MOCA GA / Major Gift Announcement

The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA) announces a new $50,000 annual gift and commitment from Susan and Ron Antinori of The Antinori Foundation in support of MOCA GA’s Working Artist Project Fellowship. The Antinori Foundation offers ongoing support to MOCA GA, but this represents the largest commitment from the Foundation to MOCA GA to date. Funds will directly support program costs and artist compensation for MOCA GA’s Working Artist Project program, which supports metropolitan Atlanta’s most talented and promising visual artists, while helping to foster and create a cultural climate that nurtures and encourages a strong arts community.

“It is a mission of The Antinori Foundation to support the local artists and cultural institutions that make the city of Atlanta the vibrant and stimulating city it is,” stated Susan Antinori. “It is our firm belief that a great city cannot thrive without the challenges and intellectual stimulations of all art forms and MOCA GA is one of the most important art institutions in Atlanta. It is our pleasure to support the Working Artist Project, a core program.”

This gift comes in addition to annual funding provided by The Charles Loridans Foundation since the program’s inception in 2007. Chairman of The Charles Loridans Foundation, Robert Edge, expressed, “Susan and Ron Antinori have recognized with their generosity in many places that the arts are centrally important to the life of a balanced community. Their support of MOCA GA and its Working Artist Program evidences once more their thoughtful philanthropy, which is so needed in our city and so appreciated.”

The Working Artist Project Fellowship will open the submissions process for the program’s tenth cycle on June 9, 2017 (details to follow). “The Working Artist Project was developed, in part, in response to the great loss of some of Atlanta’s most talented artists to cities such as New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago. As a Museum that is dedicated first and foremost to supporting Georgia’s contemporary visual artists, it is our goal to encourage these artists to remain in our city, establishing Atlanta as one of the best cities for launching a viable career in the arts,” said MOCA GA Director, Annette Cone-Skelton. “This generous gift and commitment from the Antinori Foundation will enable MOCA GA to further our mission by providing funding for some of Atlanta’s best artists.”

Philanthropists Susan and Ron Antinori have extended generous support to countless arts organizations and museums around the city. MOCA GA is grateful for past transformative gifts and for the commitment of future support to the Working Artist Project. MOCA GA Board member, Claudia Patton wrote, “Susan and Ron are supporting the very heart of MOCA GA’s mission and everyone who experiences these artists’ works… thank you!”