Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County
Saturday, June 14, 2025
The Board of Trustees of the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County invites you to join us for an evening benefiting our museums. We are delighted to welcome you back to NHM as we launch our new annual gala – Night of Wonder.
The evening promises to be a breathtaking celebration in support of NHMLAC’s work with science, nature, and community.
CO-CHAIRS
MEGAN MCGOWAN EPSTEIN & ALAN EPSTEIN
RICK GENOW & MARY FULGINITI-GENOW
Your support of this year’s gala will expand our commitment to being “of, for, and with LA” and our work to conserve and document the rich biodiversity of our urban landscape, unlocking the wonders of nature for our audiences of over 1.2 million annual visitors, including 200,000 school children.
Join us in celebrating the resilience of our community through some of NHMLAC’s signature programs.
Girls in STEM
Addressing the underrepresentation of women in STEM fields, NHMLAC’s Girls in STEM initiatives create crucial opportunities for young girls to build their scientific identities during formative years. The Girls in STEM Teen Club invites 7th and 8th graders to work behind-the-scenes with Museum staff, discovering the stories within the La Brea Tar Pits and their real-world relevance. These programs combat the documented decline in girls’ STEM interest during middle school by connecting participants with diverse role models, facilitating collaborative problem-solving experiences, and fostering community-oriented learning—ultimately empowering the next generation of female scientists to confidently pursue careers in STEM.
10 years of the City Nature Challenge
Launched 10 years ago, in partnership with California Academy of Sciences, the City Nature Challenge is now an international effort to inspire and encourage people to find and document plants and wildlife in cities across the globe. The first City Nature Challenge began as a friendly competition between Los Angeles and San Francisco to engage residents and visitors in documenting nature to better understand urban biodiversity (Los Angeles won!). Ten years later, the CNC has become a global phenomenon with 690 cities across 51 countries participating and over 83,000 individuals making over 2.4 million observations!
Outdoor Equity Programs and Marine Teens Internships
We work with a network of local community partners to empower youth and families from South L.A. through experiences that remove barriers to the outdoors by providing transportation, learning materials, and accessible field trips and allowing access to urban nature for underserved communities. The Marine Teens Internship is a six-month-long internship for East Los Angeles high school students that introduces them to the joy of scientific discovery by providing real-world experience in marine science subjects. The program helps participants become critical thinkers, communicators, and community ambassadors as they produce marine science-related projects and inspires them to pursue science careers and pathways to higher education.
Living Collections and Nature Gardens
NHMLAC’s Living Collections department introduces visitors to creatures that are native to L.A. and from around the world, fostering intimate connections between people and wildlife by sharing amazing stories about animals that are often misunderstood or overlooked. There are over 100 species of animals currently cared for by the Living Collections team, from the tiny but powerful harvester ant to the beefy red-tailed boa, and NHM’s adorable opossum duo.
The Nature Gardens, cared for by NHM’s Horticulture team, is a botanical wonderland featuring a diversity of plants that are magnets for birds, butterflies, lizards, squirrels—and humans! It’s not only aesthetically beautiful, but also serves as an invitation to wildlife through carefully curated plantings. Created in 2013 in time for NHM’s 100th birthday, the Nature Gardens fill 3.5 acres with native and non-native plants that mirror Southern California’s semi-arid Mediterranean climate.
