GMCVB Vacation Planner — 2012
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Art & Soul
The stage is set in Greater Miami, where arts and culture not only thrive but also continue to expand creative horizons.We welcome top talent from around the world, while our own stars of dance, theater, music and the visual arts continue to make waves across the globe.
Do not hold your applause!
Greater Miami and the Beaches is so much more than a tropical getaway. Artistically, it is a departure from the ordinary, offering cultural enlightenment through music and dance, museums, galleries, theater performances and fabulous festivals that take place throughout the year.
Adding to a full slate happenings is Miami Museum Month in May (MiamiMuseumMonth.com). The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau organizes this program, which includes special events And offers from participating venues.
But no matter the time of year you visit, Miami’s cultural scene knows no seasonal boundaries. The arts are always in bloom here, and they’re a vital part of what gives the city its special energy.
“Visitors to Miami may be surprised to learn that relaxation and inspiration can be enjoyed not only via our outdoor lifestyle but also, and particularly, through our cultural offerings,” says Craig Hall, vice president for communications for the New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy, which is based in a new Frank Gehry-designed campus on Miami Beach. “A trip to Miami that doesn’t include cultural events is missing a big part of the true Miami experience.”
The Art Department
With Greater Miami and the Beaches providing the inspiration, artists are spurred to creativity, as a walk through any gallery will reveal.
Britto Central, on Lincoln Road in South Beach, is pop artist Romero Britto's headquarters gallery. Britto has created a style of painting, sculpture and commercial art so distinctive that one can identify it at a glance. The artist also stays active in the community through his own foundation, lending his resources and talents to children’s charities and organizations around the world while also devoting time to local causes.
Many visual artists of international stature also have found their way to Greater Miami, including Puerto Rican artist Carlos Betancourt, who maintains a studio here. In addition, Greater Miami’s museums and galleries have launched plenty of local talent, including José Bedia, William Cordova, John Espinosa, Hernan Bas and Naomi Fisher.
You might witness the ascent of the next superstar at ArtCenter/South Florida, on Lincoln Road in South Beach, which subsidizes prime studio space for emerging artists and features a monthly exhibition schedule linking more than 40 artists in residence with curators and collectors.
Similarly, the Bakehouse Art Complex, in the Wynwood area near Midtown Miami, dedicates itself to giving emerging and mid-career artists the opportunity to develop their talents by providing affordable studios, exhibition galleries and professional development opportunities.
Through their respective Art in Public Places programs, the City of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County promote art installations and educational programs dedicated to enriching the public environment and preserving artistic and civic pride.
Museum Magic
In addition to nurturing contemporary talent, local galleries and museums are committed to exhibiting great art from across the globe and the ages.
“There is always something new to discover in our vibrant museums, galleries and collections,” notes Bonnie Clearwater, executive director and chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, known as much for its commitment to developing new talent as for its groundbreaking exhibitions. “Museums in Miami showcase everything from works by emerging local artists to international legends.”
Miami Beach’s Bass Museum of Art is no exception, housing a permanent collection that spans more than 500 years and four continents, including works from the Renaissance and Baroque eras, painting and sculpture from North America and Latin America, and contemporary photography. The museum is also famous for its visiting exhibitions. The Bass recently took a giant step into the past by opening Florida’s only Egyptian gallery, with 16 objects of Egyptian antiquity, including a sarcophagus and mummy.
Like the Bass, the University of Miami’s Lowe Art Museum holds a permanent collection encompassing different time periods and civilizations. Greco-Roman antiquities share space with Asian, African and Native American art, while a separate pavilion houses a $3.5-million glass collection with masterpieces by Dale Chihuly, Richard Jolley, William Carlson and others.
In Downtown Miami, artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, with a historical emphasis on the cultures of the Atlantic Rim (the Americas, Western Europe, and Africa), provide the focal point for the Miami Art Museum’s (MAM) collection. In early 2013, the new MAM will debut as an anchor of the 29-acre Museum Park, overlooking Biscayne Bay. At 200,000 square feet, the new facility will be three times the size of the current museum.
Multicultural Events and More
Diverse cultures play a huge role in Greater Miami’s art and culture scene. Housed in two historic synagogues, the Jewish Museum of Florida includes hundreds of photos and artifacts depicting Florida’s Jewish experience since 1763. Reflecting a more recent cultural boom, the Haitian Heritage Museum preserves Haiti’s rich culture through art, artifacts, music, film and literary works.
Put art and culture together with music, dance and film and you have the IFÉ-ILÉ Afro-Cuban Festival, which sizzles every summer with more than 15 dance and drumming workshops, dance parties and other events. Add the Miccosukee Indian Arts Festival, the Miami/Bahamas Goombay Festival and the Miami Salsa Congress, and it’s easy to see why the world beats a path to Greater Miami and the Beaches to sample the region’s rich artistic flavor.
