SB Maritime Museum Celebrates 25 Years

On March 7, the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) celebrated its 25th anniversary at its Love Boat–themed gala. The 140 guests enjoyed cocktails on the museum’s patio and dinner inside. Emceed by Andrew Firestone, the event honored Hiroko Benko and Sigrid Toye. 

As owner of the whale-watching boat Condor Express, Benko is a longtime supporter and collaborator of SBMM’s youth education programs and is co-chair of the Santa Barbara Channel Whale Heritage Area. Toye has provided significant support to the museum over the years, including as board president, advisor, fundraiser, and donor.

In an interview, SBMM Executive Director Greg Gorga reflected on the museum’s impressive growth and its impact on the county’s youth through its innovative educational programming, which Gorga points to as the museum’s most significant component. 

Located in the harbor’s historic Naval Reserve Building, the museum was founded by dedicated fishers, divers, and sailors to celebrate our deep maritime history. Under Gorga’s leadership since 2008, the museum has grown from offering two educational programs to 13. It serves nearly 5,000 students throughout the county with a sliding-scale fee structure based on the income of the school’s population, with a majority of classes incurring no fees. 

Gorga noted that the county has the second-highest poverty rate in the state, and the museum wants to give low-income kids the same opportunities afforded private-school kids. Some Lompoc High School students have never even seen the ocean, Gorga related. One student asked if he could touch the water. Understandably, a high point in Gorga’s career has been bringing the amazing environment of the Santa Barbara Channel to life for so many young students.

The most impactful of these programs, according to Gorga, are the Tall Ship, Girls in Ocean Science, and Maritime on the Move programs. In the Tall Ship program, students board the schooner Mystic Whaler and learn about the life of merchant sailors in the 1800s with hands-on activities under sail.

In the Girls in Ocean Science program, high school students spend the day on a research vessel with a female naturalist and female scientist doing hands-on experiments. Junior high students participate in a separate program, and both are designed to inspire and show participants how they can pursue any kind of ocean-related studies and career.

The award-winning Maritime on the Move program provides kids with immersive, tangible outdoor experiences designed to teach them about the challenges our community faces with an aim of imparting a sense of stewardship.

While the educational programming is focused on students in 3rd grade through high school, SBMM also offers a popular monthly lecture program for adults: its Maritime Distinguished Speaker Series.

Gorga, who will be retiring at the end of this year or early next year, reflected on the importance of having a maritime museum in Santa Barbara, noting the early history, including that the oldest human remains in the Western Hemisphere were found on Santa Rosa Island. The Chumash, with their tomol plank canoes, Gorga related, are our most famous mariners. He noted with pride the wide view the museum has taken, with exhibits of maritime art alongside historical exhibits of Santa Barbara’s shipwrecks, commercial fishing industry, and surfing scene, as well as exhibits on Santa Barbara being the birthplace of deepwater diving, hosting naval ships, and having the second-oldest yacht club on the West Coast and the oldest working pier in California.

When asked what he is most proud of during his time at the museum’s helm, Gorga quickly and modestly answered that it is his staff, followed by the education programs and the impressive national recognition the museum has received. Gorga has much to take pride in, and the community is fortunate to have had his stewardship.

The museum is a nonprofit that garners less than 6 percent of its revenue from admissions, relying heavily on the community for support. It currently is exhibiting oil paintings by Kevin Short and in May will welcome an island fox photography exhibit by Chuck Graham.