Aquarium of the Pacific's Capital Campaign Materials

You are invited to become a vital partner in the exciting transformation of the Aquarium of the Pacific into a powerhouse for sustainable stewardship of ocean resources in Southern California and beyond.

A CAmpAign for oCeAn And environmentAl leAdership

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After years of study, the Aquarium’s Board of directors approved a 10-year campus master plan outlining the institution’s goals for the future. the plan details a bold vision to help secure a healthy and sustainable future for the citizens of California while significantly enhancing the Aquarium’s capacity for growth and its ability to fulfill its mission, vision, and potential. to implement these ambitious goals, the Aquarium is launching the Making Waves campaign — a visionary fundraising campaign, and the first in its history.

The Need To UNdersTaNd aNd ProTecT oUr oceaN

The World Ocean covers nearly three-quarters of the planet and affects our lives in myriad ways. Indeed, the ocean allows humanity’s survival. The ocean regulates global climate, supplies food and medicine, houses the greatest diversity of living creatures on Earth, and plays crucial roles in sustaining all life on the planet.

Yet despite the importance of our ocean, we know relatively little about this vast and vital resource, and too often we fail to use what we do know in protecting it.

The time to build this understanding is now.

Pollution and an increasingly urbanized coastal zone are pushing the condition of the Pacific Ocean ever closer to a crisis point, putting the stability of the planet’s biodiversity and ecosystems at risk.

Meanwhile, another crisis brews in a vital, manmade environment — our schools.

California’s children continue to fall behind both their national and international peers in math and science, demonstrating the urgent need for more effective science education.

in California, where more than 70 percent of the population lives and works within 50 miles of

Ocean-related educational programming engages and invests people of all ages with the knowledge and skills they need to make informed choices for a sustainable future, helping both society and the environment upon which we depend.

the coast, we recognize perhaps better than the rest of the country that the ocean affects nearly every aspect of our lives.

The Aquarium’s educational focus is even more vital given the results of a groundbreaking three-year study by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Funded by the National Science Foundation and

released in 2006, the major research study confirmed that adult visitors to accredited aquariums experience a stronger connection to nature and are prompted to reconsider their role in environmental problems as a direct result of their aquarium visit.

Equally as important as increasing our understanding of the ocean and how humans are affecting it, are two critical roles for the Aquarium’s future: 8 developing institutional mechanisms for timely and effective translation of the results of ocean research focused on technologies and management strategies 8 developing public programs to enhance ocean literacy.

The aqUariUm of The Pacific: oN The Wave’s LeadiNg edge “put these elements together — a city with access to the sea, citizens of diverse ethnicities and economic backgrounds, and a place for all to learn — and what we have is the world-class Aquarium of the pacific, a place that plays a very important role in conserving our world’s biodiversity through education.”

Dr. E. O. WilSOn, nAturAliSt AnD PulitzEr PrizE Winning AuthOr

Since its opening in 1998, the nonprofit Aquarium of the Pacific has dedicated itself to these vital efforts.

The Aquarium of the Pacific is a young institution at an exciting nexus! Early success, continuously increasing public demand (the Aquarium of the Pacific is the only Aquarium in the United States to experience annual increased audiences consistently from 2002 to 2007), the growing need for ocean and coastal stewardship and environmental literacy, a record of attracting a diverse audience that located in the nation’s most is representative of its citizens, and a driving commitment to making a populous and diverse region, meaningful difference in the future of the local community, the region, adjacent to the country’s largest and the state — all lead the Aquarium to take a bold step to expand its port complex, and poised at a key physical and educational capacity. vantage point on the increasingly important pacific rim, the

Among Southern California’s cultural institutions, the Aquarium is among a small handful attracting well over a million visitors each expand its impact on global year (1.4 million in 2007). The Aquarium’s economic impact on Los environmental issues, California’s Angeles and Orange counties is more than $ 150 million each year. The scientific competitiveness, and Aquarium also has quickly risen to become one of the premier instituother pressing societal concerns. tions for free-choice learning — learning guided by an individual’s own needs and interests — only recently recognized for their impact as a driving force in education today. Despite this early and continuing success, the Aquarium of the Pacific is just beginning to fulfill its full potential.

Aquarium has the capacity to

The Aquarium of the Pacific and its Marine Conservation Research Institute offer engaging educational opportunities for people of all ages, backgrounds, and interests. Annually,

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some 250,000 schoolchildren and teachers are served by the Aquarium with educational programming, both onsite and through the Aquarium on Wheels, a dynamic mobile tidepool exhibit. The Aquarium Scholarship Fund underwrites admission and participation for students and teachers from underserved and economically disadvantaged schools.

