- Winner:
- Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
- Summary:
- To plan for an annual performing arts festival celebrating hemispheric arts
- Amount:
- $100,000
- Applicant:
- Larry Wilker, president and CEO, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
Description
For all the vitality of its cultural and entertainment scene, Miami has never played host to a great, comprehensive, annual international festival of the performing arts. The Arsht Center strives to create and produce one, and this grant will support its planning efforts. The festival will be anchored by the uniqueness that is Miami – a blend of Latin American, Caribbean and North American arts and influences, highlighting Miami's unique position in this hemisphere. What Art Basel is to visual arts, Hemisphere Festival will be to the performing arts, attracting audiences around the block and across the globe. The Festival will offer a wide range of presentations across cultural categories including music, theater, dance, film, comedy and spoken word. The Arsht Center will produce the Hemisphere Festival in cooperation with select Miami-based arts organizations and promoters. The festival will be developed through a three-year plan to build from a four-day weekend in year one to a full week-long celebration in year three.
Background
In 1994, cultural arts, government and business leaders conceptualized a world-class performing arts center for downtown Miami. The center, designed by world-renowned architect Cesar Pelli, opened its doors in 2006 and includes the 2,400-seat Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House, the 2,200–seat John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall, the 200-seat Carnival Studio Theater, the Peacock Education Center, the restored Carnival Art Deco Tower and the Thomson Plaza for the Arts. This year, national business leader and philanthropist Adrienne Arsht donated $30 million and, in recognition of the gift, the former Carnival Center for the Performing Arts was renamed the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County. Currently in its third season, the Arsht Center has welcomed over 850,000 patrons and served over 25,000 children through its outreach programs.