UC Irvine Finalizes Acquisition of Orange County Museum of Art

Dear UC Irvine Community,

I am delighted to announce that UC Irvine has officially completed its acquisition of the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA), marking a significant milestone for our university and the broader cultural landscape of Southern California.

As of today, OCMA and the UC Irvine Jack & Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art are unified as the UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art. This integration brings together two celebrated institutions under a shared mission of public access, scholarship, and creative excellence. The name honors OCMA’s cultural legacy, highlights UC Irvine’s scholarly mission, and recognizes the generosity of Jack and Shanaz Langson.

This merger represents a unique opportunity for UC Irvine to deepen our support for the arts by partnering with a well-established museum rather than building one from the ground up. It’s a financially sound approach that preserves campus land for future academic growth while accelerating our cultural impact across the region.

The UC Irvine Langson Museum will continue to operate at both the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa and the Von Karman Avenue location in Irvine, with exhibition programming at the Irvine site scheduled through January 2027. The UC Irvine Jack & Shanaz Langson Institute of California Art, which plays a vital role in research, education, and curatorial practice, will remain housed at Von Karman for the near term and will eventually relocate to a permanent, on-campus home. Together, these sites will serve more than 220,000 visitors annually and house a combined collection of over 9,000 works of California and contemporary art, including the Gerald Buck Collection, The Irvine Museum Collection, and OCMA’s holdings.

Please join me in welcoming our new colleagues from OCMA to the UC Irvine community. We are excited to have you with us and look forward to all that we will accomplish together.

This is a proud moment for our university and an exciting milestone for the arts in Orange County. I encourage you to learn more and explore what’s ahead by visiting uci.edu/langson-museum.

Fiat Lux,

Chancellor Howard Gillman