Makeover Proceeds on Soggy Festival Grounds

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Behind the Festival of Arts’ elegant façade and surrounded by scruffy construction fences, the grounds of the town’s most high-profile arts festival remain a mud mound, a highly anticipated $10 million construction project slowed by a series of recent storms.

And more La Niña induced deluges are forecast. Even so, the Festival of Arts board says it remains confident that the project, involving newly laid out exhibition spaces and other amenities, will be finished on time and allow for the annual art show and Pageant of the Masters production to open as scheduled, July 7.

“We are challenged, but we are not devastated,” said Fred Sattler, president. “We have factored 15 rain days into the schedule.” So far, they’ve used up eight days, he said, but remains optimistic and ready to reassess in early spring if necessary.

Challenges include having to re-dig washed away trenches for sewer and water lines, installing electrical utilities and digging out foundations, said Greg Tate, associate principal architect at Bauer Architects. He also noted that the grounds contain ideal soil that absorbs excess moisture and dries out quickly after rain. “Changes and adjustments are very normal. Construction is a rough and tumble affair in the best of circumstances.” he said.

Motivated by forecasts of El Niño bred storms for last winter, the festival board prudently delayed reconstructing the grounds by a year. While the predictions proved inaccurate, the board confidently green lighted the demolition of the old facilities last fall. Turner Construction began work under the design leadership of the Newport Beach firm Bauer Architects.

Then the rains came.

An aerial view of what’s behind the construction fence at the Festival of Arts grounds as of Jan. 14. Photo by Tom Lamb.
An aerial view of what’s behind the construction fence at the Festival of Arts grounds as of Jan. 14. Photo by Tom Lamb.

For now, Sattler still expects the majority of the project to be completed by the end of May. Last year, he publicly pledged to decamp for Brazil if the project wasn’t ready on time. It remains to be seen whether Sattler will seek a visa.

Peter Felsch, a National Weather Service meteorologist at the weather service unit in Palmdale, said, “we are in a weak La Niña with sea surface temperatures being below normal now, but by February they are expected to be normal.” While last year’s anticipated rainstorms materialized mostly in Northern California, this year all of California has been hit by low-pressure systems, which lead to frequent storms, he explained. From February to April, normal winter precipitation is predicted, he said.

Still, Felsch and Brett Albright, a San Diego colleague, agree that long-range climate behavior can be hard to predict. “Everyone expected the craziness of ’98 with its mudslides last year,” added Albright.

Meanwhile the festival still expects to showcase 140 artists in the summer even if some aspects of the renovation might require fine-tuning.

Artist Betty Haight, an eight-year festival exhibitor, expects to roll with the punches. “I see a lot of rain, but I am confident it will all come out okay. As long as we have our booths in place, we can all be flexible even if it’s not perfect this year,” she said.

Photographer Tom Lamb, a board member and festival exhibitor, shares her confidence. “All the steel structures are being currently assembled, and we are ready to work on the hardscape,” he said. “It’s like a growing tree.”

Fellow board member and 38-year exhibitor Scott Moore said that construction crews work any day it’s dry, weekends and holidays to meet their deadline.

Neither the festival board nor the artists have made contingency exhibition plans.

Gary Fowler, operations manager for the festival and pageant, said negotiating the grounds is challenging, but doable. He recently shepherded prospective pageant cast members by a circuitous route, around the tennis courts and surrounding side streets to the Irvine Bowl.

Pageant facilities, at the rear of the grounds, are unaffected by the construction but surrounding territory is hardhat area only, pitted with potholes and covered by doormats keeping the mud at bay. “We are planning ahead, and even without rain, living among construction can be challenging,” he said.

Sattler said $7 million is budgeted for structures and another $3 million for roofing. The project entails newly laid out gallery spaces protected by tensile roofing, a multi-use entertainment stage replete with storage facilities, redesigned art workshop spaces, wider pathways and new restroom facilities offering more stalls for women, said Bauer’s Tate.

The firm also designed the new exterior facade for the festival, recognized with a merit award by the Orange County chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and is expected to receive another design award for the festival grounds, he said.

 

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