The Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami (MOCA) began in 1981 as a small, single-room gallery in North Miami’s downtown corridor. Known then as COCA, the Center of Contemporary Art, it was the first local institution to focus exclusively on contemporary art from South Florida.
“Thirty years ago, Miami was at an inflection point,” said Chana Sheldon, executive director of MOCA North Miami.
At the time, spaces for contemporary art were still limited, and MOCA was among the first to create a platform for artists working in the region.
(Photo: Zaire Aranguren, courtesy of MOCA Miami)
MOCA North Miami Executive Director Chana Sheldon, seen here at the MOCA gala in February, has been executive director of MOCA North Miami since 2018.
By 1996, the museum had moved into its permanent home on NE 125 Street, carrying forward a mission that was always about more than following trends.
“As one of the region’s early collecting institutions for contemporary art, MOCA decided from the start that it wouldn’t just follow the art world — it would engage with it,” she said. “That dialogue has always been central to our mission and our story.”
MOCA’s “Anchors of Light,” curated by Miami-based Catherine Camargo, reflects upon three decades of supporting artists and community-focused projects. Opening alongside it is the South Florida Cultural Consortium (SFCC) 2026, which brings together 15 local artists working in sculpture, film, and site-specific installations.
(Courtesy MOCA)
Anna Gaskell, “Untitled #8 (Wonder),” 1996 C-print 30 x 40 in. Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Museum purchase with funds from the Janet and Robert Liebowitz Acquisitions Fund
The season also includes “Antithesis,” a group exhibition of new work by students in MOCA’s Teen Art Force program. All three exhibitions run April 15 through Oct. 4, 2026.
One thing that Sheldon points out and keeps within the idea of art access for all in the community that it serves is that free admission is offered to North Miami residents.
“We serve more than 60,000 North Miami residents every year,” Sheldon said. “Access has never been a side conversation for us. It’s central to who we are and why we exist.”
To ensure that visitors had a place to see art when museums, along with the rest of the arts community and the world, shut down during COVID, MOCA began an outdoor series, Art on the Plaza in 2021, in what Sheldon calls a public art program that represents what “a museum can be and where art can live.”
(Courtesy MOCA)
Tishan Hsu, “Being Blue,” 1986. Oil, alkyd, acrylic, enamel, cement (Bondo) on wood 60 x 60 x 4 in. Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Gift of James S. and Marisol G. Higgins
It has continued as one of the museum’s most robust programs. Each year, the museum puts out an open call to South Florida artists inviting ideas of how to transform MOCA’s outdoor plaza into a platform for contemporary art, and as a way to create even more accessibility since it can be seen by anyone without them even entering the indoor museum. The artists selected work with the museum from the start.
“From conception and realization to installation,” Sheldon said.
Three new site-specific commissions include work by Joan Edmundo Jiménez Suero, on view now, Carrington Ware which will be on display beginning June 17, and Josh Aronson, on view starting Oct. 7.
“It’s an opportunity for us to engage and uplift South Florida artists and give their work a public stage, right in the heart of our outdoor plaza,” Sheldon said.
Whether you’re walking into the museum for the first time, passing by on the street, or returning, these works are there to greet you,” she said. “Some of the most powerful encounters with art happen when people aren’t even looking for it, when it simply meets them where they are.”
AWilliam Cordova, “Rolling, 1999.” Masking tape and fabric on paper. 22 x 28 in .Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Gift of Chris Ingall.
Inside the museum, “Anchors of Light” showcases MOCA’s burgeoning permanent collection, one that has grown since Sheldon has been at the helm, arriving not just as a collection show, but as a moment of reflection and reintroduction.
“For an institution that was among Miami’s earliest collecting institutions for contemporary art, being able to present more than 65 works in this context, during our 30th anniversary no less, carries a lot of weight,” Sheldon said.
When Sheldon arrived in 2018 at MOCA, she was already embedded in Miami’s contemporary arts space. She served as the executive director for eight years of Miami alternative arts incubator Locust Projects, and was the Miami director and national program advisor for Project Art, an arts education nonprofit providing free classes for children and teens in afterschool programs.
Under the direction of Bonnie Clearwater, who led MOCA from 1997 to 2013, the museum strengthened its program by showcasing high-profile artists, from abstract painter Helen Frankenthaler to Miami-based sculptor Mark Handforth and video art innovator Bill Viola.
Between Clearwater’s departure in 2013 and Sheldon’s arrival in 2018, MOCA went through a difficult transition, marked by board leadership disputes and organizational uncertainty, a phase that slowed momentum until new leadership helped refocus the museum’s direction.
By the time Sheldon stepped in, the museum was ready to continue that legacy while reinforcing its community-focused mission.
“When I arrived, I kept coming back to one question: How do we make sure this museum truly belongs to the people it’s here to serve?” said Sheldon. “That’s continued to shape everything we’ve done over the last few years.”
Sheldon talks about deepening partnerships with local libraries, schools and the city of North Miami, funding from the foundations like Mellon, John S. and James L. Knight, and the Jorge M. Perez Family Foundation, as well as $3 million in HUD funding in 2024 through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The grant, secured with support from Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson, whose district includes North Miami, is earmarked for renovations of the museum’s NE 125th Street building.
In Sheldon’s first year as director of MOCA, “AfricCobra: Nation Time,” which showcased works from members of a 1960s Chicago collective of Black artists, went on to be selected for the prestigious Venice Biennale in Italy. It marked the first time a Florida art institution received the distinction to show on the highly regarded international platform.
“That moment put real international eyes on the curatorial work happening here, and it’s something we’re immensely proud of to this day,” said Sheldon.
In 2021, “Michael Richards: Are You Down?” celebrated the work of the late African-American artist, who was killed on September 11, 2001, while working in his studio on the 92nd floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. It was the first museum retrospective of Richards’ work and has since traveled to the North Carolina Museum of Art and the Bronx Museum. A monograph has been published as well, with the Center for Art, Research and Alliances in New York.
“To have been the originating institution for that kind of legacy project means a lot to us, and we’re inspired by the way Michael’s story has continued to live on through this work,” Sheldon said.
As the evolution of MOCA continues, Sheldon said that what has kept the museum grounded through 30 years of change is a mission of presenting globally relevant artist narratives rooted in the community.
The 30th anniversary exhibition continues this approach, presenting the permanent collection in ways that highlight the local artistic landscape while engaging with wider conversations in contemporary art.
“Anchors of Light” is organized into three sections — The Miami Room, The Body, and The Garden — each offering a different way to experience the work. The show brings together pieces from a variety of movements, including Minimalism, Pop Art, Performance, Feminist art, and work from the Caribbean diaspora, encouraging visitors to notice connections and contrasts across styles and ideas.
The exhibition features more than 65 works from MOCA’s collection, placing Miami artists alongside those from around the world and includes pieces by Dawoud Bey, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Dennis Oppenheim, Alfredo Jaar, Barbara Jones-Hogu (AfriCOBRA), Pat Steir, Pablo Cano, and Purvis Young.
“A strong permanent collection is about being accountable to history, to the artists you’ve championed, the community that has trusted you, and the footprint you’re leaving behind,” said Sheldon. ‘Anchors of Light’ is our way of showing what we’ve built, and what it means.”
IF YOU GO
“MOCA’s Permanent Collection: Anchors of Light”
Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami (MOCA)
Joan Lehman Building, 770 NE 125 St., Miami
Tickets: $10, general admission, $5 for seniors ages 65 and older, students, disabled, and children 12 to 17; free for North Miami residents, city employees, veterans, MOCA members, children under 12.
305-893-6211