There are not many museums out there that has both natural history and cultural collections. In my search I came across the Los Angeles Museum, but their main focus is the La Brea Tar Pits which is cool but doesn’t help me much with this excitement. I asked my wife if she knew of any and she said Balboa Park in San Diego, California because they have a big mall area with nothing but museums. So, I looked them up and became super excited to learn that’s where the Comic-Con Museum is. I so want to attend Comic-Con one day, not as a visitor but as a guest speaker because I was an extra in the next Indiana Jones movie. Lol. But for real, Balboa Park is amazing. The have over sixteen museums along with gardens, a zoo and a theater. Initially, I only found information about its history under the “About” section in which I learned that it has been operated by the city of San Diego since its inception. I had to keep digging more to find information regarding its governance. Interestingly, Balboa Park is governed by a non-profit organization by the name of Balboa Park Forever which is actually a relatively new identity/title that came about in 2021 after Friends of Balboa Park and Balboa Park Conservancy merge to become Forever Balboa Park.
On the Forever Balboa Park website, they have a governance page in which they have a Nondiscrimination Policy and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement. Their mission statement, vision and “What We Do” statements are all on their “About Us” page. Currently, Elizabeth C. Babcock, Ph.D., is the President & CEO of Forever Balboa Park. They appear to have relatively small staff for such a huge undertaking; however, they have a very large board. Although, I didn’t find anything related to their code of ethics, but I do think the Nondiscrimination Policy and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement are quite telling of their moral compass as a nonprofit organization.
Correction. They have over eighteen museums including the San Diego Natural History Museum, San Diego Museum of Art and San Diego Air & Space Museum. They also have the Centro Cultural de la Raza which is cultural arts center that highlights, Chicano, Mexican American, Latino and Indigenous arts and culture. This place is ah-mazing. Until now, I thought the Smithsonian was the largest museum like institution in the U.S. but I’m sure Balboa Park does not compare in terms of the breath of natural history and cultural collections of the Smithsonian.
I’m glad this assignment put me in a position of exploration because in learning about Balboa Park, I now want to go there for like a whole three weeks just to check out every one of their museums. With all of that said, my question is if any of you have ever been to Balbo Park and if so, what is the Comic-Con Museum like? Attending Comic-Con has officially made it on my bucket list of things to-do in life. I absolutely must go see all things Wonder Woman they have there.
I didn’t even know that there was a Comic-Con museum! I was a big nerd of Star Wars, Marvel, and other fandoms – I still am but not that big like I was in middle school and high school. I wish I have the chance to visit Comic-Con in the future and see the museum. But that is so interesting that not only that there’s a Comic-Con museum but knowing that they have a structured governance as well. Great post!
Thank you for sharing the governance I formation for tge Comic-Con Museum. If I hadn’t read your post I would not have known this museum existed!
I’m really glad you enjoyed this process of discovery! There are so many interesting and unique museums around the country and these large place-based complexes of museums are particularly challenging to manage, I’m sure! I am most familiar with the Balboa Park museum the Museum of Us, which until just a few years ago was called the Museum of Man. They’ve been on the forefront of decolonizing efforts in museums and their director is an anthropologist! I attended the annual conference for the Western Museums Association when it was in San Diego, but classically I suffered from conference fatigue and didn’t do any of the extra tours, which of course focused on Balboa Park. Thanks for sharing your research – the Comic-Con Museum sounds amazing – on my list for future visits for sure!
Who knew there was a Comic-Con Museum? This definitely sounds like a museum I would like to visit one day. I typically visit local Comic-Con events, but I wasn’t aware there was an entire museum dedicated to it! Thanks!