Coral Springs Museum of Art has left its long-tucked-away home behind for a new gallery at 3380 N. University Drive, a move city leaders say finally puts the city's only arts museum where people can actually find it. The 8,100-square-foot space, built inside the Modera/Cornerstone complex alongside restaurants and retailers, drew nearly 700 visitors during its opening days on Oct. 9 and 10.
The relocation, according to Miami New Times, moves the museum from its previous address at 2855 Coral Springs Drive, where it had operated for years in a comparatively hidden location. Coral Springs City Commissioner Joshua Simmons, who chairs the museum's board, said the shift makes the institution more accessible, placing it where both residents and visitors can enjoy downtown Coral Springs. The new building includes more than 5,000 square feet of exhibition space with flexible walls designed to accommodate rotating shows, according to Coral Springs Talk.
Admission to the main gallery remains free, the outlet reports, a detail city officials have leaned on as they pitch the museum as a true public asset rather than a niche destination. Movable walls and multipurpose areas inside the new gallery are meant to support everything from traditional exhibitions to interactive installations, per the Miami New Times report, as the museum works toward presenting rotating contemporary work from local, national and international artists.
Picasso Prints Anchor the Opening Exhibition
The museum's first major installation in its new home is “Picasso: A Graphic Journey,” featuring 57 original prints Pablo Picasso created between 1923 and 1972, Coral Springs Talk notes. The show, which includes etchings, lithographs, linocuts and a canceled copper printing plate per the Miami New Times account, is billed as the first major Picasso exhibition in Broward County in more than a decade. The works were loaned from the Los Angeles collection of Timothy Collins, according to the same report.
Dr. Juliana Forero, the museum's director, said the Picasso name itself was part of the draw for a debut show meant to pull in a broad audience, noting that people recognize it instantly. Forero has led the museum for three years, following roughly two decades in arts administration, the Miami New Times reports. The exhibition is scheduled to remain on view through Dec. 5, the same closing date confirmed by Coral Springs Talk.
Public Dollars Behind the Build-Out
The new gallery did not come cheap. The Coral Springs City Commission voted 3-2 on Wednesday, Dec. 3, to approve more than $3.4 million in spending for the interior build-out, according to a report from coralspringsflnews.com. That funding plan draws $2 million from the city budget and another $1 million from the Community Redevelopment Agency, the outlet reports.
Beyond the build-out money, the CRA has committed to contributing $179,300 annually toward the museum's lease, with that amount increasing 3 percent each year through 2032, according to coralspringsdaily.com. City officials have described the museum as poised to become a destination thanks to its new, state-of-the-art facility, and Simmons has pointed to the museum's status as the only arts museum west of the Turnpike as part of the case for investing in its new downtown footprint.
Creative Studios and Community Programs Stay Put
While the gallery has moved downtown, the museum's hands-on programming hasn't gone anywhere. Art classes, ceramics courses and workshops for children and adults continue at the CSMoA Creative Studios, which remain at the museum's old address on Coral Springs Drive, Coral Springs Talk reports.
That campus is also where the museum has run Healing with Art, a program with roots in 2015 as an art-therapy initiative for veterans called Art for Warriors. By January 2019, according to the Sun Sentinel, the program had expanded into weekly sessions for pre-teens, teens and educators. The museum has also provided programs for veterans coping with PTSD in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas shooting, and its Temple of Time — a large wooden structure built with community participation and later burned as a symbolic act of healing — reflects that same art-as-therapy approach, per the Miami New Times account.
More Than Picasso on the Walls
Alongside the Picasso prints, the downtown gallery is showing “Cages and Collage,” an exhibition of mixed-media pieces made from found materials by local artist Janet Gold, on view through Jan. 30, 2027. Gold, a longtime local artist and the wife of a former Coral Springs mayor, was described by the Miami New Times as vital to the museum's opening three decades ago. She is scheduled to host a community workshop at the museum on Nov. 12.
The museum is also presenting “Art & Evolution,” a retrospective examining its history and new visual identity, according to the Miami New Times. Even the gallery's benches carry a local touch — they were made by local artists, the outlet reports, a small detail that fits a bigger push to make the new downtown space feel like a genuine community hub rather than just a relocated collection.
