Arts UNF Projects

UNF Arts Plan

Arts UNF is creating a comprehensive inventory of all UNF art and creative assets, which will support the development of a University Arts Plan. During this process, Arts UNF will leverage the professional expertise of the team at MOCA Jacksonville to elevate UNF’s other exhibition and gallery initiatives as enlivened parts of campus life that foster connections between academic areas, cultural experiences, and the broader Jacksonville community.  

Hicks Honors College

As part of Arts UNF, MOCA Jacksonville offers students in the Hicks Honors College unique opportunities to engage in museum programs, develop their work readiness skills, and impact the museum through leadership roles. Students can apply for project-based internships and fellowships on the museum's Curatorial, Education, and Marketing teams to earn real-world work experience. Students in the Fall 2025 Honors Colloquium, a required course for all Hicks Honors students, were given a group project to complete on behalf of MOCA, helping to develop their research, networking, and professional development skills. Additionally, one student is appointed to the museum’s Board of Trustees to support museum governance. 

Strategy & Innovation: Making a Magic School Bus

Inspired by the concept of a book mobile, students in the Fall 2025 Honors Colloquium course were challenged to hone their strategic communication skills to develop plans for a new Mobile Art Center that will provide hands-on community art education and connection, led by MOCA Jacksonville. This project offered students the opportunity to push the limits of creative skill, language, planning, audience analysis, research into perceptions and motivations, and social innovation as an exercise in self-discovery, team building, and community care. 

Once created, the Mobile Art Center will address challenges that Jacksonville's vast geographic footprint presents for connecting communities. This branded bus will visit hubs like schools, churches, community centers, and festivals to create art-filled pop-up destinations. This initiative will connect MOCA and UNF to the community through hands-on experiences that are available at the neighborhood level, while simultaneously acting as a moving billboard that draws attention to campus and supports student recruitment.

The Magic Flute

This partnership brings together the School of Music Opera Program, the Department of Art, Art History & Design (AAHD), and the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville to present The Magic Flute at the Lazzara Theater. Arts UNF is engaging internationally recognized visual artist and theatre professional, Ben Henessey to work with students to make this production a reality. Henessey will collaborate with the Opera Director and other UNF faculty members to create designs for students in the Sculpture Department's Scenic Design class to create the sets for the opera. Henessey will also deliver masterclasses, workshops, and critiques, both for UNF students and community partners such as LaVilla Middle School for the Arts and Douglas Anderson School of the Arts.

Enlivened Spaces

Sculpture: Enlivened Spaces is a studio course in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design where students build firsthand sculptural skills through guided projects and instructor-led experiences. The course covers foundational concepts and contemporary methods like scale, form, and space while pushing students to think beyond the studio. Exhibited throughout Jacksonville, including UNF campus and the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, these collaborative projects give students the opportunity to see their concepts move from the classroom into realized artwork at local landmarks with support from Arts UNF faculty and staff.

Art + Politics

Art + Politics is an ongoing exhibition project that brings together UNF and FSCJ printmaking students to explore the role of art as a platform for dialogue, reflection, and shared understanding. Developed through UNF’s Printmaking program and presented at MOCA Jacksonville, the project gives students the opportunity to create large-scale woodblock prints that respond to social, political, and environmental issues shaping contemporary life.

Through this collaborative process, students develop technical printmaking skills while engaging in respectful conversation across differing perspectives. The project culminates in Blocktoberfest, where students work together to print large-scale woodblocks using a steamroller, transforming the printmaking process into a public act of creativity, exchange, and community connection.

UNF Preschool

Arts UNF supports the UNF Preschool’s commitment to inquiry-based, creative learning by connecting young learners with meaningful opportunities to experience art in a professional museum setting. As a Reggio-inspired lab school, UNF Preschool encourages children to explore, question, create, and communicate their ideas through many forms of expression, including visual art, movement, storytelling, and play.

The annual UNF Preschool Art Exhibition at MOCA Jacksonville celebrates the creativity, curiosity, and deep thinking of children ages two and a half to five. Featuring two-dimensional and three-dimensional artwork, classroom documentation, and long-term project work, the exhibition makes children’s learning visible while strengthening connections between early childhood education, the arts, UNF, MOCA, and the broader Jacksonville community.