The Balboa Park Cultural Partnership is a nonprofit organization through which 224 members of arts, science and cultural organizations in the Balboa Park Cultural District, collaborate to achieve greater organizational efficiency, innovation and excellence. The Cultural Partnership’s member institutions vary in size and type and include museums, performing arts groups and theaters, cultural centers, gardens and the San Diego Zoo.
The Partnership was formed in 2003 to provide a means for members to identify and achieve collective goals and to speak with one voice on issues of mutual benefit and importance. The Board of Directors is comprised of Executive Directors of member organizations. Balboa Park Cultural District staff, trustees, and volunteers participate in the development and implementation of Cultural Partnership initiatives including advocacy, Balboa Park Explorer, and One Park - One Team.
Working collaboratively is at the heart of all the Cultural Partnership does. We use our collective strengths and resources wherever possible to make us stronger together than we can be individually, through what we do as well as how we do it.
We respect and effectively build, utilize and preserve the cultural, human and financial resources of our community. We share and leverage these resources responsibly to make the experience of Balboa Park arts, science, and cultural institutions continuously more accessible: physically, personally, and intellectually, in person and virtually.
We value opportunities to learn from years of collective wisdom in Balboa Park as well as to continually build new skills, seek greater insights and challenge convention. This helps us to problem-solve, foster innovation and encourage new thinking. Sharing our learning advances the vitality of our members, our community, and the arts, science and cultural fields.
The Cultural Partnership embraces the generative possibilities of collaboration. We strive to maintain an agile organizational structure that allows us to be open and strategically responsive to new opportunities, including ones in which we can be pioneers.
The Cultural Partnership members and the community are strengthened through our external relationships. Serving as the “go to” organization between Balboa Park organizations as a whole and the community encourages sharing, coordination and collaboration on a broader scale.
The Balboa Park Cultural Partnership seeks excellence in all that we do in order to serve as a vital asset for our members and the community. The Partnership enhances our members’ capacity to achieve the highest professional standards and deliver the greatest value to their communities.
Jessica Hanson York, Board President - Mingei International Museum
Erika Kohler, Vice President - San Diego Zoo
Bill Lawrence, Treasurer - San Diego History Center
Makeda Dread, Secretary - WorldBeat Center
Kate Battenfeld - San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory
Desha Crownover - San Diego Junior Theatre
Judy Gradwohl - San Diego Natural History Museum
David Glanzer, Comic-Con Museum
Jack Harkins - The San Diego Veterans Museum
Ana Hernandez - Centro Cultural de la Raza
Nik Honeysett - Balboa Park Online Collaborative
Luanne Kanzawa - Japanese Friendship Garden and Museum
Jim Kidrich - San Diego Air & Space Museum
Lenny Leszczynski - San Diego Automotive Museum
Katy McDonald - Forever Balboa Park
Megan Pogue - Timken Museum of Art
Trish Santini, The Old Globe
Nancy Scheuermann - Village Arts Center
Lindsey Seegers, San Diego Civic Youth Ballet
Dr. Steven Snyder - Fleet Science Center
Erin Spiewak, Museum of Us
Andrew Utt - ICA San Diego
Roxana Velasquez - The San Diego Museum of Art
Michael Warburton - San Diego Model Railroad Museum