Press Release
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
moCa Cleveland unveils new Mission, Vision, and Values
Museum sets an exciting new tone and future focused guide ahead of a dynamic year of exhibitions and projects in 2024
Contacts:
Adam Zuccaro
SVP Client Strategy
Falls & Co.
216.408.5717
Tom Poole
Creative Director
moCa Cleveland
216.658.6938
Cleveland, Ohio—(January 30, 2024) The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (moCa) announces the completion of new Mission, Vision, and Values statements for the 55-year-old organization.
Kohl Executive Director Megan Reich led the process, and she notes, “I am incredibly proud of our staff and board, all of whom collaborated thoughtfully to embrace concepts and create language that both draws from moCa’s rich history and articulates our exciting new tone and direction for our future. The words we have chosen crystalize our core intentions and beliefs in true moCa fashion, as we lean into new work and new ambitions. This language frames ongoing visioning and planning that will continue to unfold and reinforce moCa’s essential value.”
MISSION
Following a 15-month process, moCa’s new mission streamlines its previous 65-word statement into four memorable words: Art Now, in progress.
Art Now, in progress succinctly spells out moCa’s purpose.
◼ Art is and will always be at the forefront of all moCa’s endeavors.
◼ Now highlights moCa’s commitment specifically to contemporary art, emphasizing a sense of immediacy and active engagement from its audience. Now also is an invitation to experience, reflect, and be present in the moment.
◼ Progress, meanwhile, represents the museum’s aspiration for continuous advancement and growth. This part of the statement signals moCa’s values, which include a commitment to experimentation, upholding integrity, and fostering an inclusive environment. Far from stationary, “in progress . . . ” also reminds us that, like contemporary artists and audiences, moCa is always adapting and evolving. The phrase makes room for failure, learning, and growth, and emphasizes the museum’s active, “real time” focus.
Like artists, moCa develops and modifies its practices to reflect the current moment, specific needs, and unique opportunities. Together, these components blend into a mission that defines moCa’s identity and direction, illustrating its devotion to the evolving world of art and audiences.
VISION
As its formal aspiration, moCa’s new vision statement is both immediately feasible and always reaching, achievable at various magnitudes from personally meaningful to society altering:
Artists & art lead us to the unfamiliar, where we open and connect to new possibilities.
Like the new mission statement, moCa’s new vision statement centers artists and art as catalysts for growth and adaptation. In response and exchange, moCa’s audiences—be them visitors, neighbors, staff, board members, donors, or other artists—bring to life the exciting potential found in experiencing the unfamiliar.
moCa is the conduit for this creative exchange.
VALUES
The key beliefs that shape and drive moCa’s behaviors are presented in pairs to remind us that moCa exists in the shared space of “both/and” as opposed to “either/or” or simply “this.”
Our values are:
◼ Curiosity & Experimentation
Artists ask questions. Like them, being curious about the world is our starting point. From this place of wonderment, we experiment. Nimble, courageous, and deliberate, our explorations lead us to new potential and create innovations that drive culture forward.
◼ Exchange & Relationships
Our work is relational. We make meaning through exchange. By sharing, we form and nurture relationships that build trust. These connections undergird our work, bringing value and relevance to our mission.
◼ Integrity & Inclusion
We ground our work in care, love, and trust. We use ethical and responsible business practices. We are boldly inclusive, always pursuing equity, justice, and belonging. We embrace difference, celebrate diverse perspectives, and create spaces for support and wellness.
◼ Cleveland & Everywhere
We ground our work in our home city and serve our local community. We also inform and engage in a global art ecology. Collaborating with artists living in Cleveland or beyond, we present work and ideas that matter. We advance culture everywhere by basing our work here.
moCa Vice President Marcella Brown, who served on the task force that shepherded the process and is leading its implementation by the board of directors, reflects: “I am so proud to be part of moCa during this exciting time of transformation. This experience drew our dynamic board and staff together in dialogue to address tensions, ask questions, and push around possibilities. Our new mission, vision, and values set a fresh feel for the museum, one that reflects our leadership, creative workforce, and goals for impact, relevancy, and value.”
The task force included members of moCa’s board and staff, including Reich, Brown, Nadya Haider, Ben Guess, Jim Stone, and Natalie Grave. Carter Global consulted on a foundational strategic visioning process. The George Gund Foundation provided special support for moCa’s strategic visioning process.
moCa Cleveland's Winter/Spring 2024 Season
These new guiding statements inform three upcoming exhibitions at moCa. Opening Friday, Feb 2 and running through May 26, 2024, the shows include the United States debut of Manabu Ikeda’s acclaimed Flowers from the Wreckage retrospective and new commissions, installations, and artworks by Northeast Ohio-raised artist Andrea Bowers and Cleveland-connected collaborative BlackBrain Group.
Activating on moCa’s mission (Art Now, in progress), Manabu Ikeda will be working onsite for an in-gallery studio residency at moCa at various times throughout the exhibition season. Visitors can experience Ikeda’s creative process for themselves as he creates a monumental new drawing inside moCa’s Mueller Family Gallery. Engagement Guides and CIA students will be available to discuss and answer questions about the artist’s practice during these sessions.
Additionally, and in alignment with moCa’s values, collaboration is key this season–from BlackBrain Group’s immersive installation done with our institutional residency partner Julia de Burgos Cultural Art Center (JDBCAC) to collaborations with Great Lakes Science Center (GLSC) and Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) in support of Andrea Bowers’s new monumental neon in downtown Cleveland and multi-gallery exhibition at moCa Cleveland. These three exhibitions explore the power of nature and human nature–asserting our obligation to protect the Great Lakes, envisioning rebirth that comes after climate devastation and symbolizing our existential journeys–they elevate our shared experiences to encourage connection and change.
For additional information about the Winter/Spring 2024 Season, visit moCa’s website.
Free Admission & Hours
Daily Admission at moCa Cleveland is always free to all.
Thursdays-Sundays, 11AM-5PM; Holiday hours available at mocacleveland.org
About moCa Cleveland
For more than 50 years, the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (moCa) has played a vital role in the city’s cultural landscape. moCa is a conduit and catalyst for creativity and inspiration, offering exhibitions and programs that provide public value and make meaning of the art and ideas of our time.
Since its founding in 1968, moCa has presented the works of more than three thousand artists, often through artists’ first solo shows. Soon after its founding, moCa was the first in the region to exhibit the works of many vanguard artists such as Laurie Anderson, Christo, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Adrian Piper, and Andy Warhol. Recent artist commissions and solo exhibitions include work by Tauba Auerbach, Simon Denny, Aleksandra Domanović, Michelle Grabner, Byron Kim, Ragnar Kjartansson, Tony Lewis, Kirk Mangus, Catherine Opie, Adam Pendleton, Sondra Perry, Joyce J. Scott, Do Ho Suh, Liu Wei, Renée Green, and Nina Chanel Abney, among many others.
2024 Institutional Sponsors
All current moCa Cleveland exhibitions are funded by leadership gifts from Doreen & Dick Cahoon, Joanne Cohen & Morris Wheeler, Margaret Cohen & Kevin Rahilly, Grosvie & Charlie Cooley, Becky Dunn, Harriet Goldberg, Agnes Gund, Jan Lewis, and Toby Devan Lewis*.
* In memory
moCa Cleveland receives lead institutional support in part by The Cleveland Foundation, the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, the George Gund Foundation, the Nord Family Foundation, the Leonard Krieger Fund of the Cleveland Foundation, the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, PNC, and the continuing support of the museum’s Board of Directors, patrons, and members.
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