Profiles

A quarter-century ago, Edward Villella was in South Florida giving a lecture. After his speech, a group of arts activists approached. They wanted to start a ballet troupe here, they told him, and didn’t know how to go about it. Would he consider advising them?

Performance art, by its very nature, is one of the most challenging avenues of expression. One part street theater, one part psychodrama, the best performances are always challenging and unique. At times, these pieces can be provocative to the point of real controversy: Think back to your reaction the first time you heard of an audience being sprayed with “blood.”

It is no secret that a woman’s place in our society is constantly evolving through the efforts of strong and relentless pioneers. This evolution may not always be a fast and obvious improvement, but nonetheless, it is an evolution. Women’s suffrage, the civil rights movement, and the progress of the working-woman are prevalent in the discussion of women’s issues of yesterday, today, … +

As South Florida changes and grows, so, too, does Miami Dade College, one of the nation’s largest educational institutions. And one of the finest examples of how it’s improving to meet the needs of the community is its vaunted Art Gallery System, a completely integrated museum-classroom-conservatory network that offers visual arts in every possible form. From its start years ago as a … +

It started out thirty years ago as The Art Museum at Florida International University. This November, it is reborn as The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, a huge and hugely improved space to show off some of South Florida’s finest, most intriguing exhibits. The Frost boasts a new director and building site and will be charged with bringing a higher level … +

With the founding of the New World Symphony in 1987, Miami was put on the map as a city keen to encourage its young, aspiring orchestral musicians and conductors. From the very beginning, the NWS set for itself a high goal: to not only perform works from both the modern and classical repertoires but to allow ambitious musicians to study further and … +

Fans of indie films in Los Angeles know to go to the Nuart. In New York, the Quad Cinema is the movie house for those with a taste for the unique. On Miami Beach, there is a theater dedicated to showing non-commercial movies and much more: the Miami Beach Cinematheque on South Beach. And it’s due to the determination and vision of … +

The directors of Dot Fifty One Gallery, Alfredo Guzman and Isaac Perelman, greet me on a rainy Friday afternoon with all the enthusiasm of art dealers who have an exciting, new project in the works. Dot Fifty One is located in an unassuming building on 36th Street, in the midst of the Wynwood Arts District, and focuses on showing conceptually based work … +

“A city of islands” is what Mary Luft calls Miami. Luft is the executive director of Tigertail Productions, one of South Florida’s most engaged artistic organizations and one of its oldest and most respected. “It has to do with the way the United States is structured. And Miami is such a different community, too. A city of islands. There’s all these little … +