The San Diego Museum of Man is committed to inspiring human connections by exploring the human experience. We are motivated to create a dynamic place in San Diego where people come to learn from each other, reflect on their place in the world, and build a better community. We are driven to be a dynamic place in San Diego where people come to learn from each other, reflect on their place in the world, and build a better community. The Museum is engaged in a long-term experience planning process to prioritize diversity and the perspectives of underrepresented communities in its exhibits and educational programming. This process has impelled us to work closely with Native American communities to steward and repatriate appropriate items held in our collections. Additionally, we are prioritizing indigenous perspective and voice in decision-making at all levels of the organization as part of our promise to reverse the legacies of colonialism in our home.

Over the last decade, SDMoM has shifted its approach from a traditional anthropology museum to one that uses contemporary social issues and popular culture as a catalyst for explorations of the past, present, and future of what it means to be human. Our current exhibit/educational offerings include various guided tours and workshops of our Ancient Egypt, Maya, Kumeyaay, Living With Animals, Race: Are We So Different?, PostSecret, Monsters!, Cannibals, and Beerology exhibits.

Our institution relies on the hard work of our 64 staff members and over 200 volunteers.

For exhibits: In order to ensure that we maximize the impact of our visitor experience, our team conducts visitor surveys. Visitor surveys and tracking continues even after an exhibit is installed and open to the public in order to make necessary adjustments based on live feedback. Our commitment to collaboration and the extensive research in the development phases of production is critical to making sure we meet our goals. Once the exhibit is up and running, we will develop public programming experiences for visitors to enhance the exhibit experience. For educational programming: All of SDMoM’s student programs are aligned with the principles of STEAM learning to increase critical thinking and problem solving skills in students. The Museum’s educational staff measures programming success through surveys and teacher feedback on the curriculum. They conduct regular “mock tours” to gather feedback on how to improve programs. The education team tracks program success metrics to ensure goals are met. Additionally, they identify the most effective aspects of the program and expound on them to better support student learning. SDMoM conducts learning surveys with students to gauge what they are and aren’t retaining to inform the improvement of our programming.

Total Museum Vistors = 182,413 Trend: SDMoM averages 15,000 visitors per month, with increases in the Summer months. Total Students Served (including Title I. & SITP): 6,571 70% of Students Served through SDMoM's Education Programs in FY19 were from Title I Schools. Total Ed & Public Program Participants: 13,858