^ 'Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman Architects'.MOCA has several different outreach programs. In January 2018, the City of North Miami appointed Chana Budgazad Sheldon, previously executive director of the Miami alternative exhibition space Locust Projects, as MOCA's director. In a settlement, approximately 70% of MOCA's 700 works remained in MOCA's collection, and 200 pieces were to be held by the new organization. In Fall 2014, some members of the museum's board of trustees split and established a new arts organization, the Institute of Contemporary Art, in Miami's Design District. Over 220 artists have been featured in this series, many of them publicly presenting their work for the first time. MOCA's Optic Nerve was recognized as an important forum for emerging artists working in film. In 2008, the institution received a $5 million endowment from the Knight Exhibition Series, supporting exhibitions of work by emerging artists, the development of new public programs, enhanced school programs, and the presentation of lectures, performances, and film screenings. MOCA has presented solo and survey exhibitions by artists including Bill Viola, Tracey Emin, Edouard Duval-Carrié, Virginia Overton, Purvis Young, Wangechi Mutu, Michael Richards, and many others. Clearwater considered MOCA an 'education museum', and under her directorship the institution was awarded an IMLS National Medal for Museum and Library Service in 2012.

The museum was directed by art historian and curator Bonnie Clearwater from 1993 until 2013. In 1996, the museum opened a new building, following the establishment of its permanent collection in 1995. The Museum of Contemporary Art began as the Center for Contemporary art in a single gallery space in 1981.

Moca museum of contemporary art la