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Laguna Art Museum gets new look with help from community

April 27, 2025

The Laguna Art Museum will have a splash of color outside for a bit, thanks to the community’s helping hand.

The museum, which sits along Pacific Coast Highway just north of Main Beach, got a temporary makeover on Saturday, April 26, as part of a fundraising effort to help the aging building.

About 400 donors contributed to the creative fundraising effort, with donations of at least $250 earning them a section to paint on the building for the “Every Single One” campaign. In total, the museum raised $400,000 through the effort.

The public art will stay until the museum is painted over in a few weeks as part of the rehabilitation project, the temporary canvas vanishing with the planned complete exterior repainting.

“Our goal is to restore the beauty of our facility while fostering a sense of ownership and excitement among our donors and visitors,” said Julie Perlin Lee, the executive director of Laguna Art Museum. “This project not only beautifies our space, but also encourages community involvement in the arts, making every single one of us a part of this journey toward renewal.”

Fundraising is “more challenging than ever,” she said.

Cindy Hauser holds Ollie next to his portrait that was painted by her husband, Ben Burkhalter, during the Laguna Art Museum, Every Single One, fundraiser on Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Carly Seelig, left, and Barbara McMurray take part in Laguna Art Museum’s temporary, Every Single One fundraising campaign on Saturday, April 26, 2025, to help raise money to paint the museum. For a donation, supporters get to adorn their unique touch to the outside of the building. The work will stay up for about a month before it is repainted. It has been about a decade since it was painted. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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“Standing apart from our wonderful colleagues out there is always challenging and difficult to do,” she said. “We’ll see if we start incorporating more creative ideas like this. The fundraising landscape is shifting so quickly now. People are uncertain about everything, in all sectors, nonprofits not excluded. We’ll see if it sets the tone for other projects and opportunities in the future.’

Lee said 80% of the organization’s fundraising is based on individual donations, and they were trying to find “a wild way to inspire the public to get involved. How do we draw attention to our building that is unique and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and help the physical aspect of our building?”

The museum has a storied history in the beach town, with roots dating back to 1918 when Anna Hills, Edgar Payne and other artists formed the Laguna Beach Art Association with the purpose “to advance the knowledge of, and interest in, art, and to create a spirit of cooperation and fellowship between the painter and the public.”

Following a fundraising effort led by Hills, the LBAA opened a gallery designed by the well-known Los Angeles architect Myron Hunt, still present as the Steele Gallery within the present museum building.

It officially became the Laguna Beach Museum of Art in 1972 and in 1986, the name changed to the Laguna Art Museum, with a physical expansion that completed the building as it now stands, adding galleries, public spaces, and staff offices.

The museum in 2018 celebrated the centennial of the founding of the LBAA and continues to collect and show California art, offer art education programs, and serve the community as a cultural and social center with programs in music, dance, and film as well as the visual arts.

Some of the museum upgrades needed include better acoustics in the building, lighting and visibility around the building at night. Being near the ocean makes the building especially susceptible to the elements.

“There are all kinds of upgrades this building needs,” Lee said. “But painting is the most visible aspect.”

Laguna Art Museum gets new look with help from community Orange County Register

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Laguna Art Museum gets new look with help from community

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