Latest news with #Hilbert
Los Angeles Times
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Mark Hilbert hides in plain sight, as himself, in Pageant piece
In a cast of volunteers with many children among them, it is not uncommon for audience members, and especially parents, enjoying an evening at the Pageant of the Masters to know exactly when and where their star will appear. The Laguna Beach-based living picture show has always featured a human element, casting individuals young and old to step in as subjects in the larger-than-life recreation of original artwork. A change in the crowd's decorum on Wednesday evening spoke volumes about just how many people were in on a not-so-well-kept secret. Where an audience might hold its applause until a piece has been presented for its full 90 seconds and the stage has gone dark, attendees were quick to react when the lights went up on Bradford J. Salamon's 'Monday at the Crab Cooker.' Mark Hilbert, who along with his late wife, Janet, co-founded the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University, stepped in to play the part of himself in the piece. It depicts three men — including Gordon McClelland and Salamon — talking over dinner. 'For years, we'd been talking about the possibility of an art museum, and so that was one of those nights where we were discussing what kind of museum we should have, what kind of exhibitions we should have, and just kicking around some creative ideas to come up with a unique museum,' Hilbert said. 'Then [Salamon] just said to the waitress, 'Hey, would you take our picture?' So she took the picture, and a couple months later, he walks into my office with the painting.' Hilbert said he never faced the audience during the experience, but he could hear the clapping. He attributed the cheering from the crowd to the museum's 'loyal following.' In coming face to face with volunteers in backstage roles as contributors to the costume, headpiece and makeup departments, Hilbert remarked that it was 'staggering' to see the coordination involved in putting on the production. 'I was in it for the fun,' Hilbert said of his one-night-only appearance in the show. 'I thought it would be fun. It turned out to be 10 times more fun with all the different staff people doing this for you, doing that for you. I felt like some kind of a king, or something. 'It was fun, and then when we got up to the moment of being on, it was exciting. This is an exciting moment, something I've never done before. I thought, 'This is great.'' 'Gold Coast: Treasures of California,' the current production of the Pageant of the Masters, takes viewers on a two-hour trip exploring many of the most-recognized art attractions and institutions across the state, including Balboa Park, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Hearst Castle. Hilbert, a Pasadena native and a retired engineer and commercial real estate investor, said he was 'blown away' to have multiple pieces from his museum — themed for California scene art — among the selected works for the show. 'It was a big deal for me,' he said. 'I could hardly sleep the night I heard about it.' While the art institutions themselves were widely recognized by attendees, Cindi Finley couldn't believe her luck that her longtime place of work was featured in the show. Finley, who went to Huntington Beach High, said she worked as a server at the Crab Cooker in Newport Beach from 1974 to 1998. She moved to the Tustin location until her retirement in 2005. Finley gathered with a group of women from her church at the Hilbert Museum, where she saw the painting of the restaurant. She then picked up a postcard carrying an announcement the painting would appear in the pageant, which she first saw at the age of 16. 'I didn't really read it, but I thought, 'Oh, this is cool,'' Finley said of the postcard. 'When I got home, I saw that this painting was going to be in the Pageant of the Masters, and I had to go. All of the sudden, all these emotions and thoughts and feelings started building about all the people I've waited on, all the cast of characters that I've worked with — very hardworking women. 'There's a history. You basically work with the same people, wait on the same people, and then I loved hearing Mark Hilbert's story — how as a little boy, he was on the [Balboa] peninsula the day they pulled the great white shark that now hangs in the restaurant, how he saw that. There was just this thread of homecoming and of a place that's been a significant part of my life.'
