Company Profile

Company Description:

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) is dedicated to making contemporary art accessible to diverse audiences – especially underserved populations – through the collection, preservation and exhibition of the best of contemporary art and its art historical influences.

Brief History

The Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami began as the Center for Contemporary Art or COCA, which was founded in January 1981 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit institution and established through a City of North Miami ordinance. Featuring the work of local artists, COCA operated in a single gallery space in a modest municipal building.
 
Through the good offices of Congressman William Lehman (1913-2005), the City of North Miami was awarded $2.5 million grant from the federal agency for Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to create a center for contemporary art on municipal land in a prominent location in the heart of the city’s business district. Charles Gwathmey of Gwathmey-Siegel Architects New York, with local firm Gelabert-Navia, designed the 23,000-square-foot, award-winning facility which opened in 1996 and was renamed the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami (MOCA) in 1997 to reflect its expanded mission. MOCA is jointly governed by the City of North Miami of which it is a department, and by Museum of Contemporary Art, Inc. (MOCA Inc.), a 501(c)(3) entity overseen by a Board of Trustees. 
 
Even before new building opened, MOCA became a collecting institution at a time when no other museum in Miami-Dade County was assembling a collection that documented contemporary art. MOCA’s reputation for discerning curatorial vision immediately attracted the support of South Florida’s community leaders who have made pivotal donations to MOCA’s collection. Today, after an institutional reorganization concluded in 2015, the collection totals 500 works of art, including paintings, sculpture, works on paper, digital media, and mixed media installations created since 1955 by more than 250 artists. The collection belongs to the MOCA, Inc.
 
The Museum of Contemporary Art is known for its provocative exhibitions, for seeking a fresh approach in examining the art of our time, and for its commitment to innovative educational programs for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
 
Through its collecting and exhibitions, MOCA has also played a leadership role in championing South Florida artists by providing first museum exhibitions to several who have since achieved international renown, including Hernan Bas, Teresita Fernandez and Mark Handforth, among others.