The Aquarium’s educational programming for adults is equally vibrant. The Aquarium draws photographers, scientists, filmmakers, and authors from around the world for its outstanding guest speaker series. If someone has produced an important new book or film about the ocean or marine life, chances are excellent they will be speaking at the Aquarium of the Pacific.

The Aquatic Academy offers lectures, courses, panels, seminars, and workshops that present engaging and timely opportunities for Southern California’s diverse community to learn about a broad range of topics relating to our ocean and to key environmental issues. The Aquatic Forum fosters exploration of complex aquatic issues by serving as a venue where leading scientists, environmentalists, civic leaders, policymakers, and other stakeholders work together in search for creative and sustainable solutions. The Aquarium also organizes and

facilitates major ocean literacy conferences and programs that serve as a nexus for leaders to gather together to discuss some of the most pressing issues relating to our ocean, our environment, and society.

Looking to the future, the staff is invigorated by the potential the Making Waves campaign holds for significantly expanding the impact the Aquarium has on the community, on California, on the country, and on the environment. reimagiNiNg aN exPaNded camPUs

The Aquarium of the Pacific is ready to implement a bold and visionary plan to expand its physical, educational, and programmatic capacity — ambitious goals that call for exciting new exhibits and buildings.

Principal components of the campus redesign are: 8 Experiential Center — a major wing for the front of the Aquarium featuring the groundbreaking, interactive Pacific Visions experience; a brand-new visitor entry; and a changing exhibit gallery twice the current footprint 8 Engaging new exhibit on the Ports of San Pedro Bay 8 Dynamic new environmental classroom and interactive watersheds exhibits 8 State-of-the-art animal care center providing enhanced animal health management as well as an exciting and informative stage for guests to view veterinary science in action.

The campaign also will dramatically increase the level of sophistication and comprehensiveness of the programs the Aquarium can offer, leading to a wealth of new educational and scientific opportunities for exploration and outreach.

With increasing annual attendance already at the capacity of its present physical campus, the Aquarium needs additional

Every new building will meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards for certification, the national rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council to promote environmentally responsible facilities that are also healthy places to live, work, and visit. The Aquarium continuously searches for the most environmentally responsible materials, supplies, and operations.

space, exhibits, and educational programming to fulfill its potential as a leader in ocean and environmental education.

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The Aquarium already is a leader in sustainable business practices, from careful review of food choices for the animals to recycling. The Aquarium is an industry leader in the choice of “green” products, the creation of sustainability programs, the implementation of energy efficiency practices, and the creation of the Sustainable Seafood Forum.

Pacific Visions

The Aquarium’s largest new gallery — and the anchor of our expansion — will be Pacific Visions. This unprecedented endeavor will offer a vivid multi-sensory, multi-dimensional immersive experience unique among free-choice learning centers (science and discovery centers, museums, and aquariums).

While visitors to the Aquarium currently can view some 50 individual exhibits, no single exhibit puts all of them in context and perspective. The cylindrical, two-story, 50-footdiameter Pacific Visions will provide such an encounter, dramatically enriching both the Aquarium’s educational capacity and the overall visitor experience.

The first floor of Pacific Visions will feature interactive exhibits that invite hands-on engagement. This space will offer changing exhibits that either complement the current exhibit topic, or focus on an entirely different aquatic topic. The added venue will give the Aquarium the flexibility to schedule multiple concurrent exhibits. The interactive displays will dramatically expand our offering of hands-on experiences that — as our guests and research tell us — are key to the visitors’ lasting engagement with our message.

The second floor — the heart of Pacific Visions — will feature a multi-media theater-inthe-round, with 360° projections and sound surrounding the viewer on all sides, as well as the floor. Unlike passive theater technologies, in Pacific Visions visitors will be able to walk around and atop the projections to explore different aspects of the presentation. Pacific Visions will allow the Aquarium to create exciting experiences on topics that cannot be

pacific visions will unveil a virtual pacific ocean basin, an ideal venue to tell the ocean’s epic stories — narratives that affect the entire planet and all our futures.

presented effectively through live exhibits. The immersive theater will enable us to bring to life large-scale or potentially abstract topics such as global climate change; the origin and evolution of the Pacific Ocean; the Pacific’s role in generating the world’s weather and climate; the biodiversity and pharmaceutical capacity of the ocean; migrations and dispersals of animals; human impacts on the marine environment and ecosystems; and many more. Because this unique medium can, for example, simultaneously present a changing map of Antarctic ice on the floor and close-up images of penguins hunting on the walls,

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it will allow us to show tangibly the interconnection between individual animals and places and their global environmental context.

