Filling Voids

The decision by the Santa Ana City Council to spend nearly $9 million to expand Bowers Museum is good news for all of Orange County. So are several other museum development projects now in the planning and building stages.

In addition to the Bowers expansion, Santa Ana has been holding exploratory discussions with the Newport Harbor Art Museum about locating a satellite facility in its new museum district.

Then there is the Laguna Art Museum, planning to reopen Sept. 23 with about twice as much space as it had before. The expansion will give the museum enough room to show its permanent collection of California art as well as to book traveling exhibits and originate others.

And C.J. Segerstrom & Sons is discussing plans with the Los Angeles County Museum to locate the museum’s first satellite in the commercial development the Segerstrom firm has proposed in Costa Mesa. The new museum would give residents an opportunity to view the work of the masters and other Renaissance artists that no other museum in the area offers.

The new Center for the Performing Arts nearing completion will provide the theater Orange County has long needed. The museum expansions, and new satellites if approved, will help fill another cultural void and make living in Orange County an even richer experience.