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
TSET sues Oklahoma leaders over new law it says threatens its independence
House Speaker Kyle Hilbert speaks to news reporters on April 24, 2025, in his office at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City. (Photo by Emma Murphy/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY – A constitutionally created board overseeing nearly $2 billion in public dollars on Tuesday asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to overturn a recent state law saying it threatens its independence. House Bill 2783, which Gov. Kevin Stitt let become law without his signature, allows the appointing authorities of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust board to remove members at will. It also limits members of the board to seven years. Members currently serve staggered, seven-year terms and are tasked with overseeing the public endowment fund. 'The purpose of having staggered terms is to provide continuity by new appointees joining other board members who have institutional knowledge,' the suit said. The seven members are appointed by the governor, treasurer, state superintendent, attorney general, state auditor and leaders of the Oklahoma House and Senate. Each of those officials is named as a defendant in the suit. The suit asks the high court to put the law, which takes effect Aug. 28, on hold and find it unconstitutional and invalid. 'As I have stated publicly for several months, the Legislature stands ready to work with TSET and our members were genuinely excited about commitments made by them at the start of session to collaborate on projects,' said House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow. 'Unfortunately, they've since decided to change course and now, instead of ever talking to us about their concerns with pending legislation, are going straight to the courts.' TSET is not a private sector entity, Hilbert said. 'This endowment consists entirely of public funds and as such, the elected members of the Legislature will exercise our authority in overseeing the expenditure of public funds,' Hilbert said. Lawmakers over the years have unsuccessfully attempted to force TSET to fund various projects, including Medicaid expansion. Some Democratic lawmakers have said they believe the new law is retaliation and an attempt to strip the board of its independence after TSET declined to immediately provide $50 million for a University of Oklahoma children's pediatric hospital in Oklahoma City. Lawmakers put $200 million into the project. Oklahoma voters created TSET, an endowment trust, in 2000 through a constitutional amendment after 46 states sued tobacco companies. The companies paid the states damages for illnesses caused by smoking. TSET's Board of Investors invests the funds. The earnings, which have grown to about $2 billion, are used to support efforts to improve health. 'The intent of voters was to keep politics out of the administration of the TSET trust, which has grown to about $1.9 billion,' said Bob Burke, an attorney representing TSET. He said TSET uses the fund's interest to pay for about $80 million annually in grants and programs including the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline, cancer research, and other community efforts to improve health. The suit alleges that only a vote of the people can alter the terms board members serve. 'Allowing an Appointing Authority to replace his or her appointment to the board at will violates the plain and unambiguous meaning of the constitutional provision and the voters in approving the amendment,' the suit said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Belfast Telegraph
10-06-2025
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
Famous fan who died at 101 taken on emotional last lap of beloved Irish League ground
The funeral of 101-year-old Hilbert Willis, who passed away on Sunday, took place today. The cortege left his late home, via the football club for a final lap of Lakeview Park, before moving on to St Aidan's Parish Church, Grange for the funeral service. Mr Willis had been a lifelong supporter at Loughgall FC, serving various roles. The club paid tribute, saying: 'No words are enough to describe this man who gave a life-long service to Loughgall Football Club and was known right across the Northern Ireland Football League 'Hilbert served the club in countless roles including chairman, vice-chairman, director, groundsman and indeed also a lifelong supporter, where until recently where his health deteriorated he would barely ever have missed a Loughgall game 'Hilbert has done and seen it all at Loughgall, we are in awe of the great man he was and will always have found memories of his stories.' Mr Willis lived all of his life in Loughgall bar nine months in Holywood after his parents moved there when he was a young man. In a previous interview with the Belfast Telegraph, he recalled becoming involved in football in the village 'from I was knee high…' before going on to become an important figure in the history of Loughgall, who were formed in 1967. In 2021 and aged 97, he completed a near year-long challenge of walking 100 times around Lakeview Park. Inspired by the fundraising efforts of Captain Sir Tom Moore in England, who raised £39m for NHS charities walking 100 lengths of his garden, Mr Willis did his laps of honour in aid of Loughgall FC who were suffering financially during Covid-19. He saw the club promoted to the Premiership in 2023. After defying the odds to comfortably stay up in their first season back in the top flight, the Villagers were relegated in May.
Los Angeles Times
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Hilbert Museum partners with Pageant of the Masters to tell a story of California art
When Diane Challis Davy, director of the Pageant of the Masters, was first invited to tour the Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange last year, she was struck by the many images she knew would be a fit for Laguna Beach's famed living picture show. Mark Hilbert, who co-founded the museum with his late wife Janet, walked Challis Davy through the museum personally and sent her home with art books to look through. She came across a painting in one of those books that she knew had to be included in the Pageant. 'Mark gave me some of his beautiful books and I took them home and right away, I knew that 'Monday at the Crab Cooker' was perfect for a Pageant tableau,' said Challis Davy. The work by local artist Bradford J. Salamon depicted three men having dinner at the iconic Newport Beach restaurant. Challis Davy knew the scene inside the popular seafood eatery fit well with the 2025 Pageant of the Masters theme, 'Gold Coast: Treasures of California,' which is intended to be a tour of some of the most notable works of art on view at California's coastal museums. Unbeknownst to Challis Davy, she had just selected a piece that documents the beginnings of the Hilbert Museum itself. 