Orange County Museum of Art
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| Established | 1962 (as Balboa Pavilion Gallery) 1968 (Newport Art Museum) 1996 (OCMA) |
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| Location | 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach, California |
| Type | Contemporary art museum |
| Director | Todd D. Smith |
| Website | http://www.ocma.net/ |
The Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) is a museum located in Newport Beach, California. The museum's collection comprises more than 3,000 objects, with a concentration on the art of California from the early 20th century to present. Exhibits include traditional paintings, sculptures and photography, as well as new media in the form of video, digital and installation art. Each month, the museum hosts events such as Thursday evening lectures, artists' talks and special activities for children. Some 20,000 children and adults participate in award winning education programs annually.
OCMA's history begins with the creation of the Balboa Pavilion Gallery by 13 Newport Beach women in 1962. The women founded the Fine Arts Patrons of Newport Harbor and rented space in the Balboa Pavilion building in order to exhibit modern and contemporary art. In 1968, the Pavilion Gallery became the Newport Harbor Art Museum. Due to the need for larger facilities, in 1977 the Newport Harbor Art Museum relocated to a 23,000-square-foot dedicated building located at Fashion Island.
In the 1980s, the Newport Harbor Art Museum looked to expand in order to house its permanent collection. A plan was developed in 1986 to build a new museum on a 10-acre plot donated by the Irvine Company and the architect Renzo Piano designed the site which included an almost 88,000-square-foot building built into a hillside. Plans for the new development failed due to political infighting among board members, rising costs and economic instability.
By 1996, the Newport Harbor Art Museum held a $250,000 deficit after several years of annual deficits. A plan was developed to merge the Newport Harbor Art Museum and the Laguna Art Museum into a single facility to be named the Orange County Museum of Art. The merger was bitterly opposed by members of the Laguna Art Museum and a lawsuit was filed alleging fraud by trustees of the Laguna museum. The merger eventually collapsed in 1997. However, a $1.8 million renovation and expansion of the OCMA building was completed, and the name of Orange County Museum of Art was retained.
As of 2013, the Orange County Museum of Art's annual budget is at $3.5 million.
In 2008, the museum announced that its new building, planned for the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, was to be designed by the architect Thom Mayne and his Los Angeles firm, Morphosis. In 2009, the economic situation prompted the museum temporarily to suspend fundraising. But in 2016 the museum revealed a new plan to move to a 1.64-acre (0.66 ha) site near the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, in Costa Mesa, given to the museum some years ago by philanthropist Henry Segerstrom, who died in 2015 at age 91. The museum would fund the new building by selling its current site to a developer.
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