Heidi Zuckerman to step down from Orange County Museum of Art's exec role
Heidi Zuckerman — who helmed the transition of the Orange County Museum of Art from a regional exhibition space to a capstone institution in Costa Mesa's Segerstrom Center for the Arts — announced this week she will step down as chief executive in December.
The Laguna Beach resident plans to focus on HZ Inc., a media platform she created in 2019 and through which she has created 166 installments of the podcast 'About Art,' probing the insight, minds and lives of makers and curators of art.
'I have the highest degree of respect for the institution and am its biggest cheerleader,' Zuckerman said of OCMA in an interview Thursday, adding that she will offer her assistance as the board conducts a search for her successor. 'I am staying in the community and will continue to support museums however I can.'
Her decision comes as she nears the end of a five-year contract with the nonprofit organization that, in 2021, brought her to Orange County following an earlier stint as head of the Aspen Art Museum, where she led a similar architectural transformation seven years earlier.
Officials broke the news in a release Wednesday, praising Zuckerman as a trailblazer who significantly contributed a 'legacy of institutional growth, impactful exhibitions, free access to art and community engagement that has solidified the museum's position as a premier cultural destination.'
'Her dedication to bringing world-class exhibitions and thought-provoking programming to our community has elevated OCMA to unprecedented heights,' David Emmes II, chair of the museum's board of trustees said.
'Though it is always bittersweet when someone decides to embark on a new chapter, we are excited to witness the great strides Heidi will continue to make in expanding access to the arts.'
Since the 53,000-square-foot museum, designed by Morphosis Architects under Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne, opened to the public in October 2022, the site has welcomed more than 500,000 visitors and has vowed to offer free admission for its first 10 years there, thanks to a donation from Newport Beach's Lugano Diamonds.
Zuckerman, who has long advocated for expanding public access to the arts, says she has been heartened to see the public's embrace of the museum, not only as a place where people can have transformative experiences with art, but as an important community gathering space.
'From the very beginning, I've said everyone is welcome, and I think we've done a great job of making people feel welcome here,' she said, describing the museum as a place where people can draw inspiration, find solace or connect with others.
'This is really one of the few places in contemporary society where people who have different values, different practices and approaches can literally rub shoulders with each other.'
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Los Angeles Times
16 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
‘Life of Pi' roars to life at Segerstrom
When Richard Parker slinks into the room, it is difficult not to catch your breath. The Royal Bengal tiger puppet is the star of the stage production of 'Life of Pi' and the puppeteers who operate him — Aaron Haskell, Anna Vomacka and Anna Leigh Gortner — have mastered the feline form. They move the 35-pound puppet with realistic movements and sounds that mimic a real tiger, making you wonder how safe you are when he breathes into your lap. 'We really try not to Disney-fy the animals,' said Taha Mandviwala, who plays the role of Pi in the production. 'We want to give them the physics that animals have, that sense of ferocity, that sense of weight, the sense that this thing has the capacity to kill at any moment.' Showing at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa now through June 15, 'Life of Pi' is based on the 2001 novel by Yann Martel of the same name, adapted for the stage by Lolita Chakrabarti. The story follows 16-year-old Pi who gets shipwrecked in the middle of the Pacific Ocean when the boat carrying his family and the animals in their zoo from India to Canada sinks. Stuck on a lifeboat for 227 days, he is joined by a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a tiger named Richard Parker. The animals play key roles in the storytelling and besides Richard Parker, the touring cast and creative team brings an entire zoo to life using the captivating puppets. Following the opening night of the production on June 3, Segerstrom hosted a demonstration of the tiger puppet the next day at the Judy Morr Theater where the famous kitty purred and chuffed at a nervous crowd. Movement director and puppeteer Betsy Rosen and John Hoche, associate puppetry & movement director for 'Life of Pi' U.S., joined Haskell, Vomacka and Gortner for the demo along with Mandviwala. The production is a decorated one, with three Tony Awards, the Olivier Award for Best Play and Hoche noted, the 2022 Best Supporting Actor award for a group of puppeteers' portrayal of Richard Parker. 'That means not only was a tiger nominated for an award, but a puppet was also nominated for this award and the team of puppeteers that brought Richard Parker to life were all nominated,' said Hoche. 'The incredible thing is they won, so that is a huge step forward for understanding and appreciating the art form of puppetry.' Operating the tiger puppet is a task that requires skill and finesse from three players, who each operate the head, the heart and hind quarters of the animal. Haskell, Vomacka and Gortner operate the tiger during about three of the eight weekly shows, since the role is quite physically demanding. The head puppeteer operates the head and cage of the animal, or the ribs, via a handle on the spine. 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24-05-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Huntington Beach man using ‘homeless' moment to spread awareness
