We have exciting news to share this morning! Arlington Arts Center is now the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington! Our new name will help us increase our visibility and reflect our position as a premiere hub for contemporary art and artists and as the only art museum in Arlington County. Our mission to connect you with contemporary art and artists through exhibitions, education programs, and artist residencies remains the same.

We've been working on our rebranding initiative over the last year, which has included the formation of a board committee, extensive research, and stakeholder interviews. We wanted to invest in a big idea that would help us communicate our mission with a wider audience, so that more people will experience the benefits of our work in the visual arts.

We will also serve as one of the few non-collecting contemporary art museums in the Washington, DC area. And, as a non-collecting museum, our organization can evolve in step with the contemporary art sector for future generations.

It is our goal that, when you visit the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington, you will experience some of the most cutting-edge art by local, regional, national, and international artists, explore the power of your own creativity, engage with living artists, and further embrace Arlington’s place within a global contemporary art sector.

When we reopen on Saturday, October 1, we will present our first national biennial exhibition Assembly 2022: Time and Attention, which highlights the material and conceptual trends among contemporary artists working today. The exhibition features twelve artists from nine states – Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, and Virginia – who were nominated by curators at peer organizations around the United States and selected by our Curator of Exhibitions, Blair Murphy.

In addition, we are also presenting Let Them Kids Be Kids, an exhibition by resident artist Lex Marie. Within this exhibition, the playground serves as a framework with which to examine the joys of Black childhood and the ways in which issues of race and equity are inscribed on the site.

We will celebrate our new name during a special Community Celebration on Saturday from 12-8pm. You will have the opportunity to view the fall exhibitions, participate in curator-led tours and special art-making activities, and visit the artists-in-residence studios in the evening. If you can't make it on Saturday, visit us Wednesday through Sunday, from 12-5pm, through December 18 to see these exhibitions or register for one of our wonderful fall art classes, which are currently open for registration.

I hope this evolution for our wonderful organization inspires you and helps underscore our commitment to connecting the community to contemporary art and artists. Your continued support will help shine a brighter light on everything we do across the community.

We look forward to celebrating this important milestone in the organization's history with you

Warmest regards,

Catherine Anchin
Executive Director

P.S. Check out our new website mocaarlington.org and follow us on social media @mocaarlington!