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Arts Administration

Jill Snyder, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA)

Nominated By: Pam Barr, Communications Consultant, MOCA)

On October 5, 2012, after 10 years of thoughtful planning, the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA) realized its dream of a new home in University Circle. MOCA’s new building, an eye-catching 34,000-square-foot, four-story structure, is designed to serve as a catalyst for creativity and growth in its neighborhood. The guiding person behind this accomplishment and the steady growth of MOCA as a vibrant contemporary arts mecca, is its Executive Director Jill Snyder.

Over the last 16 years, she has dramatically increased the visibility of what was once a small contemporary art gallery, boosted attendance and garnered broad-based financial support and community engagement. Under Snyder’s leadership, MOCA raised more than $31 million to completely cover the costs of the $27.2 million building in a challenging economic climate.

When Snyder first assumed her position at MOCA in 1996, the museum had a budget of $750,000, an annual attendance of 11,000 and a problematic location with no street presence. Snyder set about building a larger audience and a stronger organization, recruiting a committed board of directors and reaching out to the community through ambitious art exhibitions, educational events and eclectic programming to draw diverse audiences to its door.

Today, MOCA’s budget is $2.7 million, attendance in the first five months has exceeded 32,000 visitors, and its exhibition program is heralded as one of the most adventurous among its national peers. With its iconic new home that is drawing international accolades, including among Wall Street Journal’s top architectural designs in 2012, MOCA has raised the bar for contemporary art in northeast Ohio and is projecting that annual attendance will rise to 60,000 due to the museum’s accessible location in the heart of Cleveland’s cultural district. Under Snyder’s direction, MOCA is on track to establish a new level of engagement between the public and the contemporary art of our time. By any measure, Snyder has had an extraordinary impact on the cultural life of this region and beyond.

Jill Snyder video tribute (5:20 minutes)