SANTA BARBARA MARITIME MUSEUM
113 Harbor Way 190, Santa Barbara, CA 93109 sbmm.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: Creating quality exhibits and educational experiences that celebrate the Santa Barbara Channel and illuminate our rich connections with the sea.

To be the recognized flagship institution for information on the Santa Barbara Channel by showcasing our rich maritime history, presenting inspirational programs, and promoting insightful disussions about the future of our coastal community.

Program Services: 4a: Connecting the Community to Maritime Heritage:The Santa Barbara Maritime Museums purpose is to preserve and present to the public the maritime heritage of Californias Central Coast, while providing an ongoing educational platform to study and record human interaction with the marine environment. The Museums mission includes creating quality exhibits and educational experiences that celebrate the Santa Barbara Channel and illuminate our rich connections with the sea. The Museums created exhibits, both permanent and rotating, highlight the local maritime history of the California Central Coast and give visitors and locals a sense of Santa Barbaras 13,000-year maritime history. Exhibits honor people such as commercial divers or lighthouse keepers who, through everyday actions, enrich our lives today. The Museums education program connects over 400 local fourth graders to our maritime history through the Spirit of Dana Point tall ship program where they live the life of 1830s sailors staying overnight on the ship in the harbor. Nearly 700 local third through eighth graders have a chance to travel aboard a local fishing boat to cruise into the Channel to study marine life from the phyto- and zoo-plankton to the mammals that inhabit the channel. Adults enjoy the many educational programs operated by the Museum, including the monthly lecture series that average 120 attendees. The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) receives over 40,000 visitors annually and focuses on interactive exhibits and hands-on educational programming. This year, however, as a result of Californias Covid-19 mandates, the Museum closed its doors beginning March 13, 2020, and those attendance numbers were significantly lower. Beginning in July 2019, SBMM opened several new exhibits, including: Rum Running, Sailors, and Prohibition; Fishing with Paper and Ink: Nature Prints; and Mermaids: Visualizing the Myths & Legends through Photography by Ralph Clevenger. SBMM also continued planning and working on a major upgrade of its Military Exhibit and implemented some changes to the exhibit, including new casing for the Cuba safe. In addition, the Museum began planning for a 2021 traveling exhibit, Arthur Beaumont: Art of the Sea, and for a temporary exhibit, Surfing Heritage.During the first six months of FY20, the Museum also held or hosted numerous special events, including:July 2019: Kardboard Kayak Races; a Southern California Artists Painting for the Environment (SCAPE) art show; a screening of Celine Cousteaus Tribes on the Edge filmAugust 2019: the Rum Raiser and Pop-Up Sea Glass Festival fundraisers; Mermaids & BuccaneersSeptember 2019: Sustainable Seafood Teen cook-off; Smithsonian Day; Historical Diving Society Annual Conference; donor excursions to the Honda Disaster site and Crystal SymphonyOctober 2019: Spirit of Dana Point Tall Ship Program; Wine & Seafood Pairing; Newcomers ReceptionNovember 2019: Alternative Use of Oil Platforms Expo; Chamber of Commerce holiday partyDecember 2019: Parade of Lights ReceptionIn January, the Museum kicked off its 20th Anniversary celebration online by submitting its application for American Association of Museums (AAM) certification and renaming its Salinas Street warehouse the Kieding Collections Chandlery, in honor of the SBMMs main founder, Robert Kieding. Continuing the excitement in February, the Museum celebrated the anniversary of the Pt. Conception Lighthouse, took almost 700 students out on the Channel with the Marine Science Program, and premiered a new Maritime on the Move program with more than 160 Carpinteria sixth graders. Unfortunately, on March 13, with the Governors Stay at Home Order and the subsequent Covid-19 pandemic, all other 20th Anniversary events and celebrations had to be cancelled. On the positive side, these circumstances have forced the Maritime Museum to become creative in how it presents information to the public and provides access to audiences of all ages. SBMM staff have worked hard, creating many new ways to bring maritime-related educational activities to our community members and beyond. An SB At Home page was created on the website, featuring Science Night activities, a new Curators Log, narrated tours of the entire Museum, all the past recorded lectures, Maritime on the Move, our first digital exhibit, the Brooks Models, and the monthly Currents newsletter. In addition, the popular monthly lecture series continued via Zoom, allowing audiences from all over the world to learn about Santa Barbara maritime history at no cost. The Museums growing technological use led to more innovation including a very rewarding virtual Annual Fundraiser and online auction. Continuing into the new fiscal year with online programming, staff have produced Birthday Cake and Sustainable Seafood Cooking contests and hosted the Central Coast premiere of She is the Ocean. The Arthur Beaumont exhibit has been hung and will herald the beginning of 2021 with a Zoom presentation and tour of the exhibit as staff work to create more new ways to connect with the community.

