The Orange County Museum of Art has been a space for learning as much as it has been for art appreciation and relaxation since it opened the doors of its new $94 million building to the public last October.
Founded 60 years ago and one of the earliest contemporary art museums in California, OCMA moved several times before building its forever home at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa. The 53,000-square-foot building – the design of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne – has twice as much room for exhibitions as the previous Fashion Island location, and admission to the museum is completely free for the next 10 years, thanks to a gift from Newport Beach’s Lugano Diamonds.
Since its opening, thousands of people from nearby and around the world have visited each month, many participating in its community programs.
“We’ve had such a incredible response in the best possible way that we were overwhelmed and awed,” OCMA’s Director of Learning and Engagement Meagan Burger said.
And as the museum marks its one-year anniversary, it will be launching several new programs, as well as expanding existing ones.
Debuting this week, OCMA’s anniversary week, will be the museum’s first Spanish-friendly program, ¡ArteViva!, which celebrates contemporary Spanish art and culture. Materials and guides will also be translated into Spanish, and, in the future, a multitude of languages, said CEO Heidi Zuckerman.
“This is taking the idea that everyone is welcome to the next step and being able to offer materials and programming in languages other than just English,” she said.
People are at the center of what the museum embodies, Burger said, and first-year turnout has exceeded expectations.
From when the museum opened last year to August of this year, more than 300 museum-guided and self-guided programs have taken place, with 18,000 visitors participating in various public, family and youth programs. The museum also hosted close to…
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