Huntington Beach artist Chapman Hamborg is still dealing with the circumstances around his viral Instagram reel in his own unique way. A neighbor called the police on Hamborg as he went on a morning walk around the neighborhood with his infant daughter last month, trying to give his wife Hannah some time to relax. His long hair was in a bun, his clothes were worn and one of his slippers had a hole in it. The neighbor thought Hamborg was homeless. A police officer did come to his home near Sowers Middle School on that Good Friday morning to investigate. 'When he explained what happened, that someone had called the cops on me thinking I was a homeless person then had followed me back to my house, I was shocked,' Hamborg said. 'I couldn't believe it at first. I was trying to laugh it off, I guess, and then he asked for my ID. I came inside, and that's when I started recording the video, when I was looking for my ID and telling my wife what was going on.' Hamborg is still carrying the youngest of his four children in a baby sling in the video, which immediately exploded in popularity. As of Friday, it had nearly two million likes and more than 32,000 comments. Hamborg, 32, is trying to turn the misunderstanding into a positive. He's selling limited edition prints of his original painting, 'Unseen Paths,' with 20% of the proceeds going to support Orange County United Way's homelessness efforts. The prints are available at Hamborg's website, The painting was made before the incident but depicts Hamborg similarly, with two of his children. He explained that the flowers in the background are actually invasive yellow mustard flowers. 'It looks like this beautiful scene, but there's kind of this darker undertone to it, at least to me personally,' he said. 'When this whole experience happened, I thought that painting and those aspects about it are even more true for unhoused families, which I was mistaken for being. The imagery and the meaning behind the painting already lined up, and I wanted to connect it to the story and the conversation that was already happening from the video around people experiencing homelessness.' A mutual friend introduced Hamborg to Becks Heyhoe-Khalil, executive director of Orange County United Way's United to End Homelessness initiative. Hamborg and Heyhoe-Khalil will be guests at an Orange County Museum of Art 'Conversations with Artists' event on June 4 at 4 p.m., hosted by Heidi Zuckerman, OCMA's chief executive and director. No registration is needed. They will also host a special livestream event titled 'Art and Advocacy: A Studio Conversation with Chapman Hamborg,' on June 21 at 9 a.m., from his Hamborg Academy of Art studio in Huntington Beach. 'Chapman's curiosity around homelessness has been something so wonderful to engage with,' Heyhoe-Khalil said. 'Getting to know Chapman and just the beautiful heart that he has and the compassion that he has, the desire to use this for the greater good, it fit beautifully with the mission we have at United to End Homelessness at United Way. It's been a really natural way to collaborate.' According to a 2023 UCI-OC poll, 71% of O.C. residents see homelessness as a 'serious problem,' with affordable housing close behind at 69%. As of March, there were 410 families experiencing homelessness in Orange County registered with its family Coordinated Entry System, Heyhoe-Khalil said. That total included 715 children, with 244 of those under the age of 5. 'They've provided all of their documentation, they've done everything that the homelessness system has asked them to do to help them get connected to housing,' she said. Things are not exactly getting easier for them. Emergency housing vouchers that have been available since 2021 are reportedly set to run out of funding next year. Additionally, President Trump has proposed cuts to federal rental assistance. 'One of the things I love about what Chapman is doing is helping open people's eyes, ask questions and challenging assumptions,' Heyhoe-Khalil said. 'Many of the people who have watched the video online have said, 'You do look like you're homeless.' The flip side of that is that they're walking past people, driving past people every day who don't look like they're experiencing homelessness but who are, and they have no idea.' Hamborg realizes the circumstances around that April morning were complicated, not black and white. He said he thinks he knows the identity of his neighbor who called the police, but he's not exactly sure. He wants to talk to her, not to scold her but partially to thank her for her vigilance. 'She's a neighbor concerned for the safety of the baby and the neighborhood, but also, it's crazy for people who are dealing with homelessness to have to deal with this kind of stuff,' he said. 'What if it was a great parent who is trying to get their baby to sleep but they happen to be unhoused? Why should the cops be called on them? Just because they're experiencing homelessness doesn't mean that the baby is in danger, or that the mom is a bad mom or the dad is a bad dad.' Hamborg said his father instilled in him compassion for the homeless. Now he's using that compassion to try and spark a bigger conversation. In his viral Instagram video, he asked, 'If you saw me would you have thought I was homeless?' About two-thirds of the more than 500,000 poll respondents have voted, 'No.' Of course, his association with the video also has to be considered. A People Magazine article has also heightened his celebrity. 'I went to the grocery store [Monday] and got stopped a few times by people asking if I was the homeless guy,' Hamborg said. 'They were very excited to meet me, which was interesting. It was funny. I'm like, 'Yeah, that's me.' 'I'm just glad that this whole conversation is taking place. It's cool to see fruit come from it already, whether it's me selling paintings and the business growing, and then people having conversations about this important topic.'
