MOCA Jacksonville Visitor Guide 2026

MOCA Jacksonville is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed on Mondays, and stays open until 9 p.m. on the first and third Wednesday of each month for Museum Nights.

MOCA Jacksonville closes for Thanksgiving on November 26 to 27, 2026, and its visit page says Setlan Coffee Co. and SoulFULL Eats close on the same holidays as the galleries (MOCA Jacksonville, visit page). Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the MOCA Jacksonville website.

The lobby opens earlier than the galleries at 333 North Laura Street: Setlan Coffee Co. serves Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and weekends from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and no museum admission is needed to visit it (MOCA Jacksonville, cafe). A downtown Jacksonville worker can stop in on a Monday for coffee even though the galleries are closed.

MOCA Jacksonville charges $10 for adults and $6 for seniors, military, youth and college students, and admission is free for everyone on Saturdays and during Wednesday Museum Nights.

The first floor of the museum is always free to the public, and UNF students, faculty and staff get free admission with one guest (MOCA Jacksonville, admission). Seniors, military, college students, library card holders and UNF employees must show identification for the reduced or free rate.

MOCA Jacksonville takes no cash: admission, membership and shop purchases are contactless, by card or phone. MOCA also lists Kids Free November on its visit page, so families planning a visit in November 2026 can confirm that program before buying youth tickets.

MOCA Jacksonville stands at 333 North Laura Street in downtown Jacksonville, and a public parking garage sits on Duval Street between Main and Laura streets.

From I-95 north of downtown, MOCA's directions are to exit on Union Street, head east to Main Street, turn right on Main for four blocks, turn right on Duval Street, then turn left on North Laura Street; the museum is immediately on the left (MOCA Jacksonville, directions and parking). The Duval Street garage is closed on Sundays, and MOCA members receive free four-hour parking there.

Metered street parking around MOCA Jacksonville is free weekdays after 6 p.m. and all day on weekends, which makes Saturday the easiest day to drive in. Accessible parking is in the garages on both Duval and Monroe streets, and metered spaces across Laura Street in front of the museum are reserved first come for vehicles with valid disabled permits (MOCA Jacksonville, accessibility).

Transit riders have a deadline to note. The free JTA Skyway monorail stops at its James Weldon Johnson Park station at Hogan and Monroe streets and runs weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., but JTA posts that Skyway operations will be pausing on November 2, 2026 (Jacksonville Transportation Authority, Skyway). Visitors arriving downtown after that date should plan on a bus, a car or a walk instead.

Five exhibitions are on view at MOCA Jacksonville in October 2026, led by Cara Romero, which opened October 1 and runs to March 21, 2027.

The list and dates come from the museum's current exhibitions page (MOCA Jacksonville, current exhibitions). The first show to close is From the Heart on January 10, 2027, so a visitor to downtown Jacksonville who wants to see all five has until then.

The American Century show is drawn from MOCA's permanent collection, as its subtitle says. Free Saturdays at MOCA Jacksonville are the cheapest way to see the full slate, while Museum Nights add the MOCA Bar and activities on Wednesday evenings (MOCA Jacksonville, Museum Nights).

MOCA Jacksonville holds more than 1,000 works by more than 500 artists, collected mainly from 1960 to the present, and traces its start to the Jacksonville Fine Arts Society of 1924.

The permanent collection includes painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, works on paper and new media, and the museum keeps an online collection database (MOCA Jacksonville, permanent collection). Among the bodies of work MOCA names in its history are an Alexander Calder sculpture and gouache paintings on paper, Larry Clark's Tulsa, and works by Robert Rauschenberg from Graphicstudio at the University of South Florida (MOCA Jacksonville, about).

The museum grew out of exhibitions hosted by the Women's Club of Jacksonville, and its first show in 1924 included works by 65 modernist artists (MOCA Jacksonville, history). In 1948 it became the Jacksonville Art Museum, housed first in a mansion in the Riverside neighborhood and later at the Koger Center. From about 1999 to early 2003 it had no public building.

In 2003 the museum moved into the historic Western Union building in downtown Jacksonville, built by Marsh & Saxelbye in 1931, opening as the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art before taking the MOCA name. In 2009 MOCA became a cultural institute of the University of North Florida.

All galleries at MOCA Jacksonville are wheelchair accessible by elevator or chair lift, with a power-assisted entrance at the front of the building, to the left.

A courtesy wheelchair is free on request at the front desk, an American Sign Language interpreter attends in-person lectures and exhibition openings, and MOCA asks for five days' notice for other accommodations at 904-620-1214 (MOCA Jacksonville, accessibility).

Inside MOCA Jacksonville, umbrellas and oversized items are checked at the entrance, bags may be inspected, and visitors stand at least 2 feet from artwork. Photography without flash for personal use is allowed unless a work is marked otherwise, while a low-impact photoshoot costs $300 plus 7 percent venue sales tax and must be booked in advance (MOCA Jacksonville, visitor policies).

School groups visiting MOCA Jacksonville book through the education team: grade school tours run Tuesday to Friday between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. with reservations, and teacher-led college tours are free with advance reservation Tuesday to Friday from 1:30 to 4 p.m. (MOCA Jacksonville, tours and groups).

James Weldon Johnson Park is the oldest park in Jacksonville and sits across from City Hall at 135 Monroe St. West in downtown Jacksonville.

The City of Jacksonville says the square was first established around 1857 and was known as City Park, then St. James Park, then Hemming Park (City of Jacksonville, James Weldon Johnson Park). On August 11, 2020, City Council passed bill 2020-0357-E renaming Hemming Plaza to James Weldon Johnson Park, after the Jacksonville civil rights activist, lawyer, educator and composer.

The park lists benches, bike racks, a drinking fountain, picnic tables and a playground among its amenities, which makes it a practical downtown stop for families. The Jacksonville parks guide on this site covers the park in more depth.