Orange County Museum Of Art

"To enrich the lives of a diverse and changing community through modern and contemporary art."

Since its founding, OCMA has been a leader in preserving the art of our time. When thirteen visionary women came together in 1962 to open the museum - then called the Balboa Pavilion Gallery, they shared a powerful conviction that Orange County needed a venue where important art can be enjoyed. From the seed of this idea, a small art gallery became the Newport Harbor Art Museum in 1968 and the Orange County Museum of Art in 1997. As OCMA's collections, exhibitions, and programs have grown, so has its reputation of investing in artists and shaping art history.

The impact OCMA is able to make within the community is profound. We welcome over 220,000 visitors annually, including over 4,000 K-12 students that visit us for school tours. We provide a service of art exposure to many individuals and students that would not receive this experience otherwise. OCMA is providing diverse communities with the unmet critical need to experience contemporary art in a way that celebrates our art and artists, celebrates our unique communities, and provides life-affirming family and educational programs, free of charge, for everyone who enters.

We strive to provide the most engaging and exciting in-person programs and exhibition programming we can to best serve the residents of Orange County and everyone who walks through our doors, many of who would not get to experience the programs in the daily course of their lives. Support from our community partners allows us to expand our impact--bringing more art to more people, everyday.

We provide free admission to any person who walks through our doors. Though we reside in Orange County, a county made up of 34 cities, we are one of the most diverse regions in the nation by every measure: ethnicity, country of origin, language spoken, education level, income, and other socioeconomic factors. OCMA attracts visitors from the United States and all over the world including from the UAE, Switzerland, Germany, Hong Kong, China, Brazil, Australia and many countries in Europe. We provide access to art and sense of community to anyone from anywhere, inside or outside of our county, state and country. Our front door reads: "Everyone is welcome."

"Access to art is a basic human right, not a privilege, and we want to provide that access in such a way that everyone feels welcome and at home here. That is why the sign on our front door read: 'Everyone is welcome.'"

“Museums are public educational institutions, like libraries and universities, and are an essential part of every community. They are places of lifelong learning, and often, the only way that most people can engage directly with important art, history, and culture. OCMA makes art accessible to everyone, and as an institution, we are working to democratize who art is for – art is for everyone."