A VENUE THAT CHAMPIONS UPCOMING ARTISTS

By Everett Catts

Tucked away in the basement of the Tula Art Center in Buckhead, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA) was founded by an artist for artists.

Opening in 2001, it was created “to support artists of Georgia, to support our own local community,” says founder Annette Cone-Skelton, its president, CEO and director, who as an artist herself struggled to find venues to display and sell her works. “It’s a unique mission and it’s artists-centered with its programs and exhibitions.”

The Details

LOCATION: 75 Bennett St., Suite M1, Atlanta, GA 30309

HOURS: noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; closed Sunday and Monday

COST: $5 for non-members; free for members, children 6 & under and active and retired military members; artist talks are free; annual memberships start at $25

CONTACT INFO: 404-367-8700, info@mocaga.org

WEBSITE: mocaga.org

Since then the museum has been a vocal backer of the city’s contemporary artists. MOCA GA each year hosts a competition called the Working Artists Project, devoted to supporting established artists who live in metro Atlanta. The winners, called fellows, receive a $15,000 stipend, a paid studio apprentice and a solo exhibition there. To date MOCA GA has supported 45 fellows.

The museum also has a partnership with SeekATL, a local arts organization, to bring artists there. It also hosts other exhibitions and events. “We also have tremendous archives of the art of the state, from the mid-’40s forward,” Cone-Skelton says, adding MOCA GA has over 1,500 pieces of art.

She and her staff are excited about the museum’s plans to move from its rented, noncontiguous, 22,000-square-foot space into a new 26,000-squarefoot facility it will own at the Goat Farm Arts Center in west Midtown. The new museum, which is expected to open in mid-2024, will also have an 8,000-square-foot rooftop deck to be used for events.