What Laguna College of Art and Design is like

What it's like

LCAD is a focused, artist-centered community of roughly 700 students in Laguna Beach—an established coastal art hub with galleries and festivals. The college cultivates critical thinking and problem-solving through hands-on studio work grounded in foundational skills. The setting is walkable to downtown shops and beaches, and the curriculum emphasizes both timeless artistic practice and cutting-edge digital tools. Students are expected to be serious about their craft and engaged in their artistic development.

Academic feel

LCAD offers rigorous BFA programs across 11 majors (Animation, Fine Arts, Game Development, Graphic Design, Illustration, Entertainment Design, and others) plus three MFA programs in Drawing, Painting, and related areas. The teaching model pairs traditional representational training—drawing, painting, sculpture, figuration—with contemporary digital media and industry software. Faculty are experienced professionals who bring real-world practice into the classroom. The college maintains international partnerships with the Florence Academy of Art, the Art Students League, the Academy for Digital Entertainment at NHTV Breda, and Communication University of China Beijing. A liberal arts curriculum emphasizes critical and lateral thinking alongside studio work. Students can pursue minors including Art History, which adds research and curatorial skills to their creative practice.

Strengths

• Strong international academic partnerships enabling study and exchange in Florence, Beijing, Amsterdam, and Vermont, enriching students' exposure to diverse artistic traditions and practices.[1]

Recent news

LCAD hosted UC Irvine School of Medicine students for a sculpture workshop exploring human anatomy through artistic practice, demonstrating how the college's foundational skills in form-building transfer across professional disciplines.