Through Pacific Visions, the Aquarium will offer multimedia experiences that make audiences feel they are witnessing first-hand the furthest reaches and deepest mysteries of the Pacific Ocean. Since presentations can change at the touch of a button, the Aquarium will be able to use Pacific Visions flexibly, to tell stories that complement our live-animal galleries or that

are independent of them, that are tied to the current exhibits, or are ongoing. The Aquarium also will be able to tell more timely stories to illuminate major events — such as global climate change, tsunamis, hurricanes, oil spills, and El Niño/La Niña — as they unfold.

Much of this content will be created in collaboration with technology and entertainment companies, universities, leading scientists, and government agencies. These productive partnerships not only will help fuel the Aquarium’s own growth and influence, but also will enhance the Aquarium’s economic impact on the region. Pacific Visions will be an important platform for presenting research from the broader scientific community. In fact, Pacific Visions will be the most powerful virtual experience available to the public.

Once developed, stories created for Pacific Visions later could be called up on individual computer screens at the Aquarium, shared with other institutions, and eventually presented in classrooms and homes around the world.

New Entrance Pavilion

The addition of the Pacific Visions experience is just one part of the transformation of the entire front of the facility. A new ticketing area will be readily visible from the parking structure — which is how most visitors approach the Aquarium — and allow us to serve our expanded public more efficiently. An expanded lobby, along with the space added in the Pacific Visions and current exhibit areas, will accommodate larger crowds, helping provide a high-quality experience the moment the visitor steps onto the Aquarium’s campus. A redesigned and significantly enlarged Pacific Collections store will support additional offerings tied to new programs and exhibits and increase the revenue available for operations.

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The Changing Exhibit Gallery

The size of the current changing exhibit gallery (known for its premiere exhibit of sea jellies) will be doubled to allow larger and more comprehensive exhibits. The new space will allow the Aquarium to present traveling exhibits from other institutions, as well as to create innovative exhibits that can be shared with other aquariums and science centers all over the world. Exhibits in the changing gallery will include live animals and will often expand on the theme presented in Pacific Visions.

With a larger and more flexible changing exhibit gallery, the Aquarium can continuously reinvent the visitor experience, foster repeat attendance, introduce new themes, and reinforce and expand on the stories already being told in the permanent exhibits.

As an example, a multi-media story in Pacific Visions on global climate change may feature the shrinking polar ice shelves and the effects on penguins, humans, and the Pacific Ocean; while in the changing exhibit gallery a live penguin exhibit and interactive displays on rising water levels, diminishing fresh water supplies, and other impacts are explained (as portrayed in the renderings).

Our Watersheds: Our Water, Our Life, Our Future

Southern California history has long been shaped by our most precious resource — water — and as the region’s population grows, understanding and conserving this resource will only become more critical. Sited at the intersection of the Los Angeles River and the Pacific Ocean and committed to building connections between people and their aquatic environment, the Aquarium is perfectly placed to build this understanding. The Aquarium’s new watersheds exhibit and environmental classroom — scheduled to open in 2008 — will illustrate the watersheds as they exist today and as they existed before human settlement, reveal the health of the San Gabriel and Los Angeles rivers and their watersheds, and motivate visitors to improve the quality of life for both people and the environment by making sustainable choices for the future of the watersheds.

Exemplary of the Aquarium’s educational role and institutional commitment to the environment, the new watersheds project will use exhibits, science, and art to connect visitors to their watershed — from the mountains defining the South Coast Basin to the coastal waters where our rivers drain — and model sustainability in action through responsible building and native landscaping.

The new environmental classroom will be the first LEED -certified platinum building in Long Beach featuring both solar power and a green roof. This new building will provide additional space for school groups and adults to participate in formal classes, as well as serve as a community meeting space. A three-dimensional watershed model will showcase the course of rainfall on the natural and man-made landscapes of our region. Surrounding the model will be additional exhibit stations supported by graphics, photographs, text, and interactives to appeal to a variety of learning styles of the Aquarium visitors.

