Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science

The Museum was part of Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) as well as a Smithsonian Affiliate. The museum's mission was to stimulate interest in, and understanding of, how visual arts, sciences, mathematics, and technology connect. The museum had two floors of interactive science exhibits, an art gallery displaying a range of works as well as a gift shop, educational classrooms and rental space for special events. A few notable exhibitions the museum staged include Bodies: The Exhibition in 2009, Dale Chihuly's Seaforms in 2003 and multiple showings of the various Kokoro Sanrio animatronic dinosaurs.[4][5]

The museum ran a day-camp program focused on Art and Sciences, called "Camp All That!".[6][7] Other programs and activates included StarLab (planetarium), EcoLab (aquatic life tanks) and the WCTV Weather station. The Museum was also home for many years to a beloved guinea pig named George.

In 2004, in conjunction with the Florida Department of Education, the Florida Department of State and the Institute on World War Two and the Human Experience, the museum developed a curriculum for American History supplement on CD's, featuring historical educational materials, personal histories and interviews.[8]

2003: Seeing the Unseen: Photographs by Harold Edgerton[9]

2010: Videotopia[10]

2008: The Roswell Exhibit[11]

2010: STRIDe Lab ME² outreach program[12]

2001: Hello Cuba. Braking Barriers Contemporary Cuban Contemporary Art[13][14]

2005: Art and Ecology Triennial[15]

2006: Transitory Patterns: Florida Women Artists[13]

2009: The Kinsey Collection[16][17]

2008: Enrique Chavarria: Journey Into the Subconscious[18]

2010: North by Southwest, Native American Art: From the Collection of : I.S.K. Reeves V & Sara W. Reeves[19]

2010: Appetite: Expressions of the Politics Encircling Food[20]

2011: Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition[21]

2011: Coming Out of the Closet: Clothing Art as an Emergent Form[22]

In 2007, the art installation "The Proper Way to Hang a Confederate Flag" by artist John Sims garnered criticism from the local Sons of Confederate Veterans chapter. The piece, depicting a Confederate Battle Flag hanging from a wooden arm in a noose, was cited as "offensive, objectionable and tasteless" by Sons of Veterans members. The Brogan executive director noted "There's a balance between the nature of the art that we show and the outcome that we seek, which is to promote dialogue and conversation, and have you maybe think of something in a slightly different way".[23] The Florida Attorney General's office agreed that no laws were broken with the display.[24]

In 2008, "The Roswell Exhibit" was controversial with local scientists who believed a museum dedicated in part to science should not be promoting "the pseudoscience of UFO's".[25]

In 2009, the Bodies: The Exhibition show faced criticism due to possible human rights violations, resulting in a joint effort by the Florida Legislature and Anatomical Board of the State of Florida to restrict exhibits requiring museums to confirm that the human remains on display were ethically obtained.[26]

In 2011, the Museum was requested to hold on to a piece of artwork that was part of a recently closed exhibit.[27] The piece, “Christ Carrying the Cross Dragged by a Rogue,” by the Italian Renaissance artist Girolamo Romano, was reportedly looted from a Jewish family during the Holocaust. It was eventually returned to the heirs of the family.[28]

In 2014 there were efforts to use the bottom floor for a non-profit center, while the upper floors were tangled in a legal dispute. According to the Tallahassee Democrat:

"Attorneys for both sides are attempting to clean up a "messy lease," first created in January 1992 when the school board was granted state funds to construct the building on land owned by the city of Tallahassee. The state money came with strings that mandate particular uses for the building. Expansion to the vacant areas can't occur until the Leon County School Board approves the terms of yet another amended lease."[33]

By 2017, the building had been fully repurposed by TCC as non-profit innovation center:

"The 34,000-square-foot facility, which formerly housed the Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science, underwent significant renovations. It now houses offices and conference rooms for rent, technology infused training and collaboration spaces, a retail incubator, tenants including WTXL-ABC 27 and a New Horizons Computer Learning Center, the Institute for Nonprofit Innovation and Excellence, and a Starbucks coffee shop. The Starbucks is licensed by TCC to help support retail training and student job opportunities and is part of TCC’s commitment to advance entrepreneurship in the College and the community."[34]

In early 2020, after three years, TCC announced they were closing the Starbucks coffee shop located in the former museum gift shop space, citing financial struggles and high staff turnover.[35]