▶ ART NOW, IN PROGRESS ...
Press Release
Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Marcella Brown Leads moCa Cleveland Board as President
Cleveland, Ohio— (August 5, 2025) The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (moCa) is proud to announce the appointment of Marcella Brown as the new President of its Board of Directors. Brown, who first joined moCa’s Board in 2019 and has served as Vice President since 2022, brings deep experience in nonprofit leadership, philanthropic engagement, and values-driven strategy. A champion for community and creativity, Brown was instrumental in steering the Board committee that shaped moCa’s updated mission, vision, and values.
She was recently announced as the incoming Executive Director for the Rainey Institute, a Cleveland-based non-profit community arts center dedicated to engaging Cleveland’s youth through dance, drama, music, and visual arts.
Brown currently serves as Vice President of Development & Communications at Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry (LMM), where she advances the agency’s vision of hope, fair chances, and stability. Her professional and volunteer leadership reflect a strong commitment to community empowerment and equity. She also serves as Board Member and Scholarship & Programs Chair for the Black Professionals Association Charitable Foundation, Co-Chair of the Board Marketing Committee for BankOn Cleveland, and Board Member of the We Raise Foundation.
Named one of Crain’s Cleveland Business 2024 Notable Black Leaders, Brown is widely respected for her collaborative approach and deep belief in the power of storytelling and service.
“We are thrilled to welcome Marcella as our new Board President,” said moCa’s Kohl Executive Director Megan Lykins Reich. “Her energy, warmth, and strategic insight reflect moCa’s mission to be a radically welcoming and engaging museum for all. Marcella’s leadership will further strengthen our ability to push the boundaries of artistic excellence, community connection, and cultural experimentation.”
Brown expressed her enthusiasm for this next chapter, stating: “moCa now lives at the intersection of art, progress, curiosity, and community. As board chair, I am honored and humbled to invite people from communities near and far to come out and experience contemporary art, whether they seek fun, fascination, or the unfamiliar. We want to see you at moCa!”
She will be joined in Board leadership by newly appointed officers: Casey Monda as Vice President, Jason Smith as Treasurer, and Jonathan Kurtz as Secretary. Together, this team will work closely with moCa’s executive staff to guide the museum’s strategic vision and community engagement goals.
moCa’s outgoing President, Steve Sokany, who completes a four-year tenure, reflects on his experience: “It has been an honor and privilege to serve as moCa Cleveland's Board President for the last two years. Megan's strong leadership, coupled with the staff's efforts and the board's commitment, have aligned around our mission Art Now, in progress, to create exciting momentum that Marcella will continue to foster.”
In addition to its new leadership slate, moCa is excited to welcome three new Board Members:
● Grafton Nunes, former President and CEO of the Cleveland Institute of Art
● Susan Petersen, attorney with Petersen & Petersen
● Michael Weil, PhD, owner of Foothills Gallery
These new board leaders will work alongside moCa’s active and emeritus board to creatively steward the museum’s vital program, partnerships, and cultural impact.
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, Aleksandra Domanović, Michelle Grabner, Byron Kim, Ragnar Kjartansson, Tony Lewis, Catherine Opie, Adam Pendleton, Sondra Perry, Joyce J. Scott, Do Ho Suh, Liu Wei, Renée Green, Nina Chanel Abney, Finnegan Shannon, Manabu Ikeda, and Clotilde Jiménez, among many others.
MUSEUM HOURS
Holiday hours available at mocacleveland.org
2025 Institutional Sponsors
Leadership donors supporting moCa's mission include gifts to Art Now: Anonymous, Yuval Brisker, Joanne Cohen & Morris Wheeler, Margaret Cohen & Kevin Rahilly, Dealer Tire, Agnes Gund, Jan Lewis, Roy Minoff, The Robert H. Reakirt Foundation, and The Sunday Painter; Connecting Audiences: Dick & Doreen Cahoon, The Cleveland Foundation, The Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation, the George Gund Foundation, The Louise H. and David S. Ingalls Foundation, Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Foundation, David & Inez Myers Foundation, PNC, the Nord Family Foundation, and Nicholas & Erin Reif; and Sustaining Pathways: The Callahan Foundation, Grosvie & Charlie Cooley, Becky Dunn, Harriet Goldberg, Google.org, the Leonard Krieger Fund of the Cleveland Foundation, the John P. Murphy Foundation, Boake Sells, and Edward Smith.
moCa Cleveland also receives lead institutional support in part from the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and the continuing support of the museum’s Board of Directors, patrons, and members.
Media Contact
Matthew Dennis
moCa Cleveland
Tel: 216.399.0077 ex.817
Cell: 216.554.7310