Miami’s biggest art event is also one of the world’s most important.Each December, Art Basel Miami Beach welcomes artistic creations from more than 250 galleries across North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa, exhibiting works by more than 2,000 artists. Tens of thousands of art lovers descend upon Greater Miami to attend Art Basel and the numerous satellite art fairs that have developed around it.
The visual arts calendar also includes Art Miami in December and Miami’s original artistic happening, the Coconut Grove Arts Festival in February, which is approaching its 50-year anniversary in 2013.
In Good Company
Beyond all the fairs and festivals that celebrate creativity, the destination is also known for its talent exports. World-class performance troupes have vaulted onto the international stage, including Miami City Ballet, the New World Symphony and Florida Grand Opera. All are resident at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, a striking glass-and-granite structure that presides over Downtown Miami’s Media and Entertainment District.
Presenting a variety of thrilling acts — recent performances have included the Mark Morris Dance Group — the Arsht Center also hosts the Cleveland Orchestra in annual residency as well as the popular Broadway Across America series.
Also based at Arsht is City Theatre, which has a busy calendar of performances and readings, along with its wildly popular Summer Shorts short-play festival, performed across South Florida. “We’re the largest producer of original new work in the state,” says Stephanie Norman, City Theatre’s producing artistic director. But Norman is quick to acknowledge her colleagues on Miami’s theater scene, including the Actor’s Playhouse, GableStage, New Theatre, and her fellow companies in residence at the Arsht Center — the Miami Light Project and Teatro Avante, which produces the International Hispanic Theatre Festival.
Joining these local companies and performers in the limelight are groups including the Dance Now! Ensemble, a modern dance-theater troupe with members from three continents; Miami Symphony Orchestra, a group of musicians whose diverse ranks mirror Greater Miami; and the Miami Bach Society, an ensemble dedicated to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his Baroque colleagues in venues throughout town.
When it comes to performance venues, historic spaces include the ornate Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, the intimate Colony Theatre on South Beach and the legendary Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater.
Finally, our exploration of the arts in Miami ends on a high note, with the fall 2011 debut of the new South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center in Cutler Bay. The $51-million center was designed by Arquitectonica International and includes a main stage performing arts space and smaller performance venues, an outdoor plaza for festivals and art shows, and a concert lawn.
Do not hold your applause!
Greater Miami and the Beaches is so much more than a tropical getaway. Artistically, it is a departure from the ordinary, offering cultural enlightenment through music and dance, museums, galleries, theater performances and fabulous festivals that take place throughout the year.
Adding to a full slate happenings is Miami Museum Month in May (MiamiMuseumMonth.com). The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau organizes this program, which includes special events And offers from participating venues.
But no matter the time of year you visit, Miami’s cultural scene knows no seasonal boundaries. The arts are always in bloom here, and they’re a vital part of what gives the city its special energy.
“Visitors to Miami may be surprised to learn that relaxation and inspiration can be enjoyed not only via our outdoor lifestyle but also, and particularly, through our cultural offerings,” says Craig Hall, vice president for communications for the New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy, which is based in a new Frank Gehry-designed campus on Miami Beach. “A trip to Miami that doesn’t include cultural events is missing a big part of the true Miami experience.”
The Art Department
With Greater Miami and the Beaches providing the inspiration, artists are spurred to creativity, as a walk through any gallery will reveal.
Britto Central, on Lincoln Road in South Beach, is pop artist Romero Britto's headquarters gallery. Britto has created a style of painting, sculpture and commercial art so distinctive that one can identify it at a glance. The artist also stays active in the community through his own foundation, lending his resources and talents to children’s charities and organizations around the world while also devoting time to local causes.
Many visual artists of international stature also have found their way to Greater Miami, including Puerto Rican artist Carlos Betancourt, who maintains a studio here. In addition, Greater Miami’s museums and galleries have launched plenty of local talent, including José Bedia, William Cordova, John Espinosa, Hernan Bas and Naomi Fisher.
You might witness the ascent of the next superstar at ArtCenter/South Florida, on Lincoln Road in South Beach, which subsidizes prime studio space for emerging artists and features a monthly exhibition schedule linking more than 40 artists in residence with curators and collectors.
Similarly, the Bakehouse Art Complex, in the Wynwood area near Midtown Miami, dedicates itself to giving emerging and mid-career artists the opportunity to develop their talents by providing affordable studios, exhibition galleries and professional development opportunities.
