Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens

Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens is a nonprofit organization located in San Clemente, California that provides cultural programs for over 40,000 people of all ages annually. Enhanced by its location in a 1927 Spanish Colonial Revival registered historic landmark that was once home to the founder of the City of San Clemente, Casa Romantica has developed a reputation for wide-ranging cultural programming, including music, art, dance, theater, horticulture, and a lecture series that bring international talent to south Orange County.Casa Romantica also hosts a variety of free arts education programs for children year-round. The institutions annual Casa Romantica Music Festival and Academy has received critical praise for its comprehensive two-week music studies program. Casa Romantica also offers a two-week Summer Dance Academy, a Spring Break Arts Week, a weekly after-school club, scholarship contests, a concert series, discounted tickets to top-tier music and lecture programs, and other arts education activities to grades K-12, and welcomes over 6,000 children from the Capistrano Unified School District and other local schools each year for STEAM-based field trips that examine the history of San Clemente and the coastal environment.Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens was named "Outstanding Arts Organization" in 2017 by Arts OC, Orange County's official arts agency, and was named "Best Cultural Center" in 2018 by OC Weekly. In 2020, Casa Romantica was one of the first institutions to launch comprehensive virtual programs for the public and for educators when the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency in March. The nonprofit has produced a robust schedule of virtual and socially-distanced (in the gardens) volunteer opportunities and enrichment events to benefit its community throughout 2020 and into 2021.Casa Romantica returned to fully onsite programs and events in April 2021.