Welcome to Laguna College of Art + Design (LCAD). This may be the portal to your future. For more than half a century, LCAD has remained located in Laguna Beach, a destination that needs no introductions. But LCAD’s reputation goes well beyond our beautiful coastal city that has attracted artists for over 100 years. Our campus will provide you with connections to a far-reaching creative community. Our relationships with California’s arts and entertainment industries will become your relationships.
Coming to LCAD means being among the most talented art students and instructors. It means being in small, intimate classes with cutting-edge computer labs that enable you to integrate your classical training with leading technology. It means you receive the highest caliber art and design education you can expect. Put, coming to LCAD means that you are going places.
LCAD has redefined the modern College of art and design. At LCAD, art school is not just a place where you mostly learn the theories behind what makes art and design work. We are the College that teaches you specific skills with tangible outcomes. LCAD leads the way in providing a skills-driven education that is committed to fundamental principles. Our track record proves that your mastery of classical skills and modern techniques will create unlimited opportunities for you.
Laguna College of Art & Design prepares individuals for careers as creative artists and designers in a culturally and ethnically diverse world through a curriculum that emphasizes acquiring skills based on observation, representation, and concept development, while embracing challenges of new, innovative technologies. The College is committed to offering its curriculum through accredited degree programs that imaginatively combine studio work with academic studies and to sharing its resources with the broader community through continuing education and exhibition programs.
LCAD is a close-knit community and provides you with personalized academic and student services. The dedicated staff at LCAD provides a variety of student services geared toward making your experience at the school positive and enduring. Each year, our Student Activities Coordinator plans student elections for the student government, community breakfasts and luncheons, and even a bonfire at Aliso Creek Beach. The Student Services office also provides individualized academic counseling, tutoring services, as well as personal counseling.
Professional counseling is available to assist students with problems that might occur while in schools, such as those involving classes, personal relationships, family issues, time and stress management, and disabilities. Students seeking mental health treatment can be assisted in obtaining appropriate referrals. Students are assured privacy and confidentiality to the maximum amount permitted by law. Students are provided up to 10 counseling sessions per academic year.
Donations designated to the LCAD Scholarship Fund, help LCAD attract and retain the best and brightest students, regardless of their financial backgrounds. LCAD Scholarships are awarded based on need and merit and are often a student’s gateway to a degree from LCAD and a career in the creative arts. Scholarship support may take the form of one-time gifts, recurring annual contributions, or endowed funds. Annual and recurring scholarships of $1,000 and above are awarded in the donor (or the donor’s designee) and generally are distributed in the academic year after they are received.
Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD) was founded in 1961 as the Laguna Beach School of Art, a non-profit college of art and design. In the early 1900s, artists, intellectuals, and entertainers began a thriving cultural community in Laguna Beach. Drawn to the area's stunning luminance, Plein air painters like Edgar Payne and Anna Hills founded the Laguna Beach Art Association. At the same time, screen actors like Bette Davis and Charlie Chaplin helped inspire the Laguna Playhouse's founding. These pioneering cultural ventures spawned the Festival of Arts, Pageant of the Masters, Laguna Art Museum, and Laguna Beach School of Art (the predecessor to the College). Nellie Gail Moulton was one of the school's founding members and provided the first significant gift to the then-fledgling College.
Since its founding in 1961, LCAD has grown significantly to include ten undergraduate majors, three graduate degree programs, eight minors, and a Post-Baccalaureate program. LCAD’s campus also has grown to include seven sites throughout Laguna Canyon and Laguna Beach that accommodate its student population of more than 600 full-time students. The College has been under the leadership of thirteen College Presidents, including our current President, Jonathan Burke. LCAD is now one of the leading colleges of art and design in the country.
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