Catalina Museum for Art & History

What Catalina Museum for Art & History does

The Catalina Museum for Art & History is a non-profit 501(c)(3) cultural institution founded in 1953 in Avalon, Catalina Island, California. It operates from an 18,000+ square foot facility — the Ada Blanche Wrigley Schreiner Building — which houses permanent and rotating exhibitions on Catalina Island's art, history, and environment, including documentation of the Wrigley era, the Chicago Cubs' spring training history, WWII involvement, and the Tuna Club's big-game fishing heritage. The museum's programming spans contemporary art exhibitions, educational initiatives for K-12 students, art workshops, and signature community events such as the Tamale Festival, Oktoberfest, and First Friday mixology nights.

The museum generates revenue through a diversified portfolio: admissions ($14 adult, $12 reduced, $7.50 residents), tiered annual memberships ($50 to $5,000), event rentals across five indoor/outdoor spaces accommodating up to 300 guests, docent-led group tours including the historic Tuna Club, retail merchandise through the Harris Family Museum Store, paid art workshops, and donations/grants. It partners with transportation providers (Catalina Express, Catalina Flyer, IEX Helicopters) and travel platforms (TripAdvisor) to capture tourist visitors, and runs partnerships with peer institutions like the Norman Rockwell Museum, UCR ARTS, and the Tongva Community for traveling exhibitions and indigenous cultural programming. Technology is limited to standard museum SaaS (FareHarbor for ticketing, Qgiv for donations) with no proprietary AI/ML, dedicated mobile app, or differentiated technology stack.

The institution employs 7 staff under Executive Director Sheila Bergman, governed by a Board of Trustees chaired by Terry Brown. Its customer base is geographically concentrated on Catalina Island's ~1 million annual visitors and the local residential community, with event rental serving a secondary Southern California market.

Name

Catalina Museum for Art & History

Legal name

Catalina Museum for Art & History

Website

https://catalinamuseum.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1953

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Catalina Museum for Art & History is a non-profit 501(c)(3) museum founded in 1953 in Avalon, Catalina Island, serving tourists, residents, and school groups with rotating art and history exhibitions, educational programs, event rentals, and a tiered membership program.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Museum & Cultural Institution

NAICS

Museums (712110), Museums (71211)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Art Museums (THAJADAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

History Museums (THAJADAB), Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA)

Keywords

• Art museum
• History exhibitions
• Cultural institution
• Event venue rentals
• Educational programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Avalon

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Admission Fees: Visitors pay admission fees to enter the museum and view exhibitions. Ticket pricing varies by age, residency status, and membership. Free admission is provided to children 15 and under with paid adult tickets and Golden State Advantage cardholders.
2. Membership Dues: Annual membership program with multiple tiers (Individual $50, Dual $75, Sponsor $100, Fellow $500, Benefactor $1,000, Sustaining $5,000) offering free admission, discounts at the museum store, and reciprocal access to other museums through NARM and Time Travelers networks.
3. Event Rentals: The museum rents its five event spaces (accommodating up to 300 people) for weddings, corporate events, outdoor dinners, birthday and anniversary parties, and receptions. The facility includes a 100-seat amphitheater, open-air plazas, and garden areas.
4. Group Tours: Guided and non-guided group tours of the museum and historic Tuna Club. Pricing includes per-person admission rates plus flat docent fees. Group rates available for parties of 15 or more.
5. Donations and Fundraising: The museum operates as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization (Tax ID: 95-1880698) and accepts donations. The annual End of Summer Party serves as a major fundraising event with sponsorship opportunities ranging from $250 to $10,000.
6. Museum Store / Retail: The Harris Family Museum Store sells merchandise, with members receiving 15% discount. Art workshops (Paint, Sing and Sip with Fabi) generate additional revenue at $40-45 per ticket.
7. Art Workshops and Programs: Educational programs including Art Workshops with Fabi (watercolor, paper mâché maps, coastal canvas), Art to Go kits for children, and Catalina Ambassador classroom program.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Catalina Museum for Art & History operates a single-site cultural institution in Avalon, Catalina Island, offering visitors admission to rotating art exhibitions and a permanent collection documenting Catalina Island history. The museum supplements admissions with educational programs (Art Workshops with Fabi, Art to Go kits, Catalina Ambassador classroom curriculum), tiered memberships providing reciprocal museum access, group tours including docent-led visits to the historic Tuna Club, and event venue rentals across five spaces accommodating up to 300 guests for weddings, corporate events, and celebrations.

