Ferdinand Gasang has served in several roles and has been the organization’s director of development since 2006. But that’s not all he loves to do.
Ferdinand Gasang, the director of development for the La Jolla Music Society, tends to shy away from publicity. But in his 25th year as a full-time staff member for the nonprofit that presents music and dance performances at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, his work and the connections he’s made along the way tend to speak for themselves.
“People, because they’ve known him for so long, sometimes forget how instrumental he was to what we were able to fundraise and accomplish,” said Leah Rosenthal, the Music Society’s artistic director who has been on staff for 16 years. “He’s very modest and he doesn’t sing his praises. So we’re all singing his praises for him.”
In his 25 years with the organization, Gasang has overseen $200 million in contributions for artistic and educational programming. He also played a key role in securing the endowments and capital support necessary to build and launch The Conrad.
The $200 million figure was announced in last year’s “State of The Conrad,” an annual review of the organization’s accomplishments and its goals for the coming year. Hearing that number took his breath away, Gasang said.
“It’s not only through my efforts,” he said. “It’s also through many board members and leadership here at La Jolla Music Society. It’s a lot of people who helped me raise those funds.”
The Conrad, which came with a price tag of about $70 million and $10 million in endowments, is one of Gasang’s biggest projects during his time with the Music Society. With a mixture of private and public funding, the 49,000-square-foot performing arts center broke ground in 2017 and opened two years later.
The Conrad provides a permanent home for Music Society events after it rented the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s Sherwood Auditorium and held other events around town.
The fundraising drive for The Conrad was “exciting” and “challenging,” Gasang said, but the opening was surreal.
“When I try to think of the opening of the building … I always try to remember ‘What happened?’ It was such a blur,” he said. “I remember holding the ribbon as we did the cutting, and that was about it.”
Long before that, Gasang was a student at UC San Diego in La Jolla working toward a bachelor’s degree in music. He picked up a seasonal job at the La Jolla Chamber Music Society, since renamed the La Jolla Music Society.
After helping with production of the annual SummerFest in the late 1990s, Gasang decided upon graduation to transition from part-time seasonal work to a full-time position in 2000.
Though he said it’s difficult to pin down a few memorable moments of his career, he sensed a thread of camaraderie, most acutely during SummerFest, a four-week chamber music festival that he describes as “one big summer camp.”
Gasang has worked in several positions, from assistant to the general manager of SummerFest to his current role as director of development, which he has held since 2006. He also saw the staff grow from 12 members to 32 and programming expand from about 15 performances a year plus SummerFest to 50-60 shows annually.
Rosenthal said she, in a lot of ways, has grown up with Gasang at the Music Society. She considers him an “unsung hero” at The Conrad for his hard work, which she said parallels his devotion to his friends and family.
“Our major donors and board members and the individuals who have been part of the organization for as long as he has and even longer … have such an affection for him,” Rosenthal said. “He’s almost become family to them.”
Throughout the changes that he and the organization have seen over the years, “the thing that remains the same is the people who come here,” Gasang said. “With a new series, there’s always new audiences that are coming. But there are so many people who have been attending the performances longer than I’ve been here.”
Multiple passions
Gasang said he originally envisioned himself as a music teacher. After settling in at his job at the Music Society, he still hoped to keep that dream alive.
“I was thinking maybe there’s a way to still be involved and help teach, which honestly I loved, but yet at the same time start my career in arts administration, which is something I had a passion for,” he said.
Gasang found a way to pursue both passions. With many San Diego County marching bands holding rehearsals on weeknights and Saturdays, he began moonlighting as a percussion teacher at four area high schools: Mira Mesa, Helix, Mount Miguel and Scripps Ranch.
As his other responsibilities grew, his involvement at the schools scaled back. After all, “it was a lot of driving,” he said.
Years later, a band director he previously worked with started a position at Rancho Buena Vista High School in Vista and asked Gasang if he would consider returning to teaching.
“The first year I said no,” Gasang said. “The second year I was convinced.”
For 19 years, Gasang has dedicated nights and weekends to the school’s program.
“As a teacher, there’s this love for seeing students grow … but also it was a way for me to keep up with my own playing skills,” Gasang said. “Often with percussion or any music instruction, one of the best ways to instruct is to play what you’re trying to teach them and show them how to use proper technique.”
And when he’s not fielding donations and teaching percussion, Gasang has a third home away from home.
“I think more and more people are learning that I’m a Disney fanatic,” he said. “It’s kind of unbelievable, but aside from the time here at La Jolla Music Society and also with the school I work with … when I have that extra time, I’m such a fanatic that I will go to Disney[land] if it’s just two or three hours.” ♦