The Blue Hour: Ocean of Inclusion

AltaSea’s CD15 Community Grant Fund Application

Title: The Blue Hour: Ocean of Inclusion

This past October, AltaSea unveiled The Blue Hour, a unique drive-in experience where 500 attendees safely participated from their cars while AltaSea and honored guests, including Councilman Buscaino, honored those who have helped us pave the way and who continue to forge new paths in ocean science. Attendees watched a moving and evocative film, The Story of the Ocean, produced and directed by AltaSea partners, including local artist Jack Baric. We also gave out three inaugural honors– The Explorer Award, the Ocean Innovation Award, and the Next Generation Award – to individuals who have truly made a difference in finding solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. This spectacular evening concluded with the first art installation light show to be projected against the USS IOWA.

The Blue Hour: Ocean of Inclusion is scheduled for October 9, 2021. AltaSea would be honored to present this program and event with the Office of Councilman Buscaino, and toward that that goal, respectfully request $100,000 of community grant funding. The celebration will be held at Angel’s Gate Park, against the backdrop of the Korean Bell. The program will include free admission to 500 members of the community.

The 2020 Blue Hour theme focused on education. For 2021, the Blue Hour theme is

Ocean of Inclusion. Our community will come together, in support of the ocean, to celebrate both education and the diversity of our port community, including indigenous ocean cultures like the Tongva and the Chumash Nations who once lived and traded in what we now know as San Pedro.

The Korean Bell was presented to the United States as a symbol of friendship and, as the world opens in recovery, we see no better place to celebrate the friends and community we have missed than the Korean Bell in Angel’s Gate Park. San Pedro is a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities, all who have benefitted from the nearby sea. This community is intertwined with the beauty of our ocean and the economic impact it has on us. Entertainment will include an original film honoring indigenous people of this area and how they were interwoven with the ocean many years ago.

AltaSea’s Exploration Award, Innovation Award and the Next Generation Award will be presented to those we deem are making awe-inspiring strides in ocean science. Lastly,

AltaSea and Angel’s Gate Cultural Center will blend art and science through the lens of technological experience. Our intent is to work with local community artists who would provide pop up studios, displaying work or performances meaningful to our ocean community. There will also be activities for children. For those unable to attend in person, the event will be livestreamed.

About AltaSea

AltaSea is a unique public-private venture with an asset unlike any other: thirty-five acres of land, warehouse, wharf, and water in the Port of Los Angeles, with over 4,500 linear feet of deep-water dock space, and located less than a nautical mile from the open Pacific Ocean. As a nonprofit oceanographic research, education, and community engagement campus, we encourage innovators to collaborate developing solutions critical to climate, the environment, and energy, while also imparting that knowledge to the next generation of ocean explorers, innovators, and researchers. We are dedicated to accelerating scientific collaboration, advancing an emerging blue economy through business innovation and job creation, and inspiring the next generation, all for a more sustainable, just, and equitable world. AltaSea has created this model convening a wide range of experts in ocean industry, academia, and business who are yielding breakthroughs in marine science and preparing local students for ocean economy careers.

Project Blue is our multifaceted education program incorporating innovative methods of hands-on learning to encourage students towards careers in the emerging ocean economy. Through Project Blue, and in conjunction with our collaborative partners, we are united in providing a strong knowledge base through a wide range of Kindergarten-College and community education programs. These programs include classes and enrichment, live chats, webinars, internships, and career pathway training. As a member of Expand LA, where 30 LA based STEM organizations are teaching core science and afterschool enrichment to LAUSD students, we reach over 28,000 students per semester.

According to the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation Ocean Economy Report, California’s ocean has fostered the development of an entire economy, the Blue Economy, already providing over 660,000 direct jobs and over $143 billion in total economic output in California. 126,000 additional ocean-related jobs paying a combined $37.7 billion in wages will be generated in Los Angeles by 2023. Ocean-related education and workforce development programs are a vital component in preparing our students. We support and engage with the local harbor community providing opportunities for students pursuing science education and ocean economy careers through our workforce development programs.

Some of our partners who help us provide students with real-life experiences include Dr. Bob Ballard’s Ocean Exploration Trust, Holdfast Aquaculture, and Carlsbad Aquafarms, as well as SCRIPPS, the University of Southern California, and Oregon State University. From understanding ocean mapping and ice melting, bivalve production and kelp sequestration to marine wave energy, these experiences have a direct impact on the health of the ocean and in preparing students for future maritime careers.

Our programs, partnerships, and supporters all make the AltaSea model possible, and we celebrate these achievements at our annual fundraiser, The Blue Hour.