The exhibit and classroom also will be surrounded by drought-resistant landscaping indigenous to the local watersheds, including interpretive signage explaining the environmental; benefits of native landscaping. The landscaping is designed to inspire and educate guests about how to make use of such plants and techniques in their own yards in order to highlight the natural resources of the region and to conserve precarious water supplies for Southern California. like pacific visions, the watersheds project will make visitors’ connection to a potentially abstract large-scale system tangible, meaningful, and motivating.

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To serve the broadest possible public audience, a complementary public exhibit called “Our Watershed Story” (constructed on Pierpoint Landing in 2007) compares and contrasts our watersheds before and after European settlement. This will allow all who walk along the waterfront to learn from an artistic and compelling presentation of the water flow from mountains to the ocean. Another associated exhibit was installed on the front plaza water fountain in 2005 which highlights the flora and fauna which still inhabit the Los Angeles River, despite the fact that most Southern Californians know only of the concrete forms that control its travel through densely populated areas.

Whales: Journeys in Sound and Sight

Early in the extensive planning stages for this new campaign, the Aquarium began initial fundraising and chose two important exhibits that would not require expansion of the physical space in the Aquarium to implement. Unveiled in 2005, these new exhibits take the visitor on two separate, but related, journeys to explore the fascinating world of whales.

The award-winning, interactive Whales: Voices of the Sea — judged the best new exhibit for “Interpretation and Education in Science” in the United States for 2005 by the American Association of Museums — and Whales: A Journey With Giants, a media-based experience taking visitors on an adventure deep into the Pacific Ocean following a blue whale and her calf are located in the Great Hall of the Pacific. Whales: Voices in the Sea — a collaboration between the Aquarium and Scripps Institution of Oceanography — represents the Aquarium’s first effort to connect visitors with the exciting work of scientific researchers.

Whales: A Journey with Giants incorporates the life size model of the Blue Whale which is the hallmark of the Great Hall and utilizes the walls, ceiling, and floor to create an immersive visual and auditory environment.

Just as the watersheds exhibits represent the environmental interconnection of land and ocean, the ports of san pedro Bay will represent the junction between the economies of our region and the world.

Ports and the Story of San Pedro Bay

Southern California is home to the nation’s and one of the world’s largest port complexes — the combined Ports of San Pedro Bay, comprising the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles. Thirty percent of the region’s jobs and forty percent of the nation’s incoming containers are connected to these ports, and most of the goods and materials we buy and use enter the country through them. At the same time, the ports present difficult environmental 12

challenges that require us to find a sustainable balance that will allow both the economy and the ocean to flourish.

The Aquarium will develop both an interactive mixed media exhibit on the Ports of San Pedro Bay and a media presentation. These will highlight their value to the local, state, and national economies, and their roles in the network of international commerce, particularly

their importance to trade throughout the Pacific Rim. Interactive components enhancing our stories about the ports and their importance, located in the expanded property behind the Aquarium, will allow visitors of all ages to experience other aspects of the ports. An accompanying large screen multi-media presentation in the Great Hall of the Pacific will give the visitor an overview of the scope of operations at the ports.

Animal Care Center

At the heart of every Aquarium experience are the animals that call the Pacific Ocean home. Sea otters, sea lions, sharks, rays, diving birds, sea jellies, corals, sea dragons, and many others are among the 12,500 animals representing 650 species celebrated, observed, and nurtured at the Aquarium. The Aquarium plans to significantly expand the facilities and equipment dedicated to their care, and at the same time provide visitors with a close-up look at veterinary procedures and practices in a state-of-the-art new Animal Care Center.

As we expand the Aquarium over the next ten years and mount more comprehensive exhibits, the veterinary infrastructure must grow to service them. The Aquarium is seizing the opportunity presented by these necessary additions to educate the public about aquatic animal care. The Animal Care Center will centralize veterinary facilities now spread throughout the Aquarium, while also increasing hospital space nearly six-fold — from 300 square feet to 1,800 square feet. Outdoor space devoted to veterinary care, totaling approximately 12,000 square feet, will be reconfigured for efficiency, allowing us to create a public viewing area where visitors can watch surgeries and animal examinations and interact with veterinary staff — taking the Aquarium’s educational offerings to a higher level. These surgeries and examinations will also be recorded and millions of people will be able to experience a visit to our Animal Care Center on the Aquarium’s website.

A new, 40-foot holding tank containing almost 70,000 gallons of water and providing critical holding space for the Aquarium’s sharks and larger animals will be added to the redesigned facility along with several new smaller tanks. The new Animal Care Center will also incorporate all of the Aquarium’s facilities for bird and program animal holding. the Animal Care Center will offer real life animal examinations and surgeries — becoming potentially the Aquarium’s most popular exhibit.

