Magic in Miami:  Culture Converges Downtown

Downtown Miami, with its majestic view of Biscayne Bay, witnesses a convergence of culture suited to Miami’s global profile. This culture-friendly convergence transforms our legendary Magic City, so that Downtown Miami increasingly becomes a place to live, work, and play.  Major cultural institutions lead the way for more to follow.  Both art and architecture contribute to this transformation.

There’s Pérez Art Museum Miami and its neighbor Patricia & Phillip Frost Museum of Science in Museum Park.  Nearby is MDC Museum of Art + Design, housed in historic Freedom Tower.  Also National YoungArts Foundation, housed in Bacardi Building and its surrounding campus, with radiant stained-glass covered building called “The Jewel Box.”  A signature icon of Miami on Biscayne Boulevard, the Bacardi Building is famous for its graceful blue and white tile-clad exterior.  Architect and YoungArts Artistic Advisor Frank Gehry reconfigures its campus with facilities to nurture young artists gathering in Miami from around the country.  Nearby Wynwood Arts District and Design District comprise a notable extension of the city’s growing cultural nexus downtown.  Adding to the mix is Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.

Truly in sync with Miami’s diversity is a recent donation of art by prominent African-American artists, including Faith Ringgold, to Pérez Art Museum Miami. This joins distinctive contemporary and Latin American art already in PAMM’s collection.  Such diversity is further reflected in its exhibits for 2013-2014 season, featuring Amelia Peláez, Edouard Duval-Carrié, Ai Wei, Christo, Alfredo Jaar, Beatriz Milhazes, Bernice Abbott, and others.

PAMM’s new building designed by Herzog & de Meuron, facing Biscayne Bay, is a dynamic addition to the city’s evolving urban core.  It invites visitors to explore not only the art inside but also in Museum Park, a welcome haven of green space among skyscrapers.  Says PAMM Director Thom Collins: “The incredible support that Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and Downtown Development Authority have given to the arts community has allowed culture to flourish downtown. I definitely see more and more artists, galleries, and art spaces choosing to make downtown home.”

MDC Museum of Art + Design, established in 2012, makes a mark in the arts community via programs with roots all over the map, including Peru, Cuba, Haiti, India, and Miami.  It’s housed in iconic Freedom Tower, a National Historic Landmark.  Architecture is elegant example of Mediterranean Revival Style, modeled after Giralda Tower of Cathedral of Seville. The building itself is a significant part of Miami’s history, having first housed the Miami News in 1925 and later, in 1962, served as a processing center for Cuban refugees.

Today, as a museum, it’s reinventing itself as forward-minded cultural player in a city actively reinventing itself for the 21^st Century.  Recently it organized a well-received, overdue survey of Cuban painter Antonia Eiriz (1929-1995).  Showing leadership worthy of its high-powered neighbors, this MDC museum inaugurates a new exhibition series to showcase exceptional Miami Dade College and New World School of the Arts alumni. That’s “swing/SPACE/miami,” with five solo or group exhibitions a year. This new series adds to the city-wide impulse to provide opportunities for young artists.  It’s also connecting these young artists with those who began their studies here, but whose careers have often taken them far beyond Miami.  Among those featured in 2014 are Tatiana Vahan and William Cordova.

“The MDC Museum of Art + Design serves as a bridge to the past while exemplifying renewed commitment to cultural frontiers and civic preservation,” says Executive Director & Chief Curator Jeremy Mikolajczak. “It serves as a catalyst to the growing arts community within Downtown Miami while producing structures to support emerging talents from within the local landscape.”

National YoungArts Foundation is another vital addition to cultural synergy transforming Downtown Miami.  It’s dedicated to discovering the nation’s next generation of visual, literary, and performing artists by enhancing their talent with innovative opportunities. Architect Frank Gehry transforms the foundation’s iconic Bacardi complex into a pioneering arts campus.  YoungArts enlivens an entire block on Biscayne Boulevard by establishing multi-disciplinary arts facilities. This includes performing arts space, gallery, café, lounge, and park equipped with state-of-the-art video projection facilities.  Plans call for interdisciplinary programming all year:  classical music, jazz and spoken word concerts, also film screenings, exhibits, dance and theater performances.

“We hope that by creating a home for the community and emerging artists while working together with our neighboring, as well as national, arts and cultural institutions we can become a beacon for all of the artistic disciplines we support,” says Paul T. Lehr, YoungArts President & CEO.

Downtown Miami itself becomes a bold beacon for culture burning ever brighter.