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Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art

Virginia Beach, United States of America

Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art

The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (Virginia MOCA) is a contemporary art museum in Virginia Beach, Virginia that presents changing exhibitions rather than maintaining a permanent collection. It organizes the annual Boardwalk Art Show, founded in 1956, an outdoor exhibition whose participating a

rtists are selected by a jury. The museum opened its current building on the Virginia Wesleyan University campus in April 2026; the university was renamed Batten University that July. The museum developed from the Virginia Beach Art Association, which was formed after a 1952 benefit art sale. During the 1950s, the association broadened its program to include art films, loan exhibitions, members' exhibitions, and craft shows, and began raising money for an arts center. In 1962, it barred black artist A. B. Jackson from the Boardwalk Art Show because of his race; Jackson exhibited the following year and won best in show in 1966. The association merged with the Virginia Beach Museum of Art in 1971, opened a new facility on Parks Avenue in 1989, and became the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art after receiving museum accreditation in 2010. Virginia MOCA's exhibition program has included work...

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