Balboa Park Today

Home to fifteen museums, performing art venues, and gardens, all of these institutions at Balboa Park have renowned exhibits, libraries, programs and educational goals, and they collectively attract ten to fourteen million visitors per year. There are also more than eighty cultural, conservational, and recreational organizations in this Park. Balboa Park is known for hosting the world-famous San Diego Zoo and the Old Globe as well. In 2003, Balboa Park was ranked as one of the best parks in the world by the Project for Public Spaces. At 1,200 acres, it is one of the largest urban cultural parks in the United States.

The future of Balboa Park is looking wondrous with the development of the Balboa Park Online Collaborative and the Balboa Park Commons, as well as the upcoming San Diego Balboa Park Centennial 2015. The mission of the Balboa Park Online Collaborative is to "foster a culture of innovation and collaboration among nonprofit organizations through technology, with a focus on Balboa Park,"* and the Balboa Park Commons is a "rich online library offering unprecedented access to photos, videos, journals, and other rich content from Balboa Park museums."* The Park is preparing for its Centennial anniversary that will mark the 100th birthday since the original exposition, and it will be a year of exciting festivities once again putting San Diego on the world stage as it did in the 1915 Exposition.*