Through their respective Art in Public Places programs, the City of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County promote art installations and educational programs dedicated to enriching the public environment and preserving artistic and civic pride.
Museum Magic
In addition to nurturing contemporary talent, local galleries and museums are committed to exhibiting great art from across the globe and the ages.
“There is always something new to discover in our vibrant museums, galleries and collections,” notes Bonnie Clearwater, executive director and chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, known as much for its commitment to developing new talent as for its groundbreaking exhibitions. “Museums in Miami showcase everything from works by emerging local artists to international legends.”
Miami Beach’s Bass Museum of Art is no exception, housing a permanent collection that spans more than 500 years and four continents, including works from the Renaissance and Baroque eras, painting and sculpture from North America and Latin America, and contemporary photography. The museum is also famous for its visiting exhibitions. The Bass recently took a giant step into the past by opening Florida’s only Egyptian gallery, with 16 objects of Egyptian antiquity, including a sarcophagus and mummy.
Like the Bass, the University of Miami’s Lowe Art Museum holds a permanent collection encompassing different time periods and civilizations. Greco-Roman antiquities share space with Asian, African and Native American art, while a separate pavilion houses a $3.5-million glass collection with masterpieces by Dale Chihuly, Richard Jolley, William Carlson and others.
In Downtown Miami, artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, with a historical emphasis on the cultures of the Atlantic Rim (the Americas, Western Europe, and Africa), provide the focal point for the Miami Art Museum’s (MAM) collection. In early 2013, the new MAM will debut as an anchor of the 29-acre Museum Park, overlooking Biscayne Bay. At 200,000 square feet, the new facility will be three times the size of the current museum.
Multicultural Events and More
Diverse cultures play a huge role in Greater Miami’s art and culture scene. Housed in two historic synagogues, the Jewish Museum of Florida includes hundreds of photos and artifacts depicting Florida’s Jewish experience since 1763. Reflecting a more recent cultural boom, the Haitian Heritage Museum preserves Haiti’s rich culture through art, artifacts, music, film and literary works.
Put art and culture together with music, dance and film and you have the IFÉ-ILÉ Afro-Cuban Festival, which sizzles every summer with more than 15 dance and drumming workshops, dance parties and other events. Add the Miccosukee Indian Arts Festival, the Miami/Bahamas Goombay Festival and the Miami Salsa Congress, and it’s easy to see why the world beats a path to Greater Miami and the Beaches to sample the region’s rich artistic flavor.
Miami’s biggest art event is also one of the world’s most important.Each December, Art Basel Miami Beach welcomes artistic creations from more than 250 galleries across North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa, exhibiting works by more than 2,000 artists. Tens of thousands of art lovers descend upon Greater Miami to attend Art Basel and the numerous satellite art fairs that have developed around it.
The visual arts calendar also includes Art Miami in December and Miami’s original artistic happening, the Coconut Grove Arts Festival in February, which is approaching its 50-year anniversary in 2013.
In Good Company
Beyond all the fairs and festivals that celebrate creativity, the destination is also known for its talent exports. World-class performance troupes have vaulted onto the international stage, including Miami City Ballet, the New World Symphony and Florida Grand Opera. All are resident at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, a striking glass-and-granite structure that presides over Downtown Miami’s Media and Entertainment District.
Presenting a variety of thrilling acts — recent performances have included the Mark Morris Dance Group — the Arsht Center also hosts the Cleveland Orchestra in annual residency as well as the popular Broadway Across America series.
Also based at Arsht is City Theatre, which has a busy calendar of performances and readings, along with its wildly popular Summer Shorts short-play festival, performed across South Florida. “We’re the largest producer of original new work in the state,” says Stephanie Norman, City Theatre’s producing artistic director. But Norman is quick to acknowledge her colleagues on Miami’s theater scene, including the Actor’s Playhouse, GableStage, New Theatre, and her fellow companies in residence at the Arsht Center — the Miami Light Project and Teatro Avante, which produces the International Hispanic Theatre Festival.
Joining these local companies and performers in the limelight are groups including the Dance Now! Ensemble, a modern dance-theater troupe with members from three continents; Miami Symphony Orchestra, a group of musicians whose diverse ranks mirror Greater Miami; and the Miami Bach Society, an ensemble dedicated to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his Baroque colleagues in venues throughout town.
When it comes to performance venues, historic spaces include the ornate Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, the intimate Colony Theatre on South Beach and the legendary Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater.
Finally, our exploration of the arts in Miami ends on a high note, with the fall 2011 debut of the new South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center in Cutler Bay. The $51-million center was designed by Arquitectonica International and includes a main stage performing arts space and smaller performance venues, an outdoor plaza for festivals and art shows, and a concert lawn.
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