BOSTON— A new home on the waterfront and a host of big-name shows has put Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art in a pretty nice position. The museum, which relocated to its new, roomier home on Boston Harbor in late 2006, has seen a surge in attendance in recent months. One big draw is undoubtedly a show of work by Shepard Fairey, a major newsmaker in 2009 (and in Boston in particular) due to his famous Obama “Hope” poster as well as a number of arrests for vandalism around the city.

But the ICA can’t complain about Fairey’s actions: In June, attendance at his current exhibition passed 105,000 people, making it the museum’s most popular show ever. Exhibitions by Tara Donovan and Anish Kapoor, which preceded the Fairey show, also brought visitors in, moving the ICA up to No. 2 on the region’s most visited museums list (it spent many years in last place). And the museum’s recent rise in popularity has another added benefit. As institutions like the Museum of Fine Arts and the Boston Symphony Orchestra lay off employees because of economic hardships, the ICA’s staff has remained intact.

Read more at Boston.com.