Anyone who doesn’t already know that Babacar M’Bow is uniquely qualified to run North Miami’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) has obviously not met the man.  Aside from his impressive credentials as a scholar, author, instructor and public speaker, M’Bow’s knowledge of world affairs, contemporary art and diplomacy is second only to the passion he exudes when talking about alternative expression in every form of the arts.

The Miami New Times published a fabulous article, Babacar M’Mow: A New Artistic Voice in Little Haiti, all about his accomplishments.  This was written a year before he was chosen by former City Manager Stephen Johnson to head the museum and is a MUST READ!

Babacar M’Bow has spent time in places most of us only dream about visiting, written seven books and over 120 articles, is a consultant for both USAID, which created the International diaspora Engagement Alliance (IdEA) with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the African Union, and is on the Advisory Council of the Walter Rodney Foundation.  He has given lectures at Fort Valley State University, the Philosophy Students Association, the Carrie P. Meek Entrepreneurial Center, the African Diaspora Studies Knowledge Exchange Symposium at Florida Memoral University, among others.  In addition, Babacar M’Bow was the managing editor, along with his wife Carole Boyce Davies, of the three volume Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora.

Because of M’Bow’s career in the arts and world diplomacy, one might surmise that he would have no interest in the seemingly petty court battles, Sunshine laws or email wars in which the City of North Miami has been forced to engage with MOCA.  One couldn’t be more mistaken.

Sitting in his small office on the fourth floor of the North Miami City Hall, Mr. M’Bow was only too happy to give me the information I have been unsuccessfully trying to wrangle from the City Clerk’s office.  As a very recent employee of the City, Babacar is already entrenched in the political drama for which North Miami has become infamous.

For example, I finally received a copy of the email I referenced in my previous column that was sent out by Tommy Pace at MOCA, presumably at the direction of Interim Director/Curator Alex Gartenfeld, in an attempt to cancel the 2014 FLASC Symposium held last weekend.  This email was sent to the approximately 250 expected attendees, including representatives from colleges and universities all over the country, and stated:

It has come to our attention that you or your colleagues may have been contacted by Mr. Babacar M’Bow regarding the Florida Africana Studies Consortium’s annual symposium, which Mr. M’Bow promoted as occurring at MOCA, North Miami on June 13-14. We regret to inform you that the symposium will not take place at the museum at this time. The standard application procedure that all groups must follow for holding such an event at the museum was not adhered to, despite our offer to Mr. M’Bow to facilitate and even expedite the process.

By way of clarification, Mr. M’Bow is not the Director of MOCA, as he may have presented himself to you, nor even on staff at the museum. We hope the event can be rescheduled to accommodate the proper application and review process, and look forward to engaging you and your colleagues in exciting programming at MOCA. Please know that, as always, those invitations will come via Alex Gartenfeld, MOCA’s Interim Director and Chief Curator, and Lisa Fernandez, V.P. of Education and Public Programs.

On behalf of MOCA’s board of trustees, Mr. Gartenfeld and Ms. Fernandez, we sincerely apologize for any confusion this has caused.

Fortunately, Gartenfeld’s childish ruse was foiled as I understand the Symposium was well attended.

Unfortunately, the MOCA board of trustees’ attempts to discredit Mr. M’Bow and his rightful appointment as Director and Curator of the museum continues.

Something even odder happened when I made a public records request to North Miami for copies of all grant applications and grant contracts regarding MOCA.  I spoke with, and then followed up with an email to Rafael Pedron for these records.  Imagine my surprise when I received the following email from Nicole Mesko, an employee of the museum:

Please note that Nicole’s email is from a server labeled “mocanomi.org,” yet no letterhead or MOCA logo appears anywhere on the email, leading me to wonder if this was an “official” email from the museum, which is allegedly a department of the city.

I was also astounded that I was directed to address all future public records requests to an employee of the law firm Kluger, Kaplan, Silverman, Katzen & Levine, P.L., the very lawyers who are SUING THE CITY OF NORTH MIAMI on behalf of the MOCA board of trustees.

I immediately wrote back the following email:

I’m still waiting for a response.

I’m not holding my breath.

M’Bow told me that soon after he was appointed as Director, he requested copies of all documents relating to meetings of the board of trustees.  He was told there was nothing of record.  No agendas, no minutes, no archives!  Absolutely NOTHING has been recorded since 2008, and all records, if any, have been kept out of the sunshine.

I am stunned.

Obviously, as the Queen of Complaint Filing, I have my work cut out for me.

Unfortunately for Babacar M’Bow, however, instead of being allowed to curate North Miami’s world class museum, he also has been dragged into this drama.  He is now forced to defend his position, as well as his standing in the art world.  M’Bow has, for all intents and purposes, become collateral damage in the trustees’ thinly veiled (and seemingly racist) intent to get the hell out of North Miami as fast as humanly possible.  The museum and the residents of North Miami be damned!

The curious relationship between MOCA and the Knight organization keeps getting more peculiar.  I have been told by two different sources that MOCA board member Ray Ellen Yarkin also sits on a Knight Foundation panel.

Conflict of interest, perhaps?

In a fax Mr. M’Bow received anonymously, the board accused the Knight Foundation of withdrawing its $5 million endowment, an accusation that the Foundation denies.

The future of the additional grant to fund the Nollywood project, which Mr. M’Bow stated that Knight Foundation found to be “the most innovative concept so far,” is now up in the air.  Ironically, the Foundation had no idea who wrote the grant when it was awarded.  Short of a crystal ball, no one could possibly have known at the time that Babacar M’Bow would become the Director of MOCA a scant twelve months later and be available to oversee his own “cutting-edge” project at a museum suddenly deemed as not being “cutting-edge” enough.

And yet, here we are.

In the meantime, the Court Ordered mediation, which is closed to the press, continued yesterday.  There is obviously still no news forthcoming.

Toward the end of the ninety minute interview, I asked Babacar M’Bow about his vision as Director and Curator for the future of North Miami’s Museum of Contemporary Art.  He simply stated that it is his dream for every child to realize his potential through the arts.  He wants to cultivate the future artist, photographer, performer and curator through alternative expressionism.  Babacar M’Bow wants MOCA to be the site for “dreaming of the future.”

For the sake of the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the children of North Miami, hopefully there will be a future worth dreaming.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”