With a career spanning 18 years in marketing and public relations for a variety of cultural and nonprofit institutions, Bruce Hartman is an advocate for the arts and community service. A native of Southern California, he relocated to San Diego last summer and in October was named marketing director for San Diego Children’s Museum, which is currently in the final leg of a $27 million capital campaign for their new and improved downtown location.

“Rooted in its mission of learning through the arts, the museum’s philosophy emerges from the distinctive need for children to learn through hands-on interaction, touching, exploring, manipulating and experimenting by using all their senses,” Hartman said. “The San Diego Children’s Museum, now under construction on Island Avenue and just a stone’s throw from the beautiful waterfront, will offer all of the children of San Diego an opportunity to participate in the kind of arts experience that will make them better students and, in the longer term, more productive and participative adults.”

Prior to manning the marketing reigns for the growing San Diego Children’s Museum, Hartman served as the marketing director for the University of Texas at Austin Performing Arts Center, as manager of an independent marketing and public relations agency in Portland, and as marketing director for the Oregon Ballet Theatre.

In addition to his professional experience, Hartman has been active in various community organizations, including the Portland Area Business Association (a gay, lesbian and community supportive chamber of commerce), the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, and most recently the San Diego Human Dignity Foundation. He has supported various AIDS organizations in Oregon, Texas and California and is most proud to have pedaled nearly 300 miles on a bike in the Hill Country Ride for AIDS, which raised money for Central Texas AIDS organizations. An avid runner, he is a member of San Diego Front Runners. Hartman also enjoys film, arts, traveling, cooking, reading and spending time with his family. He is a resident of North Park.