEO, the McCallum. Theater are, thanks to you so much.

Thank you. Thank you. Mac McCallum theater.org. Get the tickets.

They're selling fast, are all of some of the, your favorite shows are already sold out, so bear that in mind. McCallum theater.org. Randy, thank you very much. Great job. Glad to be here. The research department worked overtime.

Randy Florence, Host: Did again? Yeah.

Patrick Evans, Host: Smu. Yes. That's pulled that one right out there. That did. John McMullen.

s one of the hardest working [: 00:53:00

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