'I chose it before Bradford told me he is [one of the men] in the picture, Mr. Hilbert is painted in the picture and Gordon McClelland is in the picture,' said Challis Davy. On Monday nights the three art lovers would get together over a fish dinner and discuss the idea of opening a museum that could display the collection amassed by Mark Hilbert and his late wife, Janet. 'We would just get together and talk about art until we were deaf,' Hilbert said. The meeting of the minds was the first imagining of the Hilbert Museum as it stands today and Salamon said he recognized history was being made. 'I felt privileged to be watching the soup being made with Mark and Gordon and the idea of a museum,' said Salamon. 'As we kept going every Monday and talking, I realized I was really dealing with people who could pull this off, I was dealing with a visionary who is going to do this; and I thought I should document it.' Salamon joined Challis Davy, Hilbert and Hilbert Museum director Mary Platt on the evening of June 4 in a panel discussion at the museum discussing the painting and other works selected from the Hilbert Collection that will be featured in this year's pageant. The Pageant of the Masters has been a tradition at Laguna Beach's Festival of Arts since 1932, when a few living pictures were presented as the 'Spirit of the Masters Pageant.' 'It grew over the years,' said Challis Davy. 'Thanks to a fellow by the name of Roy Ropp, who was a builder in town and a painter. He is considered the father of the pageant because he gave us our name, Pageant of the Masters.' Ropp used his expertise to add painted backdrops on a larger stage and incorporated music and narration in the show. He is also responsible for introducing 'The Last Supper,' as the finale, a tradition that continues today. Each year the show follows at theme, such as last year's 'À La Mode: The Art of Fashion,' which put the spotlight on popular styles of dress in various periods. Challis Davy works closely with her team to find the right works of art to present that best represent the theme. 'Proportion of overall canvas to figure is very important to us and how the figures are aligned,' said Challis Davy. 'We are going to take this two dimensional painting and we are going to turn it back into 3D, so it's all about the proportions.' Challis Davy said she also keeps an eye out for works with meaningful narratives, something the Hilbert Museum prides itself on. 'We specialize in what we call California narrative art, which is art that tells a story, ' Platt said of the Hilbert. 'You can also call it representational art or figurative art. It certainly has people in it, or the work of people. You might see a boat, or a pier or ranch or road.' In addition to 'Monday at the Crab Cooker,' the pageant has also selected Phil Dike's 'Afternoon at Diver's Cove,' Lee Blair's 'Mary by the Sea,' and another of Salamon's oil works, 'Seal Beach Nighthawks,' which depicts a cold night at a seaside corn dog shack. The Millard Sheets mosaic 'Pleasures Along the Beach,' which is the crown jewel of the expanded Hilbert Museum and was relocated from a Home Savings & Loan building in Santa Monica, will also be featured in the pageant along with a third Salamon painting, commissioned by the pageant. Since the segment on Salamon will include the Crab Cooker and the corn dog stand, Davy was hoping to include a third work that depicted a restaurant or bar. 'I thought there is got to be a third one and I look and looked and I couldn't find one that was suitable for our stage, so I thought 'OK, let's take a leap of faith and let's commission an artwork' and that painting is now in the Festival of Arts' permanent collection.' Salamon was given a choice of painting the landmark Sandpiper lounge in Laguna Beach — affectionately called the 'Dirty Bird' by locals — the Swallows Inn or the Marine Room Tavern on Ocean Avenue in Downtown Laguna Beach. The artist went with the Marine Room, painting a scene of patrons at the bar and in front of the fireplace. 'I put different little Easter eggs in there regarding art history; on the far left there is 'Folies-Bergère' by Monet, there is Winslow Homer's 'Breezing Up,' which they have done at the pageant for many years,' Salamon pointed during the panel discussion. There is also a small cat peeking out from behind a bar stool, a reference to the 'McSorley's Cats' by John Sloan, and a balloon dog on one patron's hat, a nod to Jeff Koons. 'These were all little things that I thought would be fun to put in,' Salamon said. Mark Hilbert will also get in on the fun this summer, joining the cast of volunteers at the pageant on 'Hilbert Museum Night at the Pageant' on July 9 to play himself in the 'Monday at the Crab Cooker' painting. 'We are not going to ask him to shave for this but he will have to be subjected to the make up application process,' Davy said. The 2025 Pageant of the Masters opens July 5 and recipients of the Hilbert Museum e-newsletter will receive a 20% ticket discount. For more information on the 2025 Festival of the Arts and Pageant of the Masters, visit For details on the Hilbert Museum exhibitions and the five works selected from the Hilbert Museum collection go to
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hilbert Group Appoints Russell Thompson as Group Chief Investment Officer
STOCKHOLM, SE / / May 21, 2025 / Hilbert Group (STO:HILB-B)(FRA:999) Hilbert Group AB (Nasdaq: HILB B), a leading digital asset manager, today announced the appointment of Hilbert Group partner Russell Thompson as its new Group Chief Investment Officer (CIO), effective immediately. Thompson joined Hilbert earlier this year following Hilbert's recent acquisition of Liberty Road Capital (LRC), the renowned digital asset manager he co-founded. Mr. Thompson's distinguished career spans top-tier roles at AIG and HSBC Hong Kong, where he led Pan-Asia trading desks, and at Midland Montagu. In 2003, he co-founded The Cambridge Strategy, steering it to a peak of USD 3.5 billion in AUM through pioneering emerging markets derivatives strategies. Most recently, he built Monaco-based Liberty Road Capital into a profitable hedge fund and successful business. Mr. Thompson is a Hilbert Group board member and will be overseeing all asset management related activities in the firm. For further information, please contact:Barnali Biswal, CEO Hilbert Group AB orNiclas Sandström, Co-founder Hilbert Group AB+46 (0)8 502 353 00ir@ About Us Hilbert group is a quantitative investment company specializing in algorithmic trading strategies in digital asset Group is a Swedish public company and is committed to providing operational infrastructure, risk management and corporate governance that meets the ever-increasing demands of institutional Group is listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market (ticker HILB B) with Redeye AB as Certified Adviser. For more information, visit: Attachments Hilbert Group Appoints Russell Thompson as Group Chief Investment Officer SOURCE: Hilbert Group View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
