Inspiration to Transformation: Ralph Opacic’s Journey from Educational Leader to Consultant
Revolutions come from revolutionary people, and revolutionary people often look up to those before them. Ralph Opacic, the Founder and Executive Director (until his retirement in 2021) of the award-winning Orange County School of the Arts and the California School of the Arts-San Gabriel Valley, reflects on how his own influences and those who helped forge his path, taught him to never give up, and gave him the skills to give back to his community.
One of his biggest mentors was Paul Folino. “He was a generous philanthropist in Orange County,” Opacic said. “He was very involved with the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the Chapman Film School, and Fullerton College. He also helped launch many other nonprofits in Southern California. Paul often said: “A” players surround themselves with “A” players, and “B” players surround themselves with “C” players’. “And that piece of advice has stayed with me for the past 25 years”, says Opacic. A smart businessman and entrepreneur, Opacic stayed “laser sharp and completely focused on surrounding himself with “A” players to help make his schools wildly successful.”
Another mentor to Ralph Opacic throughout his career was Michael Mekjian, an innovative philanthropist who launched one of the largest and most successful office chair companies in the world. Having complimentary skills and compatible personalities with Dr. Opacic, Mekjian taught him to be ‘nimble’ in the face of adversity. “Being flexible becomes the key to turning challenges into opportunities” says Mekjian, a lesson that stuck with Dr. Opacic in challenging times. Mekjian helped Opacic take pragmatic steps during difficult periods, whether that was managing people or being transparent with parents about challenges. “He advised me to be transparent about the challenges and give those key stakeholders an opportunity to help solve the problem”, says Opacic.
Dr. Opacic, as he also reaped invaluable lessons from Dr. Jerry Mandel, former President of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts and the Irvine Barclay Theatre. As an excellent Arts Non-Profit Leader, Mandel became the person who showed Dr. Opacic the ropes when it came to bringing people together to create a shared vision. Without his guidance through the developmental years of OCSA, the school would not be as successful as it is today. Mandel provided support and perspective to Dr. Opacic, giving more clarity to the vision that is now OCSA. “Jerry was a great mentor in terms of advising me how to build a foundation board, to brand the school and the organization, and to invest in the people that would make the school successful”,Opacic states.
Another mentor Dr Opacic wanted to mentioned is Paul Musco. Paul was a generous philanthropist in the Southern California community supporting the LA Opera, Chapman University and of course the Orange County School of the Arts.”Paul taught me through his generosity and the way he lived his life the importance of paying it forward!”, Opacic says. Paul personified the importance of sharing with others the abundance of blessings you have been given. “Paul lived every day of his life with that generous giving spirit, which has inspired me to take all that I have been given, and all my experiences in my career the last 35 years and share it with other arts educators across the country”, Opacic states.
Future Aspirations: Transforming Art Schools
“I spent my whole career creating what I believe is one of the finest art schools in the country. Now retired, I would like to take everything I’ve learned and every experience I’ve had to help other arts schools across the country be successful.” Opacic said.
Ralph Opacic believes most art schools are led by people with little business acumen, a crucial quality required for success. Through his journey, Opacic learned how to turn a $350,000 dollar a year after school arts program into a $40 million dollar arts institution. Dr. Opacic is dedicated to spending the next 10 years of his life sharing what he has learned with other art school leaders across the country. “I think the best knowledge is learned by experience” Opacic states when it comes to helping schools nationwide serve more students.
Consulting for Schools in the Arts
Last year,Ralph Opacic was part of an Interim Executive Management team for the Harlem School of the Arts, with a special focus on recruiting and developing a dynamic, diverse Executive Management team.. “I had the joy of actually going into Harlem once a month for four or five days and helping with recruiting and developing their leadership team.”
He also worked with an art school in Pomona, CA assisting their leadership team develop a long-term strategic plan. “It was the start of taking what we learned at Orange County School of the Arts and the California School of the Arts-San Gabriel Valley and sharing those experiences with art schools across the country.” Opacic emphasized that at the Orange County School of the Arts now raises $14 million a year annually, compared to the average of $500,000- $1 million most other art schools raise. His strategy is to help leaders in the arts develop more business acumen to achieve their goals.
A Day in the Life
Ralph Opacic has a dynamic life and he is now focusing on striking a work-life balance. Last year, he had 3-4 consulting contracts with a schedule bursting at the seams. “I am trying to be more selective with the contracts I take now so I can spend more time with my wife, my kids, and my grandkids. I’m trying to take my experiences and, in a simple, easy way, tell people what we did at the Orange County School of the Arts and at the California School of the Arts-San Gabriel Valley that was successful so their schools can be more successful.
Expertise and Contributions as a Consultant
Ralph Opacic stated that over the last 38 years, he’s had to learn how to be not only an arts educator but a businessman, and that other educators in the arts should follow suit. “I have to reiterate: most of us running art schools are educators and/or artists. We’re not business people. If you can’t pay the bills, you can’t provide the product or service you are meant to provide to your students.”
He wants to educate other educators about the necessity of marketing, public relations, and branding your school so that their school can be the primary provider in the market. He also emphasizes annual fundraising development and having the parents’ support as a key strategy. Parents need to understand that if they donate what they are able, regardless of the amount, it will improve the educational experience for their kids. There’s a value here, which requires an investment by all stakeholders.”
Opacic’s mentor, Mike Mekjian, helped him understand the importance of getting the parents involved. “He basically said to me that the parents are the most critical stakeholders. They have the most to lose and the most to win if the school is successful.”At the Orange County School of the Arts, the kids flourish and Opacic credits that to the skills he learned from his mentors.
Contrasting Roles: Consultant vs. School Manager
From working as an educator to a consultant helping other schools thrive, Opacic says the contrast is “dramatically different.”
“As the CEO of a school, you’re constantly dealing with the day-to-day minutiae of the school: the problems, the student needs, the parent concerns, the faculty issues. As a consultant, you get to go macro. You get to look at the school’s mission, their vision, their core values, and their strategic plan. You are addressing issues at a much higher level than dealing with day-to-day minutiae.” While Opacic doesn’t complain about the day-to-day tasks, he does emphasize the fulfillment in helping a school go from good to great.
“Unfortunately, when you’re a school leader constantly in the weeds, so much time is spent on issues that are not strategic or visionary. I think that’s a problem with a lot of organizations. You don’t have the time to sit back and observe from a macro perspective in terms of what you want to do and be.”
“You've got a budget to meet, student discipline problems, parent concerns, and board and donor expectations to address. Being focused on these issues makes it difficult to pay attention to the most important thing: the more global perspective of what you're trying to achieve. I now have the opportunity to help school leaders think strategically.” Opacic said.
From learning from many influential leaders and mentors, running day-to-day operations at his school, to now leading other arts schools to think bigger, Ralph Opacic’s vision is to help rewrite the narrative of simply surviving day to day, and to help schools (and students) truly thrive. His dedication to sharing knowledge is key to contributing to this goal of expanding student outreach and success across the nation in the upcoming decade.
Your experience will bring such great value to your consulting. Thank you for your dedication to the professionalism and success of arts education.