Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM)

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 Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) receives over 40,000 visitors annually and focuses on interactive exhibits and hands-on educational programming. Covid-related closures obviously affected those numbers in 2020-21, but since we reopened in March of 2021, our admission figures and store sales have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.The Museums education program connects hundreds of students throughout the County and beyond with interactive experiences in maritime studies. In 2020-2021, despite Covid restrictions, 181 students participated in person, and 203 through online learning, in our youth education programs. The majority of students participating in SBMM programs come from public elementary schools in Santa Barbara County that qualify for Title I funding and serve low-income households. Adults also enjoy the many educational programs operated by the Museum, including a lecture series that averages 120 attendees per month.Beginning in July 2020, SBMM opened several new permanent exhibits, including: On this Spot Through History, Love Letters to the Sea, and Santa Cruz Acoustic Range Facility (SCARF.) In 2020-2021, we installed and rotated three temporary exhibits. Mermaids: Visualizing the Myths & Legends - Photography of Ralph A. Clevenger & Friends (April 2020 - November 2020), Arthur Beaumont: Art of the Sea (December 2020 May 2021), and Heritage, Craft, and Evolution: Surfboard Design 1885-1959 (June -October 2021.)While Covid closures and restrictions prevented holding many events in FY21, the Museum did present several special events including: Mermaids & Buccaneers with Sea Center, Sustainable Seafoodtwo junior celebrity chefs cook-off, an inaugural Paddle-Out in June, which raised over$40,000 for Museum programs, and a series of cocktail parties for upper-level members and donors starting in June of 2021.

Program Services: 4b: EducationAt the beginning of the fiscal year, the Museum initiated its SBMM at Home webpages, which further expanded the Museums outreach. The Museum also created onlineself-guided interactive Maritime on the Move activities for families and teachers to use to learn about their local habitats in Carpinteria, the Santa Barbara Harbor, and Guadalupes Oso Flaco Lake. Additional materials for Lompoc and Santa Ynez will be developed in the future. These educational booklets are available at the Museum and online in both English and Spanish. SBMM at Home also provides additional resources including crafts and videos for artists, parents, and children. For more information, visit: httpssbmmorgsbmmathomeactivitiesThe Museums popular Spirit of Dana Point Tall Ship Overnight Program went virtual in 2020-21, which still proved to be very enjoyable and informational for students. 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, Museum staff created an exhibit featuring packets youth can take and work on safely at home.