MOCA Jacksonville New Logo and Website

Flog is posting that George Kinghorn, director of MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville), is stepping down. First reported by Metro Jacksonville, apparently George prefers curating the MOCA collection better than managing the day to day operations. Another interesting tidbit in the post is:

Considering the move follows the firing or resignation of at least four top managers (director of education, director of development, etc.) … One of the museum’s former senior staffers tells Folio Weekly that the place is practically falling apart.

I ask my friend Brittni Wood, editor of CREATEjacksonville, how she thought this might impact the Jacksonville art scene:

I am not sure what is going to happen, especially since they haven’t decided on a new director yet. I think this could be a
positive thing for the art scene in Jacksonville, but we’ll just have to see. I don’t have enough info on George, and what he has accomplished since being there, to say anything bad about him. However, I will say, any time there is a change like this, there is always the opportunity for something or someone better to come along.

I read the comment on flog in regards to this, and I don’t know if I would say that George Kinghorn or the Museum has totally dismissed local artists altogether. There is a gallery on the 5th floor that regularly houses local artists; although it is a modest space, it is something. There absolutely are local, contemporary artists who are capable of showing at MOCA Jacksonville, and many who already have. While I am unsure if Kinghorn or the Museum has directly ignored the local art scene, I am sure that we, as artists, need to make our own scene, and avoid relying on one art source to do it for us.

I also noticed this curious little line towards the end of the post: “Read all about it at an Al’s Pizza near you.” Is this a potential monetizing scheme for the Folio blog? Maybe they’re looking for ways to make money so they can buy an Urban Jacksonville sponsorship.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 12:52 pm and is filed under Art, Downtown Jacksonville. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.