The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA) was founded in 2000 and opened its doors to visitors two years later. It is located at 75 Bennett Street in Atlanta and represents the works created by the artists who have been either born in the state or moved to it and made it the home. Presently, MOCA GA is the only such institution in the state of Georgia, which is why it has a great importance. During its existence, the museum has held nearly 120 exhibits, demonstrations and discussions, presented many artist talks, film and video screenings. The MOCA GA’s collection now has over 900 pieces by at least 250 various artists (“About the Permanent Collection” par. 1). Additionally, every year the museum adds approximately 50 new pieces to its collection.
The mission of MOCA GA can be defined as follows: the museum exists to “fill a void felt in the Georgia art community” by collecting, presenting, and archiving the most significant works by the artists of the state, from the mid-1940s to the present time (“Mission & History” par. 1). The museum is obviously a non-profit organization and, just like any other museum with a similar purpose, all profits and charities that MOCA Georgia makes it uses to develop the programs and events of the museum. In my opinion, it is a successful and contributive mission. There is no other place for artists to exhibit their works and for the state to collect the local contemporary arts, what makes MACE GA indeed a unique place. The museum is needed both by the artists who now have a place to present their works and by the citizens of the state since due to MACE GA they have an opportunity to get in touch with contemporary art.
Towards its beneficiaries who are both the artists and people the museum works for, MOCA GA has such responsibilities as community involvement, social innovation, and education. Apart from the exhibitions, which are the core artistic activities, the museum also presents arts education programs, holds cultural events, offers volunteering and internships. Due to those educational opportunities, the students who are interested in contemporary arts and looking forward to doing the related jobs after the graduation have their chance in Georgia. Additionally, MOCA GA raised the awareness of people about the contemporary arts and supplied many opportunities for the artists working in Georgia thereby creating connections between those artists and the society. The museum makes more citizens acknowledge and feel contemporary arts and makes more Georgia artists well-known by the people. The goal of MOCA Georgia is to strengthen Georgia as a place where artists can live, work and communicate with the people who have the same interest and taste.
As the Strategic Plan of MOCA GS says, the museum’s vision is to support the contemporary arts by reminding people of Georgia’s local arts and artists. And I should admit, it is on the way. The museum started with 250 artworks, which were received from the corporate collection of Atlanta-based CGR Advisors and David S. Golden’s personal collection (“About the Permanent Collection” par. 1). Now it represents more than 250 different artists and has at least 900 works, among which very different pieces can be found: “from painting to digital works, … from folk to minimalism” (“About the Permanent Collection” par. 1).
Besides, MOCA GS now occupies half of the building with galleries for rotating exhibitions upstairs and the permanent collection and Education/Research Center (E/RC) downstairs. Another progress that can be noticed is that the building has been renamed to the TULA/MOCA GA building. The museum becomes more and more famous and recognized both by people from Georgia and around the world. Coming to Atlanta, many tourists, especially those who are interested in arts, visit the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia. Gaining popularity among the public, it attracts the artists from Georgia and other places even more. Many of them are honored to exhibit their works in Atlanta.
The Education/Research Center (E/RC), which is aimed to provide the students, scholars, and the community of experiencing and studying the art history of Georgia, is another vision of the museum. The Education/Research Center was founded in 2002 in order to preserve and make available the rich legacy of the arts in Georgia. In 2007, it was firstly expanded to 5,000 square feet, and in 2014, it acquired 7,000 square feet more (“Education/Research Center Expansion” par. 1). The center provides the exhibition space for the permanent collection of 920 pieces, a computer bank for scholarly research, an expanded art library with 2,500 volumes, video installation room, the increased space for the permanent collection, and archive storage containing more than over 150,000 historical items (“Education/Research Center Expansion” par. 1). The E/RC is a priceless opportunity for students, teachers, scholars, critics, collectors, and any other person interested in art since it is open to all comers anytime during the day hours.
The Museum of Contemporary Arts Georgia has eight organizational values. Those are artistic excellence, local culture preservation, community, partnership, stewardship, transparency, diversity, and integrity. Probably the most important ones are the first two. Guided by artistic excellence, collecting mostly the artworks of Georgia artists and placing the artists in a global context, the museum ensures the local culture preservation and promotes the talents of Georgia. Again, due to artistic excellence, as well as the value of diversity, MOCA GA exhibits a wide range of fine arts and holds different types of events. All the staffs, students, scholarships, and the community work and study with each other to promote and develop arts of Georgia. The partnership and stewardship are the values of joint work. In the end, transparency and integrity are the values of moral and ethics of the museum. MOCA GA is an organization that provides fair and open platforms for artists and scholars to show their works and communicate with each other. The artists are required to be honest and keep the faith. In response, the organization also guarantees the fairness and transparency for its part.
To conclude, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia is indeed a unique and innovative place, which not only promotes the local talents but also contributes to the development of those talents. Due to various educational programs and internships, people who are interested in the arts have their chance to gain some experience and lay the foundation for their future career. The mission of the museum is noble and contributive, the vision is successful and efficient, and the values cover all the important aspects. Finally, considering what the museum has achieved in the years of its existence, it is not hard to conclude that even more success and recognition wait for it in the future.
Works Cited
About the Permanent Collection n.d. Web.
Education/Research Center Expansion 2014. Web.
Mission & History n.d. Web.