Sailing Toward New Horizons

Executive Director Greg Gorga has been part of the staff of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) for nearly 19 years. That’s impressive by any account, but even more so considering that the museum located in the Waterfront Center Building (formerly the Naval Reserve Building) in the heart of the Santa Barbara Harbor only opened its doors to the public in July 2000. (Do the math: Gorga has been involved for nearly 75 percent of the museum’s history.)

“It’s been a great run. Quite a long time,” said Gorga, who started at SBMM back in February 2017 as director of development, coming over from the same position at what is now called CommUnify. It was only a year later that Gorga took over as executive director, beginning a tenure that would last 18 more years, a shocking development given that SBMM had at least seven EDs in its first eight years. 

Even more so given that Gorga came in with no museum or nautical experience. 

“None at all. But I do love history and I love to learn,” he explained. “Maybe that’s why I loved all the education programming from the very start. I’ve become something of an expert on our local maritime history, through reading a lot, coming to all of our lectures and doing tours with our docents, and then starting to do tours myself and spending time with the exhibits.” 

Gorga’s time as executive director not only provided stability at the top, but also resulted in longevity throughout the staff. He proudly points out that SBMM Curator and Director of Collections Emily Falke has been at the museum for 15 years, Director of Education Lis Perry for 13, and Education Coordinator Jason Statucki more than a decade. 

“That’s really allowed us to accomplish so much,” he said. 

Gorga’s tenure has been defined by a series of tangible improvements and accomplishments at the museum that combines documenting and exhibiting Santa Barbara’s significant maritime history with spotlighting the important role the Santa Barbara Channel plays in our culture and community, including marine life, recreational activities, and highlighting those who make a living on the waters.

Among the highlights: SBMM opened Surf’s Up!, the wave-riding cultural celebration back in 2008, and gave the Purisima, the world’s first lockout diving bell, a home on the museum’s patio in 2010 where it serves as a conversation starter and doorway to deeper learning. In 2013, SBMM installed the magnificent First Order Fresnel Lens from Point Conception Lighthouse, a representative of maritime engineering that made a huge different in saving lives in the Santa Barbara Channel.

“That technology from the 1820s is still in use today,” said Gorga. “It’s a great lesson for kids.” 

In 2015, the Barry and Gail Berkus Children’s Gallery, adorned with Patti Jacquemain’s mural, transformed visits for young families. Meanwhile, the second floor has become a consistently changing art space, with three to four exhibitions each year by artists such as Kevin A. Short, Thomas Van Stein, Ralph Clevenger, and Dan Merkel.

In taking the museum from its infancy to its status as a vital part of the community, Gorga has helped shepherd SBMM to a status as collaborator with major institutions such as the Huntington Library and the Irvine Museum. 

Among other impressive growth indicators, three education programs have mushroomed to more than a dozen, serving nearly 5,000 youth and thousands of adults annually. SBMM’s Maritime on the Move program has received national recognition, its annual Girls in Ocean Science Conference is a game-changer in an emerging field, and videos of the Maritime Distinguished Speakers Series are shown more than 25 times a month on TV-SB. An even bigger accolade came in 2020, when SBMM received a 10-year accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums, one of fewer than 1,100 museums out of 33,000 in the country to receive recognition for following best practices for quality museums.

But it’s the education programs for kids that gets Gorga most excited, especially those that take place outside the museum’s four walls. 

“With the Mystic Whaler, the kids actually go out on the water for about three hours and get to sail the ship as crew members. They see whales and dolphins, and they get to do knot speed triangular navigation. Other programs expose kids to the coastline and all the activities around the harbor. Everything is as project based and interactive as we can make it, so they accomplish something and get exposed to different opportunities they may want to pursue when they grow up.” 

Gorga said his time at SBMM has been a never-ending honor because of the education component. 

“There’s nothing like seeing these kids light up when they see a dolphin for the first time, or when they’re holding a clump of sand and squeeze it and a crab pops up,” he said. “They scream because they didn’t expect that. It’s so inspiring to me to give kids who have never touched the ocean before get the chance to do it for the first time. It’s amazing to see these kids get excited. Hopefully they’ll go on to do amazing things in our world, and especially take good care of our oceans.”

Plans already in the works for 2026 include re-imagining the Munger Theater as interactive space for young families.

“We continue to strive to be the most interactive maritime museum on the West Coast,” Gorga said. 

As his tenure comes to a close at the end of the year, Gorga looked back with a touch of bittersweetness on his career leading up to SBMM.

“I ran restaurants in my youth and it was an incredibly fun business, but it was never rewarding,” he said. “I’ve loved every minute. But it’s time for me to move on and try other things, like traveling, supporting other nonprofits, and having more time to myself. And it’s time for somebody with new ideas to come on board.”