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Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science

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The Mary Brogan Museum of Arts and Science, also known as the Brogan Museum and MOAS was an art and science museum located at 350 South Duval Street, Tallahassee, Florida.[1]

Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science
Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science is located in Florida
Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science
Location within Florida
Established1998
Location(former) 350 South Duval Street
Tallahassee, Florida
Coordinates30°26′20″N 84°16′59″W / 30.43902°N 84.28309°W / 30.43902; -84.28309
TypeArt, Science center[1]

History

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Located in downtown Tallahassee on Kleman Plaza, the museum was formed from the merger of two struggling Tallahassee museums, The Museum of Art/Tallahassee and the Odyssey Science Center. The two former organizations were created independently in 1990 and 1991 respectively. The organizations agreed to share a common building, opening to the public in 1998, and to merge in 2000. The building was constructed on land belonging to The City of Tallahassee and the Museum executed a transfer of its sub-lease to Tallahassee Community College (TCC) from Leon County Schools in 2003. It was named posthumously after former Florida Lt. Governor Frank Brogan's wife, who died of cancer in 1997. Mrs. Brogan had worked as an educational consultant during her husband's tenure as Lt. Governor and had a strong interest in arts and education.[2][3]

  •  
    Construction of the Museum of Art and Odyssey Science Center, 1994
  •  
    Bird's eye view showing construction of the Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science at Kleman Plaza in Tallahassee, Florida, 1994

Exhibitions and Programs

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The Museum was part of Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) as well as a Smithsonian Affiliate. The museum's mission was to stimulate interest in, and understanding of, how visual arts, sciences, mathematics, and technology connect. The museum had two floors of interactive science exhibits, an art gallery displaying a range of works as well as a gift shop, educational classrooms and rental space for special events. A few notable exhibitions the museum staged include Bodies: The Exhibition in 2009, Dale Chihuly's Seaforms in 2003 and multiple showings of the various Kokoro Sanrio animatronic dinosaurs.[4][5]

The museum ran a day-camp program focused on Art and Sciences, called "Camp All That!".[6][7] Other programs and activates included StarLab (planetarium), EcoLab (aquatic life tanks) and the WCTV Weather station. The Museum was also home for many years to a beloved guinea pig named George.

Florida's World War II Memorial

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In 2004, in conjunction with the Florida Department of Education, the Florida Department of State and the Institute on World War Two and the Human Experience, the museum developed a curriculum for American History supplement on CD's, featuring historical educational materials, personal histories and interviews.[8]

Selected Science Exhibitions and Programs

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2003: Seeing the Unseen: Photographs by Harold Edgerton[9]

2010: Videotopia[10]

2008: The Roswell Exhibit[11]

2010: STRIDe Lab ME2 outreach program[12]

Selected Art Exhibitions

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2001: Hello Cuba. Braking Barriers Contemporary Cuban Contemporary Art[13][14]

2005: Art and Ecology Triennial[15]

2006: Transitory Patterns: Florida Women Artists[13]

2009: The Kinsey Collection[16][17]

2008: Enrique Chavarria: Journey Into the Subconscious[18]

2010: North by Southwest, Native American Art: From the Collection of : I.S.K. Reeves V & Sara W. Reeves[19]

2010: Appetite: Expressions of the Politics Encircling Food[20]

2011: Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition[21]

2011: Coming Out of the Closet: Clothing Art as an Emergent Form[22]

Controversies

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In 2007, the art installation "The Proper Way to Hang a Confederate Flag" by artist John Sims garnered criticism from the local Sons of Confederate Veterans chapter. The piece, depicting a Confederate Battle Flag hanging from a wooden arm in a noose, was cited as "offensive, objectionable and tasteless" by Sons of Veterans members. The Brogan executive director noted "There's a balance between the nature of the art that we show and the outcome that we seek, which is to promote dialogue and conversation, and have you maybe think of something in a slightly different way".[23] The Florida Attorney General's office agreed that no laws were broken with the display.[24]

In 2008, "The Roswell Exhibit" was controversial with local scientists who believed a museum dedicated in part to science should not be promoting "the pseudoscience of UFO's".[25]

In 2009, the Bodies: The Exhibition show faced criticism due to possible human rights violations, resulting in a joint effort by the Florida Legislature and Anatomical Board of the State of Florida to restrict exhibits requiring museums to confirm that the human remains on display were ethically obtained.[26]

In 2011, the Museum was requested to hold on to a piece of artwork that was part of a recently closed exhibit.[27] The piece, “Christ Carrying the Cross Dragged by a Rogue,” by the Italian Renaissance artist Girolamo Romano, was reportedly looted from a Jewish family during the Holocaust. It was eventually returned to the heirs of the family.[28]

Closure

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In January 2012, TCC and the board of directors announced the "indefinite" closure of the Museum.[3] The staff continued to offer limited programs, including "Camp All That!" through the summer of 2012.[29] TCC and the board of directors spent most of the 2013 attempting to bridge the financial gap, including selling some of the museums artwork collection. In early 2013, when a bid for $150,000 in funding from Leon County fell through,[30] the museum closed permanently, with "dire financial straits" and an inability to bring in "blockbuster" exhibits cited as reasons behind the closure.[31][32]

Subsequent Use of the Building

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In 2014 there were efforts to use the bottom floor for a non-profit center, while the upper floors were tangled in a legal dispute. According to the Tallahassee Democrat:

