Sherry Hogan is the development officer at the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art.
WHAT DOES YOUR JOB INVOLVE?
“I develop and maintain all sources of contributed museum income. I am also responsible for exhibition sponsorship dollars, increasing and maintaining membership, creating and implementing our fund, working with volunteers and the board of trustees, and lately, I having been moving into grant writing.”
HOW IS THE $8.7 MILLION CAPITAL CAMPAIGN GOING?
“The campaign is going very well. We have seven or eight proposals with major donors. We have raised $4.5 million so far and we hope that figure jumps dramatically in the next few months. The public portion of the campaign will be launched in September or October. We want to raise 75 percent of the money first.”
WHAT WILL THE FUNDS BE USED FOR?
“Renovations and construction costs will be $4.7 million with $4 million for an endowment.”
WHERE WERE YOU BEFORE JMOMA?
“I was in college. I didn’t have the opportunity to go as a young lady so I left Jacksonville in 1997 and went to Wellesley in Massachusetts to major in sociology. What I got out of it was living and working with so many dynamic women of all ages. It was an awakening for me.”
WHY STUDY SOCIOLOGY?
“I always liked the dynamics of interaction between people within groups, between individuals and social entities. It’s just interesting. It’s life.”
WHERE ELSE HAVE YOU BEEN EMPLOYED?
Sales and client management in clothing retail, furniture wholesale and life insurance have comprised the bulk of her experience. She also spent two years in the hospitality management field and functioned as the volunteer coordinator and attorney’s assistant under the Guardian Ad Litem Program. Hogan remains involved in the program as a volunteer. She also is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and Jacksonville Community Council, Inc.
HOW DID YOU GET THE JOB?
“Good, old-fashioned networking. I stayed in contact with one of my mentors, a professor at FCCJ. She introduced me to Evan Willman of Willman & Company, who was on the board at JMOMA. Evan then introduced me to Jane Craven [president of JMOMA].”
WHY TAKE THE POSITION?
“I was very active in fundraising in school and oversaw the senior gifts. I’ve been in sales and always worked with people, so when I started fundraising [at Wellesley], a light went on.”
WHAT’S MOST REWARDING ABOUT YOUR WORK?
“Being on the ground floor of rebuilding this fabulous institution. Everyone is very committed and goes beyond what’s expected. It feels good to be part of a winning, committed team.”
WHAT’S MOST CHALLENGING ABOUT IT?
“The length of time to build relationships that fundraising requires. Topical things like Sept. 11 and the stock market have impacted donations. Things are unstable so people are more conservative. It doesn’t matter how much you want to help if you’re wiped out. No promises have been rescinded, though. People have been making good on their pledges even at a sacrificial level.”
WHERE IS THE MUSEUM’S ART NOW?
“The Suddath Company donated climate-controlled space for a portion of the collection.”
WHAT’S ON THE CALENDAR OF EVENTS?
“Our next show is going to be regional photography and the final exhibition before the museum opens will be children’s photography. They are children from an after-school program in one of the mayor’s identified intensive care neighborhoods. They don’t have art teachers or supplies so they received training from our museum educators. They are wonderful pieces, museum-quality. Our instructors taught them how to compose pictures but they were given liberty as to what they would do with it. Our patrons will be surprised.”
WHAT GOAL WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACHIEVE?
“I’d love to see us wildly successful. I would like to see us in a financial position to bring the most cutting-edge traveling exhibits to Jacksonville. I would also like to see the community embrace the museum. Jacksonville will be the recipients of this gift. This is not going to be your father’s museum. This is not going to be a stuffy museum. This is going to be a museum for the people. We will have classes in painting, drawing, photography and pottery for the public, not just for children. If the museum was utilized by all social strata, that will be where we are successful.”
LOOKING FORWARD
“I feel grateful to be in Jacksonville at this time. The City is about to go through a dynamic stage and I’m happy that JMOMA will be able to play a part in that growth. In the next several years, as the Super Bowl approaches, people will appreciate the role JMOMA has in the community.”
BIRTHPLACE
Montreal. Her family moved here when she was four.
FAMILY
Hogan and her husband Daryl live in Deerwood. She has a 25-year-old daughter, Alicia. “I’d like to live downtown. I wish they would hurry up and build.”
HOBBIES
“I love to sew and to read biographies. I like people’s stories: how they got there, what influences they had on them and how their values were shaped. If I’m in line at the grocery store, by the time I get to the front I’ll know all the people in front of me and all of them behind me.” Hogan also enjoys movies, dining at Bistro Aix and strolling along the beach at night. “I find the ocean’s rhythm very calming.”
DO YOU HAVE ARTISTIC TALENT?
“I can’t draw a straight line. I am very drawn to pottery, ceramics and sculpture, though.”
WHO’S YOUR HERO?
“I admire people who see a problem, acknowledge it and find a solution; those men and women who identify a social need and do something about it instead of complaining. They make a difference.”
— by Monica Chamness