Desert Magazine: Tell me about your background.
Yvonne Bell: I grew up in Los Angeles. And my parents took me to the museums and the theater at the music center and the symphony. I've been participating in the arts all my life. I studied art history and studio art in college. I came back to Los Angeles and I was one of those fortunate people after graduating that said, "Well, I want to work in an art museum. Oh look, there's a new art museum opening on Grand Avenue in a couple [of] years. I'm going to go apply." I'd like to say that I was what is called the membership secretary, but basically I was opening mail and taking angry member phone calls because they didn't have their membership card. And in '86, we opened the Museum of Contemporary Art on Grand Avenue, and that started my career in fundraising in the arts.
Desert: Where did you go from there?
Bell: In '99, I was recruited over to the Center Theater Group in Los Angeles – … one of the resident companies at the music center. I had always wanted to work for Gordon Davidson, because he was an icon. In 2004, we opened the Kirk Douglas Theatre, and I worked very closely with Gordon on that. And then, Gordon retired in 2005. I worked with Michael Ritchie on fundraising at Center Theatre Group [and] left in 2021. That was during the pandemic … and there was a lot of turmoil at that time in theaters and in Los Angeles.
Desert: That was the big pandemic question: will live theater ever return?
Bell: Yes. It was like, "Oh my gosh, our field is so drastically changing. Will we ever recover? Will we ever get back?" And my husband said, "Yvonne, have you thought about the desert?" And I would say, "I'm not old enough to move to the desert." I was pursued for this position, and I thought, "Okay, I'm going to try something different." I was here doing fundraising, and we had great success. Under my tenure, we actually topped $10 million. I'm very careful. I never want to take a job where they're doing everything perfectly right. It's like, "Okay, they'll think I'm really smart when I make these small suggestions."
Desert: Those must have been great suggestions, if you’re now CEO.
Bell: They were going to do a search, and I thought, "Oh, gosh, that's going to take a year." And they said, "Yvonne, we really think you have what it takes." In my four years here, I learned enough [to say to myself,] "Okay, I got this." I have enough of a strong network in the performing arts and theater field –both nationally and regionally – that I can make a phone call. You're only as important as the people you know. I was named CEO in April of 2025.
Desert: When you became CEO, what was working for McCallum Theatre, and what needed help?
Bell: The McCallum has done things in a very formulaic way in the past. The season has been structured around the country clubs opening in November and closing in April. The country club audience is an older audience, a whiter audience. They like the old-time acts. They want to remember Simon and Garfunkel. So, we'll get a cover band that's Simon and Garfunkel[-like]. Very formulaic, and [in the past,] it worked. But, the world has changed, and the Valley has changed. The demographic age is going lower. If you think about the mission of the McCallum, it's to serve the entire Coachella Valley, and that includes an increase in full-time residents out here. Personally, I don't think we were living up to the promise of our mission, because that focuses on the whole Valley.
Desert: How do you change programming without alienating your base?
Bell: Seasonal residents are very, very generous. We have amazing philanthropists here in the Valley. When we previewed that season to our donors in last spring, there were some holes, and they made it known. This first season … it is what it is, and I think it's a very strong season. One thing I'm really proud of that we did this season, and we are doubling down on it for next season, … [is] having the newer Broadway shows – shows that haven't been on the road for five or six years.
Desert: So, you are getting the A-list companies?
Bell: Yes. There are booking groups in New York that handle the shows. It was establishing relationships with them. And in the past, there wasn't interest by leadership to get those first-run shows. You need to do dynamic pricing. The past leadership was like, "No, we set the prices. There are three price points. We set them at the beginning of the season and they don't change all year." But, that's not the world we're living in right now. Theaters across the country are doing dynamic pricing, and it works when you're not having the audience and you need to go to a lower price point. But, it also works when you have a hit show; we can charge higher prices. And past leadership also was very much of, "Nope, we only do November to April." And now we're expanding and saying, "No, we're going to try musicals in the shoulder months, and there's going to be a market for it." You also need to do eight performances as opposed to just five performances. And, oh I'm so excited about this – I heard this week that we are associate members of the Broadway League.
Desert: That’s an impressive step.
Bell: I know. And we had to go through an application process. I needed three references that were Broadway League members. So, I got a producer on our current board. I got our producing director at Center Theater Group in LA. And then, I also got a friend of mine who's the producer behind “Moulin Rouge,” who I knew. And so again, I’m using that network.
Desert: Adam Karsten told me that when he joined CVRep, he was not prepared for the high level of sophistication among local theatergoers.
Bell: It's exciting when you have an audience willing to go on that journey with you. I also feel that we are the only house in town that can do these major tours. The casinos can't do it. We're set up to do the Broadway tours. And so, when we book a season, that's the tent poles we put in place. We have seven musicals this season. I'm pushing to go for nine musicals next season – fingers crossed. The profitability is on the road. We worked on “A Beautiful Noise,” which is coming here. [During] two years on Broadway, they didn't make any money. Now, they're making it on the tour. But, that's where the money is, not on Broadway. All the investors are suing “Cabaret.” It's been open [on Broadway] for three years, selling out, and they have not gotten any money back.
