Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara Announces August Closure
Leadership Says Venue Had Been Under Financial Strain for Many Years
The Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB), which for the better part of five decades has served as the city’s premier contemporary art-focused venue, announced it is closing August 28. The organization had faced financial strain for a number of years now, said Board President Laura Macker Johnston in a statement, and the COVID pandemic was the final nail in the coffin.
“Despite our best efforts to expand our donor base within the region, we have been unable to reach the fundraising goals necessary to maintain operations, and it is the board’s intention to act responsibly at this time to honor the institution’s legacy,” Johnston said. While MCASB will soon shut its doors, she explained, the museum is in talks with community partners about potentially continuing their popular Emerging Leaders in the Arts and Teen Arts Collective programs.
Founded in 1976 as a roving space and originally called the Contemporary Arts Forum (CAF), the museum moved into its first permanent home in 1980 in the historic Balboa Building owned by Bob Klausner, whose wife, Betty, was one of the CAF’s first organizers. It then moved in 1990 to its current location at the Paseo Nuevo Shopping Center.
