Celebrating our 100th birthday at Tilden
By Ilana DeBare
Hey, if you turn 100, you’re allowed to celebrate for more than one day, right? Like maybe for a whole year?
That’s what we at Golden Gate Bird Alliance are doing. For the Centennial of our founding in 1917, we developed a traveling museum exhibit that will be featured at different venues throughout 2017.
During February and March, it will be on display at the Environmental Education Center in Tilden Regional Park. We kicked off its Tilden stay with a reception last Saturday that included wine, women, and song.
Well… wines donated and served by our own genial enophile George Peyton. The song of birds on a pre-reception bird walk led by GGBA field trip leader Alan Kaplan and East Bay Regional Park District naturalist Anthony Fisher.
And women… celebratory speeches by GGBA board member Jill Weeder O’Brien, GGBA Executive Director Cindy Margulis, and East Bay Parks board chair Beverly Lane.
Plus a wonderful speech by East Bay Parks General Manager Bob Doyle about the very productive, decades-long partnership between GGBA and the district.
“Audubon fought against development, even litigated, to protect shorebirds and habitat,” Doyle said. “I can’t tell you how important that is…. (and) I don’t know of any other partner that has done more to get kids to the shoreline, to learn about birds and the plants you restored to nourish the birds.”
Attendees at the reception were stunned by the vibrant and detailed photographs of birds and Audubon activities in the 12 exhibit panels. But the back story behind the exhibit is nearly as impressive.
When the GGBA board started mulling how to celebrate the Centennial two years ago, they wanted an outward-facing celebration — something that would introduce Golden Gate Bird Alliance to broad parts of the community that may never have heard of us.
They settled on the idea of a traveling exhibit that would appear at free public venues with a lot of foot traffic.
Cindy Margulis connected GGBA with a graduate-level seminar in Museum Studies at JFK University. GGBA became the class project! For about two months, these two dozen energetic students took a deep dive into GGBA’s culture and programs, reading our publications, surveying and interviewing volunteers, even going on GGBA field trips.
The JFK students came up with the general concept and design parameters for the exhibit. GGBA staff pulled together the photos and text, with generous help from talented local bird photographers. The actual graphic design for the exhibit was provided pro bono by the local marketing/design firm of Airloom.space, which was started by our former office manager Shokai Sinclair.
The exhibit panels collapse into carrying cases slightly larger than birding scopes. With the move from our opening venue at the California State Building in San Francisco to the current venue at Tilden, GGBA volunteers are getting very proficient at setting the panels up and taking them down — managing set-up in about an hour!
We encourage you to visit the exhibit and bring your friends! It’s a great, visual way to introduce them to Audubon and Bay Area birds. While the exhibit is at Tilden, you can combine your visit with a bird walk to nearby Jewel Lake or – a favorite with kids – a visit to the Little Farm next door. (Bring some celery for the goats.)
The Centennial exhibit will be at Tilden through March 31st, Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The address is 600 Canon Drive, close to the parking lot for Jewel lake/Little Farm. Later in the year, it will be on display in Oakland City Hall/Dalziel Building; the Tides/Thoreau Center at the Presidio, and at Lindsay Wildlife Experience.