Product overview

Catalina Museum for Art & History is a single-site cultural institution offering a unified portfolio of visitor experiences. The museum's core offering centers on rotating art and history exhibitions displayed in its 18,000+ square-foot facility, complemented by educational programs (Art Workshops with Fabi, Art to Go kits, Catalina Ambassador Program for students), event rental services for private functions, and tiered membership programs with reciprocal museum benefits. The museum operates as a traditional admissions-based attraction with ticketing (via FareHarbor), donations (via Qgiv), and group tour offerings including docent-led experiences at the museum and the historic Tuna Club.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Museum Admission

Quantifiable outcome

• Serves as cultural anchor for Catalina Island's ~1 million annual visitors
• +1 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• UCR ARTS / California Museum of PhotographycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe museum partnered with UCR ARTS to present the Contemporary Mexican Photography exhibition from their permanent collection. This partnership enabled the display of 125 photographs by 39 prominent Mexican artists that were originally created to raise funds for earthquake relief in Mexico in 1985.
• Norman Rockwell MuseumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts organized the traveling exhibition 'Norman Rockwell in the 1940s: A View of the American Homefront' for display at the Catalina Museum. This is the standard traveling exhibition arrangement for the Norman Rockwell Museum.
• Tongva CommunityflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerAn inaugural partnership between the Catalina Museum and the Tongva Community for the 'Crossing Waters: Contemporary Tongva Artists Carrying Pimugna' exhibition. The exhibition highlighted works of three contemporary Tongva artists (Weshoyot Alvitre, Mercedes Dorame, and River Garza) exploring their relationship with Catalina Island (Pimugna).
• Charlie James GallerycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Charlie James Gallery supported the Narsiso Martinez: Witnesses of Labor exhibition by lending works from private collections and providing gallery representation support, enabling the museum to share Martinez's practice with the community.
• California Arts CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe California Arts Council, a state agency, provided partial funding support for the Sonia Romero Catalina Community Art intergenerational printmaking workshop and related programming.
• Catalina Island CompanyminorGTM or Marketing PartnerServed as Exclusive Hospitality Sponsor for the 'Tall Tiki Tales: Catalina as a South Seas Island' exhibition, which explored Catalina Island's role in the popularization of tiki culture.
• Historic Tuna Club of AvaloncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe museum partnered with the historic Tuna Club of Avalon (founded 1898) to offer docent-led tours for groups of eight or more. The partnership provides access to the clubhouse containing trophies, artifacts, and photographs documenting the history of big-game fishing.
• Transportation Partners (Catalina Express, Catalina Flyer, IEX Helicopters)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerFerry services (Catalina Express from San Pedro, Long Beach, Dana Point; Catalina Flyer from Newport Beach) and IEX Helicopters provide transportation to Catalina Island, with the museum referenced as a destination on their platforms.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights10 records

Direct peers

• Oceanside Museum of Art: Small Southern California art museum serving a coastal community with a similar mix of local resident and tourist visitors. Comparable in scale, programming model (rotating exhibitions, art workshops), and reliance on memberships, donations, and event rentals.
• Pasadena Museum of History: Single-site community history museum in Southern California focused on local heritage, with comparable staff scale, event rental program, membership tiers, and educational programming. Directly comparable to the Catalina Museum's history museum component.
• Mingei International Museum: Art-focused cultural institution in San Diego with a comparable mix of permanent collection, traveling exhibitions, educational programming, and event venue rentals. Similar tiered membership structure and reciprocal museum network participation.
• Laguna Art Museum: Small California art museum focused on California Impressionism and art with historical ties. Comparable in mission, scale, single-site operation, and visitor demographics of arts-and-culture-oriented Southern California tourists and residents.
• Wrigley Memorial & Botanical Gardens: Also located on Catalina Island and even referenced by the Catalina Museum as a reciprocal membership perk for new Dual members. Operates a comparable cultural/visitor institution on the same island, serving the same ~1M annual Catalina visitors with overlapping geographic catchment.

Broad incumbents

• San Diego Museum of Art: Major regional art museum in Southern California offering rotating exhibitions, educational programs, membership tiers, and event rentals. Comparable in product mix but operates at significantly larger scale and with deeper institutional resources.
• Bowers Museum: Larger, established Southern California cultural institution in Santa Ana offering art and history exhibitions, cultural programming, and event rentals. Comparable in mission and visitor mix but operates at significantly greater scale and scope.

Regional players

• Maritime Museum of San Diego: San Diego-based museum preserving maritime heritage with an emphasis on visitor experience, event venue rentals, and historical collections. Comparable to the Catalina Museum's Tuna Club partnership and big-game fishing heritage programming.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CatalinaMuseum
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCTzjrYBM-Nw_l1msJ2NSLpw
• Facebookfacebook.com/catalinamuseum
• Instagraminstagram.com/catalinamuseum
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/catalina-museum

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Catalina Museum for Art & History