MOCA Trustee Wonmi Kwon and her family made a founding gift for the museum’s Warehouse Programs. (photo courtesy of MOCA)

The Museum of Contemporary Art announced a founding gift from MOCA Trustee Wonmi Kwon and her family for Warehouse Programs. Located in MOCA’s Little Tokyo space, Warehouse Programs will include curated programs that highlight performance and performing arts, artistic experimentation, experiential installations, a wide range of contemporary and social practices, and festival-like open events, as well as diverse, intergenerational experiences for new and established audiences. The gift will make a significant increase in programming possible and the infrastructure needed to support the space and its activities for years to come.

“It’s a bit over a year that Wonmi and I started talking about the cutting edge of contemporary art, the artist’s studio, performing arts, and performance art and the artistic spirit of the Temporary Contemporary,” said MOCA Director Klaus Biesenbach. “We began exploring the idea of Warehouse Programs immediately when we met, and now she and her family are founding Wonmi’s Warehouse Programs. What an incredible gift for the community of Los Angeles and beyond. I cannot thank her enough and am very honored and grateful for this transformative gift.”

This support will enable The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA in Little Tokyo to be open and available year-round and allows the warehouse location to be reconceptualized as a convening space. In addition, this contribution makes the addition of an artist bar and restaurant connecting the Aileen Getty Plaza with Wonmi’s Warehouse Programs possible. This gift will be launched with a seminal mural facing Alameda Street by artist Barbara Kruger.

“I have been part of the MOCA family for many decades and it is with renewed confidence and excitement about the museum that we make this gift,” Kwon said. “The space in Little Tokyo has always resonated with me for its physical and metaphorical proximity to the artist’s studio. It is a space of innovation, freedom, and experimentation. Knowing it will now be activated and opened up to the community in a robust and exciting way brings me and my family great joy.”

MOCA is located at 250 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. For information, visit moca.org, or call (213)626-6222.