1616-51 South Florida Art Basel 2001 ♦ mh01 MANY LOCAL ARTS EVENTS STILL SCHEDULED
11/03/2001
THE MIAMI HERALD
Copyright (c) 2001, The Miami Herald
DATE: Saturday, November 3, 2001 EDITION: Final
SECTION: Front PAGE: 2A LENGTH: 39 lines
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: By GAIL MEADOWS, gmeadows@herald.com
MANY LOCAL ARTS EVENTS STILL SCHEDULED
Organizers were unciartaifiThfriday how many ancillary activities would be
canceled in light of'rt Basel decision to postpone its South Florida fair.
But the Miami Beach -CU tural Arts Council, which had planned several events
to raise money for local cultural organizations, said its shows will go on.
"We're canceling nothing, " said David Whitman, the council ' s executive
director.
An exhibition showcasing 61 South Florida artists, scheduled at the Bass
Museum of Art, will open Dec. 12 as planned, museum director Diane Camber said
Friday. Second Thursday, the night when galleries, shops and cultural
organizations invite the public to shuttle around, free, to special events on
the Beach, will be "sensational " Dec. 13, Whitman said. A concert by the New
World Symphony at the Lincoln Theater on Dec. 14, with a reception, outdoor
entertainment and a special tribute to outgoing Beach Mayor Neisen Kasdin,
will go on. And an evening of Cuban rhythm, with several dance bands
participating, will still be held at the Beach' s Paris Theater on Dec. 15.
"What you 're going to see is the cultural community as the safety net of
Miami Beach, " said Pauline Winick, the Cultural Council ' s chairwoman. " It ' ll
be a strong reaffirmation of the importance of the arts. "
In Miami ' s Design District, Craig Robins, head of Dacra Development, said
" 15 major exhibitions " were planned in the galleries and design showrooms
that have proliferated there in the last couple of years.
"We' ll have to readjust what we planned to do, " Robins said Friday.
" It ' s a very sad comment on our times. "
Robins, Norman Braman and other members of the Art Basel host committee
planned to entertain 500 Basel VIPs at a welcoming dinner under a tent in the
Design District Dec. 13, then throw a street party for "several thousand"
the next evening, he said.
Now, he continued, "we ' ll downscale our efforts and make sure that those
who do come [to Miami Dec. 13-16] have an incredible time. "
KEYWORDS:
TAG: 0111060264
Reinstate Beach' s
full arts budget
Editor:
We are greatly encouraged by the attention and commitment the cultural arts
are receiving from all candidates for public office in Miami Beach. The
cultural arts has a $568 million economic impact in Miami-Dade County. The
nationally recognized arts organizations in Miami Beach substantially
contribute to this.
More than 75,000 Miami Beach residents regularly attend performances of the
New World Symphony, the Miami City Ballet and the Concert Association of South
Florida. They visit the Bass, Wolfsonian and Ziff museums, take a class at the
ArtCenter South Florida and participate in or attend performances by one, of 71
organizations that receive funds from the Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council.
In recent weeks, members of the Cultural Arts Council have been receiving
questions from these 71 organizations as to why their recently awarded grants
are being cut by 20 percent. Cultural tourism and our community' s
participation in the performing and visual arts need only your verbal support,
but also your financial support.
Please consider the following: Miami-Dade' s Department of Cultural Affairs
will receive $11 million in the coming year, our $1 million budget has been
cut by 29 percent or $290,000 . The Cultural Arts Council is your appointed
front line, making Art Basel/Miami Beach one of the most exciting
international events ever to come to Miami Beach; our 2nd Thursdays program is
receiving wide support from all of South Florida and is nationally recognized
as a positive factor, increasing audience base for the arts.
The arts are a "bridge over troubled waters " in these days of America' s
recent terrible tragedies. On behalf of all the residents of Miami Beach, we
are requesting that the Miami Beach City Commission reinstate our original
grant monies and Cultural Arts Council ' s budget.
PAULINE WINICK
Miami Beach Cultural Arts
Council
This letter was also signed by Stephen A. Sauls, Roger Abramson, Roland Kohen,
Diane Star Heller, Ada Llerandi, Nancy Wolcott and Kathryn Orosz .
Information: 305-572-9900 .
S-A-L-U-T-E
At the Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council, Pauline Winick has been elected
to an unprecedented third term as chair.
Long dedicated to community involvement, Winick is associate vice president
of marketing at Florida International University, where she oversees the
FIU-Miami Film Festival, among other things. Before that, she was executive
vice president of the Miami Heat and director of communications for Miami-Dade
County.
Elected as vice chair was Nancy Wolcott, associate provost of Miami' s New
World School of the Arts. For the last three years, she has served as chair of
the grants committee of the Beach arts council.