Muckenthaler Cultural Center Foundation

Our mission is to use our historic property and stunning grounds, as a home base for experiences that stimulate creativity and imagination. Our aim is to bring the arts to every inch of our region that has the need and the desire for it. 

Commissioned in 1924 for $35,000, the Muckenthaler home was built atop a hill in Fullerton by Walter and Adella Muckenthaler. The 18 room villa on 8.5 acres was donated to the city in 1965 by Harold Muckenthaler, who wished to see  his childhood home used as a cultural center for the public to enjoy. In 1999, the Muckenthaler Cultural Center villa received designation by the National Register of Historic Places. But that is just the story of the building.  And our story is one of people.  From Harold's three daughters, and their children, who remained active in our efforts, to the well developed partnership with the City Council of Fullerton, to the hundreds of volunteers, arts educators, and tens of thousands of patrons who grace us with their involvement each year.   We offer extraordinary exhibitions, performances, festivals, and engaging educational programs to Orange County's diverse communities and beyond.

In it's 52nd year, the Muck produces more than 60 performances, gallery exhibits, festivals, and special events and more than 6,000 hours of arts education classes at the Muck and in 42 outreach sites serving more than 41,000 people every year. Our goal is to continue to expand our programs and make them accessible to all members of our community by offering them free or very low cost serving the cultural needs of North Orange County. Our awards and accolades include the past five years alone include OC Register’s finalist for Best Museum, the winner for Orange Coast Magazine’s Most Eclectic Venue, the 2013 winner for Orange Coast Magazine’s Best Arts Education, 2014 winner for OC Register’s Best Art Gallery, 2016 Superintendent's Award for Excellence in Museum Education for STEAM Programs. In 2019 we have been recognized by the cities of Fullerton and Anaheim, Orange County, the State of California, and the federal Governments of The United States, Mexico, and Korea for our contributions. 

1. We are serving over 21,000 students in arts education at 42 sites, but continue to look for more arts education partnerships to better serve North Orange County. 2. By 2024 we hope have a new suite of classrooms built to replace our aging, temporary space. These will be designed to compliment our state of the art recording studio (built 2018) and our world class ceramic studio (built 2010). We need funding support for that effort. 3. We are in need of Board Development to ensure continued, measured, sustainable growth. 4. We constantly look for strategic partnerships among business, government, schools and nonprofits. Asa part of this effort, we need senior staff to attend conferences and gatherings targeted on professional growth. 5. Need more marketing help to get the word out about our programs and success.

The Muckenthaler is the only cultural arts center in the region. We primarily serve North Orange County (Fullerton, La Habra, Buena Park, Brea, Yorba Linda, Placentia and Anaheim) but we also serve other residents throughout the county.  Including, but not limited to, our work with Skyview Elementary in Santa Ana, a summer arts camp in Beaumont, and our five annual free-to-the-community festivals which serve a broader geographic area. 

The depth and breadth of what we offer to North Orange County is staggering.  We provide tens of thousand of people with free or low cost classes in a wide variety of arts.  We take our programs to prisons, homeless shelters, battered women's facilities, low cost housing units and wherever else they are needed.  Our partnerships include several local school districts in Fullerton, Anaheim Libraries, Placentia Youth Centers, Skyview Elementary in Santa Ana and Highland Springs Ranch in Beaumont.  Our services that we host here on our campus include our state of the art recording studio where we can teach music editing and production, our world renown ceramics studio, our summer arts day camp, and our camp for kids on the autism spectrum.  We have an internship program that trains dozens of future arts leaders every year.  What we hold most dear, is that it is our responsibility, by our nature as an organization, and our nature as members of our community, to enrich and enliven those around us.  Especially those for whom we are the sole avenue to artistic participation and expression. 

The Muckenthaler was given to the city in 1965 with the covenant that it remain a cultural center for the region. In 1995 the foundation took up that mantle. We take this covenant very seriously and work hard to bring the arts to our community.