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The new Animal Care Center — outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment — will enhance the level of care available for the current animal ambassadors while providing the infrastructure to support expansion of the Aquarium’s galleries. It also will exceed AZA accreditation and industry standards and enable additional training opportunities for veterinary students as well as collaborations with invited researchers. This new facility will put the Aquarium of the Pacific among a handful of aquariums offering this level of sophisticated care.

Endowment

The Aquarium of the Pacific plans to play an important role in Southern California and in the world for generations to come. As the Aquarium matures, we must plan for our longterm financial stability, to ensure that the Aquarium has the flexibility to meet changing financial needs. The creation of both permanent and programmatic endowments will give us the security we need to make longer-term plans for new and enhanced exhibits and new program development to provide timely exploration of relevant natural phenomena and environmental issues. It also will provide the flexibility to address new needs and opportunities as they arise.

These two separate funds provide opportunities for planned gifts to the campaign that will create a legacy of education and conservation. They will help support in perpetuity the Aquarium’s pioneering efforts to ensure that citizens of all ages are informed and committed to living in harmony with the ocean that gives us life.

YoU caN ParTNer To make Waves

The Aquarium of the Pacific already has accomplished a great deal in a short amount of time. Private funding is essential to take the Aquarium to the next level of success and impact. Your support of the Making Waves campaign — over and above annual-fund contributions — will help fulfill the Aquarium’s vision and its potential as a world-class center for free-choice learning and a leader in environmental education and stewardship.

Making Waves will fund the following projects: 8 Pacific Visions 8 New Aquarium Entrance Pavilion 8 Enlarged Retail Store 8 Enlarged Changing Exhibits Gallery 8 Environmental Classroom and Watersheds Exhibits 8 Whales’ Sounds and Voyage 8 Ports of San Pedro Bay Exhibit 8 Animal Care Center 8 Endowment 8 Campaign Costs Making Waves will accomplish three overarching strategic priorities: 8 Leveraging new technologies to create dynamic learning environments and experiences; 8 Enhancing the conservation messages that are delivered through exhibits, educational programs, and the Aquarium’s animal ambassadors; and 8 Providing a secure foundation for the Aquarium’s long-term viability and growth.

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Design: Warren Group | Studio Deluxe

Architectural Illustrations: F.M. Costantino

Principal Photography: Greg Rothschild

Additional Photography: Tim Adams, Hugh Ryono

100 Aquarium Way Long Beach, California 90802 Telephone 562.951.1664 www. aquariumofpacific.org

A CAmpAign for oCeAn And environmentAl leAdership

Linda Warren Warren Group | Studio Deluxe 8695 Washington Blvd.

Suite 210 Culver City, CA 90232 January 21, 2010

Dear Linda: A new year of bright beginnings! I want to wish you and your family and ocean-filled and exciting New Year.

I am proud to say that the Aquarium finished 2009 successfully, but only thanks to donors like you and prudent financial planning. By reducing our expenses in every area possible, we were able to meet our projections.

As always our budget continues to rely heavily on the support of donors like you, so you should consider the Aquarium’s success a true reflection of your generous philanthropic spirit.

We hope you will consider joining us at one of our upcoming fundraising events and please call soon to schedule a personal tour of our new facilities.

Best wishes, Theresa Demonte Marjor Gifts and Capital Campaign Manager

A CAmpAign for oCeAn And environmentAl leAdership

Contributing to the Aquarium We Depend on the Generosity of our Members and Donors There are many opportunities for you to contribute to the Aquarium and support our animals; our education, conservation, environmental, or sustainable seafood programs; and special projects. From buying a raffle ticket, to attending an event, to becoming one of our prestigious Pacific Circle members; you can be a part of our efforts. There are endless possibilities from which to choose how you can contribute to the Aquarium in a meaningful way!

Conservation and Education The Aquarium of the Pacific is committed to securing a healthy and sustainable future for the citizens of California through effective conservation and education programs that engage people of all ages.

Private support from individuals, corporations, foundations, and government grants fund these initiatives.

Other Opportunities There are many opportunities, levels, and mechanisms through which you can contribute to the Aquarium of the Pacific including: Double your Gift Donate your boat or car, or old cellphone, to an auction.

Endowment, Bequests, & Planned Gifts Tribute & Memorial Gifts

The Aquarium of the Pacific is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and we depend on the generosity of our members and donors who provide more than 25% of our annual operating costs.