Forever Balboa Park is proud to highlight Gaidi Finnie, a longtime member of our Board of Trustees and an active voice on our Trustee Engagement Committee. Gaidi’s leadership reflects the heart of Forever Balboa Park — a devotion to celebrating culture, preserving history, and strengthening the bonds between people and place.
As Executive Director of the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art (SDAAMFA) since 2013, Gaidi revived an institution that had been dormant for nearly a decade and transformed it into a powerful platform for celebrating the art and stories of the African Diaspora. His vision for SDAAMFA, recently featured by KPBS and The San Diego Union-Tribune, has brought new life to San Diego’s cultural landscape through exhibitions like Lost Neighborhoods—a deeply moving collaboration with the San Diego History Center that explored the history and displacement of Black and Latino communities.
This same passion for preservation and storytelling carries into Gaidi’s work at Forever Balboa Park. As a board member since the days of the Balboa Park Conservancy, he has helped guide the organization through its evolution and mergers to become the unified private-public partner with the City of San Diego it is today. His belief in the power of art, history, and community engagement continues to inspire the work we do—reminding us that parks, like people, are living archives of collective memory.
“When Gaidi is involved, good things happen,” says Carol Chang, former Chair of the Balboa Park Conservancy. “He dreams big and brings those dreams to life—always with purpose, focus, and a warm, compelling story to tell.”
That sentiment is echoed by artist and community leader and CEO of The Holyfield, Ramel Wallace, who emceed the 2025 sPARK Awards:
“Gaidi’s spirit is a thousand feet tall—and that’s not hyperbole. He’s the man, the myth, the legend. His drive inspires me to keep growing. From what he’s built with the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art to his collaborations with Balboa Park and his everyday energy, he’s more than a mentor—he’s a movement. Gaidi reminds us all to look deeper, to see the bigger ancestral and historical story.”
Gaidi’s presence reminds us that the Park’s legacy isn’t just about preservation—it’s about connection, creativity, and courage. His leadership continues to help Forever Balboa Park build bridges between history and possibility, ensuring that San Diego’s largest urban Park remains a place where every story has a home.