Toast to the Casa: The Golden Age of Hollywood
Support Casa Romantica at Toast to the Casa with high-energy music and dancing, food and drinks from 25+ vendors, fun-filled games, and a dazzling selection of live and silent auction items. Raise a glass to the Golden Age at the historic Casino in San Clemente featuring the Main Stage Star: Lizzy and the Triggermen. Funds raised at Toast to the Casa support Casa Romantica’s community, artistic, and preservation programs.
2023 Honoree: James Irvine Swinden
James Irvine Swinden is owner of A.R.C. Properties and is active in philanthropic affairs. Mr. Swinden is also president of The Irvine Museum, a public museum dedicated to California Impressionism. In addition to overseeing the museum’s daily operations, exhibits, traveling shows and publications, he gives lectures regarding the artistic and environmental significance of the Museum’s collection.
Mr. Swinden also serves as the president and chief financial officer of the Joan Irvine Smith & Athalie R. Clarke Foundation, a private grant-making foundation that supports environmental, artistic and medical research activities.
In 2003 Mr. Swinden was appointed by Governor Gray Davis and was re-appointed in 2004 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and served under Governor Jerry Brown on the California Cultural and Historical Endowment, a state commission that awards competitive grants to encourage a diverse reflection of the historic and cultural value of all of California’s residents. He is also a trustee of the University of California, Irvine (UCI), serves on the UCI Foundation’s Finance Committee, a founding member of the UCI Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing Dean’s Cabinet, and chair of the UCI Health Advancement MCI Art Committee. He is the chair of The Irvine Museum Collection at the UCI Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art and a member of the Advisory Board of the newly founded UCI School of Law. In 1997, the UCI Alumni Association awarded Mr. Swinden its Lauds and Laurels Award for Outstanding Community Friend.
Mr. Swinden earned a Bachelor of Science in economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and a Juris Doctor from the Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.
Mr. Swinden lives in Laguna Beach, California and he is a recognized amateur
historian specializing in military history. He also enjoys hunting, travel and outdoor activities.