"Attorneys for both sides are attempting to clean up a "messy lease," first created in January 1992 when the school board was granted state funds to construct the building on land owned by the city of Tallahassee. The state money came with strings that mandate particular uses for the building. Expansion to the vacant areas can't occur until the Leon County School Board approves the terms of yet another amended lease."[33]

By 2017, the building had been fully repurposed by TCC as non-profit innovation center:

"The 34,000-square-foot facility, which formerly housed the Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science, underwent significant renovations. It now houses offices and conference rooms for rent, technology infused training and collaboration spaces, a retail incubator, tenants including WTXL-ABC 27 and a New Horizons Computer Learning Center, the Institute for Nonprofit Innovation and Excellence, and a Starbucks coffee shop. The Starbucks is licensed by TCC to help support retail training and student job opportunities and is part of TCC’s commitment to advance entrepreneurship in the College and the community."[34]

In early 2020, after three years, TCC announced they were closing the Starbucks coffee shop located in the former museum gift shop space, citing financial struggles and high staff turnover.[35]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b MuseumsUSA. "Mary Brogan Art and Science Museum, Tallahassee, Florida", MuseumsUSA website, 2007. Retrieved on November 18, 2007.
  2. ^ report, LINDA KLEINDIENST Tallahassee Bureau ChiefDavid Cox of the Tallahassee Bureau contributed to this (June 28, 1999). "LT. GOV. BROGAN'S WIFE DIES AFTER BATTLE AGAINST CANCER". Sun-Sentinel.com. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  3. ^ a b http://www.tcc.fl.edu/media/divisions/board-of-trustees-documents/2012/january/Tab-22---Indefinite-Closing-of-the-Mary-Brogan-Museum-of-Art-and-Science.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  4. ^ "Dinosaur robots | Copyright(c) Kokoro Company Ltd". www.kokoro-dreams.co.jp. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  5. ^ "Mary Brogan Museum of Arts and Science Presents BIG BUGS The World of Giant Insects". Museum Publicity. January 31, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  6. ^ "Camp All That! At The Mary Brogan Museum". Tally Connection. May 1, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  7. ^ Swain, Shantice (November 22, 2012). "Museum offers fun for children over holiday break". The Famuan. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  8. ^ https://dos.myflorida.com/media/32351/worldwariiheritagetrail.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  9. ^ http://web.mit.edu/annualreports/pres04/06.02.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  10. ^ "VIDEOTOPIA". www.videotopia.com. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  11. ^ "The Roswell Exhibit's blog". The Roswell Exhibit's blog. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  12. ^ "STRIDe | Outreach at Mary Brogan Museum". www.eng.fsu.edu. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  13. ^ a b ArtFacts. "Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science | Institution". ArtFacts. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  14. ^ "gabrius". www.cisenet.com. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  15. ^ "8 | marilee keys". marileekeys.com. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  16. ^ "The Kinsey Collection Coming to FAMU". WTXL. January 22, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  17. ^ "Tallahassee Hosts Four Centuries Of African American Art and History". BlackRadioNetwork. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  18. ^ "Seven Days of Opening Nights 2008 set for gala 10th anniversary season". www.fsu.edu. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  19. ^ North by Southwest, Native American Art: From the Collection of : I.S.K. Reeves V & Sara W. Reeves. Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science. 2010. ISBN 978-0-918548-07-8.
  20. ^ "Curator puts politics of food on the table in 'Appetite' | COCA". coca.tallahasseearts.org. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  21. ^ "MutualArt.com - The Web's Largest Art Information Service". www.mutualart.com. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  22. ^ Huffman, Laurie. "The Review". www.the-review.com. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  23. ^ Majors, Stephen (March 17, 2007). "Confederate Flag Exhibit Ignites Uproar" (PDF). AOL News. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  24. ^ "A Confederacy of Controversy". ABC News. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  25. ^ Cox, Billy. "Scientists decline to defend themselves". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  26. ^ Gresko, Jessica. "Bill would put new restrictions on body exhibits". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. The Associated Press. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  27. ^ "Fla. museum told to hold painting allegedly looted by Nazis". Jewish Journal. September 13, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  28. ^ Facebook (April 19, 2012). "Painting taken during World War II returned to owner's heirs". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 28, 2020. {{cite web}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  29. ^ "Data SGP : Keluaran Data Singapore Hari Ini Terbaru 2023". tallyconnection.com. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  30. ^ Blackburn, Doug (January 4, 2013). "Brogan Board May Decide to Permanently Shutter Museum" (PDF).
  31. ^ "Brogan Museum to close doors by Sept. 1", Tallahassee Democrat website, 2013. Retrieved on May 16, 2014.
  32. ^ "Inventive Fundraising". Tallahassee Magazine. June 28, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  33. ^ "Institute for Nonprofit Innovation aims to move into Brogan Museum", Tallahassee Democrat website, 2014. Retrieved on May 16, 2014.
  34. ^ "TCC ribbon-cutting ceremony set for today at Center for Innovation downtown" (PDF). Tallahassee Democrat. January 30, 2017. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  35. ^ Dobson, Byron. "TCC is closing its Starbucks at Kleman Plaza but will reopen one on campus". Tallahassee Democrat. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
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