In five years the arts fund-raiser Bravo San Diego netted $740,000 for the beneficiary organization, the San Diego Performing Arts League, which used the proceeds to fund various business/arts programs of benefit to its 150 members.

Bravo was conceived by Alan Ziter, then director of the Performing Arts League; the late Ron Bird, the event’s first co-chair (with Iris Strauss); Westgate Hotel General Manager Georg Hochfilzer; and producer Rob Appel of Appel Presents. Interviewed prior to the first Bravo, which was conceived as a one-time event, Ziter said the main purpose was to acquaint the area’s widely dispersed business leaders with the vast array of arts offered in San Diego.

Following December’s departure of Ziter to head the NTC Foundation, the arts league board reassessed programs and services. On Jan. 29, Andrew Brooks, its president, announced the league was ending its relationship with Bravo to concentrate instead on core programs designed to increase and raise the profile of its members.

At the same time, Bravo San Diego Inc.’s new interim executive director, Timm Dietschak, revealed co-chairs for the 2004 Bravo: Esther Jane Paul, a board trustee of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and Chuck Hansen, v.p. of community relations for Viejas Enterprises. The sixth Bravo is scheduled for Nov. 20, again at the Westgate Hotel with Appel as producer. “New to Bravo,” says Dietschak, “will be the sharing of net proceeds directly to the performing arts organizations appearing in the gala production.”

In the past, arts groups received a stipend many say was too small to cover expenses. Nonetheless, they participated in deference to the Performing Arts League. The league also successfully engaged local government support. With the league out of the picture, potential benefits for performing groups depend upon the new Bravo’s ability to generate profit.

Appel produces two other fund-raising events for the arts, Souljam and Summerquest. Souljam benefits youth arts programs through the San Diego County Office of Education Summerquest benefits local AIDS research. Media were invited to a Feb. 17 luncheon to hear of Appel’s plans for the 2004 Souljam. Over the President’s Day weekend a hand-delivered note was headlined: “Fiscal Responsibility Postpones Souljam.” In the advisory Dietschak writes: “The funds we wanted to bring to the beneficiaries just were not there. By postponing the event we can continue to work closely with our community leaders, as well as givers to make our goals foreseeable.”

— Charlene Baldridge