Desert: Name some other ways you’re expanding your programming.
Bell: We all have our niches we fill. The other niche we have here is dance. We have amazing dance companies this year. We have Complexions Dance out of New York, and that was founded by two Alvin Ailey dancers. We have Body Traffic coming in – a younger company out of LA that'll really be exciting. I like dance, also, because it doesn't have language barriers. And probably the favorite dance show that I'm excited about is MOMIX’s “Alice.” It's not only about dance but it's also about storytelling. They tell the story of “Alice in Wonderland” in very creative-vision ways. We had Ballet Hispanico last season, and they did “Carmen.” Ballet Hispanico is a very revered company out of New York, [but] we had challenges selling tickets.
Desert: How do you promote shows? How do you market a company like Ballet Hispanico so people in the Valley connect to the cultural significance and the cultural connection?
Bell: We just had Camila Fernández here. Her father, Alejandro, is very, very famous. He's revered in the Mexican-American mariachi community. He's the father of it all. [Still,] we were on pins and needles. It was such a late-buying audience. A few weeks out, we'd only sold 200 tickets. But, the night of the performance, we had a line outside the box office of people buying tickets. I have somebody on my staff who's new, who came with her family, and she said, "It is clear that this is a place for us." So, I've also been focusing on hiring local people in the Mexican-American community that are a good fit, because I need them to know this is a home for them and they need to help me figure out how we can spread that message.
Desert: I read that over a million students have participated in programs at McCallum Theatre. Can you describe your educational programs, their genesis, and how they've evolved?
Bell: Our director/[vice president] of education, Kajsa Thuresson-Frary, started out here maybe 30-some years ago in development. [She was told,] "We want to start an education program. Can you look at that and see what that would look like?" Our education program was modeled after the Lincoln Center Institute. Lincoln Center was all about aesthetic education. Aesthetic education is a well-known term in the education world. It's using inquiry – students asking questions to learn critical thinking skills that help them understand [a] core curriculum. We have a faculty of teaching artists – about 10 [or] 11 of them – who work with the classroom teachers, teaching them about this inquiry-based learning, and then they lead workshops in the classroom. When we're in every classroom, they are having multiple experiences in coming to the McCallum every year. The McCallum is really a part of their life. It's not, "Oh, yeah, I went to a field trip there.”
Desert: What kind of programs do you think were most successful over the years?
Bell: I love dance, but when I think of all the art forms, it’s opera that raises the most money. They have the richest patrons. Dance companies are kind of at the bottom [in terms of funding]. They've really struggled. I've seen dance companies, especially in LA, where they've really tried back in the '80s, but they weren't making it. I'm glad to see that over the past 20 years, that there are dance companies that are thriving in Los Angeles. I think of programs like “You Think You Can Dance” and “Dancing with the Stars” has [sic] helped make dance a thing.
Desert: And did that have a positive impact for the theater?
Bell: The Palm Desert Choreography Festival began over in the park. It was created by Shea New [and known as the Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival], who's the artistic director. She and Kajsa got together and said, "Let's bump this up a few notches." It is for choreographers to showcase their work. Sometimes, the choreographers are in the piece, sometimes not, or they bring dancers. [The professional showcase] is on Saturday night. On Sunday is when we have pre-professional. If there's a dance group over at UC Riverside, [they can enter to perform it on Sunday]. At the end of Sunday, that's the showcase where we uplift the East Valley Dance Project. Kids at the two high schools in the Coachella Valley Unified [School District] have the opportunity to try out for the East Valley Dance Project. Anywhere from 30 to 45 kids are selected. They work with professional dancers and choreographers, and they create their own dance piece and perform it. There are so many wonderful ways that they grow from the experience. I heard that one student from the East Valley has been accepted to a dance academy back east.
Desert: What are some other plans that you have – I mean, pie-in-the-sky ideas?
Bell: We need more space. This week, we hired a development director of sponsorships who's going to raise money for our show sponsors. We didn't have an office for him. I said, "Sofia, you're moving in with me." So, my assistant and I are sharing an office. If I have a private meeting, I do it in the Founders Room.
Desert: That's shocking, considering the size of this complex. I saw some temporary structures in the back when I parked.
Bell: I know, I know. They're mobile homes. I prefer to call them bungalows.
Desert: I won't make any jokes about double-wide trailer parks.
Bell: Please. Thank you. But this Founders Room, during some of the shows, we can't accommodate all of our donors. And also, I want the opportunity to experiment with different size venues – so, a flexible space that could do a cabaret performance for 200 or a show for 400. I'm not going to call it a black box, but it's an additional flexible space.
Desert: You mean a space that you can actually construct for performances?
Bell: Yes. You can say, "I'm going to have the seating on either side, set up the seating on either side so the performance takes place down the center." Which is kind of fun, because I'm looking at you and I'm looking at the show, and it's a whole other thing. You can really experiment with that. We've been using our stage now. We can accommodate around 200 people on the McCallum stage. It's expensive to do that. In a flexible space, we could say, "We're going to create a cabaret setting with cabaret tables and seating." That's going to be less expensive. We could use it for student performances, as well. I just want to make sure that we're using every inch of the McCallum campus.
