The George Lindemann Journal by George Lindemann

Bonnie Clearwater, the art world powerhouse credited with raising the profile of North Miami’s Museum of Contemporary Art, announced Wednesday that she is leaving the institution to head the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale.

The 75,000-square-foot facility at 1 E. Las Olas Blvd., which is owned by the private Nova Southeastern University, has been searching for a new executive director since Irvin Lippman retired last year.

Though Clearwater said the Fort Lauderdale museum had approached her repeatedly over the years, she wasn’t ready to make the move until now.

“The bones are there, the support is there and what they really need is exactly what I can bring them,” she said, describing her role as “defining its purpose, its vision and taking it to beyond not even the next level but he next level beyond that.”

Clearwater said leaving MOCA, where she has worked since 1993, was a “very, very” difficult decision. But she said she is leaving the museum in good hands, with an enthusiastic board, able staff and well-regarded young new curator in place, Alex Gartenfeld.

“I feel very confident in the museum’s future,” she said. “It’s really [because of] the fact that there is such a strong and educated board and a creative, smart, resourceful staff that I feel confident that this is a good time for me to take this opportunity.”

She will start in her new position as director and chief curator on Sept. 3, but said she would still curate the Tracey Emin: Angel Without You exhibition at MOCA in December.

George L. Hanbury II, president and CEO of Nova Southeastern University in Davie, said the university has not been able to fully integrate the museum since acquiring it in 2008. He said Clearwater will be tasked with making the museum an academic asset for students at the university and at the K-12 University School.

Clearwater stood out, he said, because of her knowledge of South Florida and connections with art supporters in the region.

“We have been an underappreciated museum, I believe, for many years,” said David Horvitz, chair of the Fort Lauderdale museum’s board of governors and a friend of Clearwater. He cited the museum’s large size, its three permanent collections and its architecture as assets that often go unnoticed.

“Couple that with now being a part of Nova and their real desire to build an academic portion of this museum to integrate everything the museum does to the student life and the academic experiences of Nova,” he said.