Program Services: 4b: EducationThe Museums Spirit of Dana Point Tall Ship Overnight Program places Santa Barbara County fourth-graders aboard a tall ship for an afternoon and evening, where they live the life of sailors of the 1830s visiting Santa Barbara Harbor. Students read an abridged version of Richard Henry Dana Jr.s best-selling book Two Years before the Mast and then serve as first mates and crew. Teachers, who are instructing their students in California history in fourth-grade, appreciate the program because it improves students speaking and listening skills, improves self-esteem, develops leadership and teamwork skills, and increases class participation. Studies show that these types of hands-on, interactive programs are especially effective for English as a Second Language students. Students regularly identify this program as their favorite field trip activity of the year. The Museums Marine Science Program puts third through eighth graders aboard a local fishing boat, Stardust or Coral Sea, for a cruise into the Santa Barbara Channel. This program is offered to Santa Barbara County schools and after-school programs, such as Girls, Inc., Boys and Girls Club, and the Housing Authority. Just like the Spirit Overnight Program, the Marine Science Program is provided free of charge to underserved, Title I schools and groups through the generosity of local foundations and private donors. Funding includes program costs, bussing, docking and transport fees, supplies, and staff time. For many of the more than 1,000 youth we serve in these programs, it is their first experience on a boat going out into the Santa Barbara Channel.Several other programs also help to introduce children and adults to the history of the Santa Barbara Channel, both at the museum and in the community. SBMM worked with Marine Biologist Holly Lohuis to develop Maritime on the Move (MotM), a new program that encourages youth to interact with their local marine environments. In February 2020, 162 Carpinteria sixth-graders explored the salt marsh, seal rookery, tar seeps, and dug up sand crabs in their own neighborhood with a team of naturalists. Since shutting down due to Covid, SBMM has created online self-guided interactive MotM activities for families and teachers to access for Carpinteria, the Santa Barbara Harbor, and soon for Guadalupe. These educational booklets are available at the Museum and online in both English and Spanish.SBMM also continues to work with local artist Sondra Weiss to bring Love Letters to the Sea to local after-school groups. Normally students come to the Museum, watch a short film about the harmful effect plastics have when they get into our rivers and oceans, and then create and decorate their own envelopes, using old sea charts, and write letters stating why they think it is important to keep our oceans clean. These Love Letters are then delivered to world leaders by celebrities such as explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau or musician Jack Johnson. Since Covid has restricted SBMMs popular, hands-on exhibits, our Curator, Emily Falke, and Sondra created a new exhibit, featuring packets youth can take and work on safely at home.This year, SBMMs Ocean Connections program, where young students go out on a local whale-watching boat with Marine Biologist Holly Lohuis, was severely limited due to Covid. SBMM Director of Education also worked on developing a Girls in Ocean Science day, originally scheduled for September 2020, which also had to be cancelled due to Covid. This program was designed to put up to 100 female high school students out on the ocean and around the Santa Barbara Harbor, inspiring them to potentially pursue careers in marine biology and related fields.

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