Both Sides Moving On after Messy Museum Breakup in Miami

After many months of rancor, which NPQ has followed with attention to the governance, management, and community relations implications of a messy nonprofit meltdown, the dust appears to be settling around the reconfigured Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) North Miami and the newly established Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Miami. The public mud-slinging began last spring, but trouble had been simmering for some time between the City of North Miami — which owns the building MOCA North Miami has long occupied — and the trustees of the institution, who wanted to expand the facility or move its collection to another location.

The trustees claimed the city was not maintaining the building or providing sufficient security; the city and trustees had different views regarding who had the authority to hire the museum’s executive director, so they each hired their own. North Miami saw the museum as essential to its downtown, whereas the trustees saw the collection as worthy of a bigger and better venue. Dueling lawsuits were filed, resulting in court-ordered mediation. When last we looked in on the situation, the city and the board had parted ways and some of the governance and management issues had been settled. But the fate of the 700 or so pieces of artwork that had comprised MOCA’s collection was still unclear.