LTC 171-2003 CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Office of the City Manager
Letter to Commission
To:
From:
Subject:
Mayor David Dermer and
Members of the City Commission
Jorge M. Gonzalez 1 ~
City Manager
ARTIST IN RESIDENCY PILOT PROGRAM
Date: July 16, 2003
The Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council (CAC) was created in 1997 to develop, coordinate, and promote the
performing and visual arts groups. It accomplishes this mission by serving as arts advocates before
governmental bodies, by coordinating marketing programs, by funding not-for-profit arts organizations, by
promoting international cultural tourism to the City, and collaborating with other cultural and non-cultural
partners.
It is in this spirit of collaboration that the (:;AC, with the support from the Greater Miami Convention and
Visitors Bureau (GMCVB), the Greater Miami & the Beaches Hotel Association (GMBHA), SMG, Art in Public
Places and the Fine Arts Board, has created the 2003 Miami Beach Artist in Residency Pilot Program (AIR).
The purpose of the program is to invite visual artists from around the world to live and work in Miami Beach
during the months of July and August, and create art inspired by the unique beauty of our City. The program
culminates with a display of the artists' creations in an exhibition called, "Created in Miami Beach."
An AIR Review Panel, which consisted of CAC members, art professionals and community members, met in
May to make the final selections from the 27 applicants. Eight finalists have been awarded a six-week
residency in this year's first AIR program. These artists, whose project selections were based on artistic quality
and originality, will take up residency on July 17. With exhibitions ranging from locations such as Abaco in The
Bahamas to Denver, Colo., and San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Berlin, the future Miami Beach residents' works
represent an array of media including quilts, photography, ceramics and painting. The selected artists are as
follows: Marina del Rosario Huang, Brooklyn, New York; Stephen Savage, Mobile, Ala.; Patricia Tobin,
Sarasota, Fla.; Ludmila Uspenskaya, New York; Sigrid Sarda, Rhinebeck, New York; Ernest Lopez,
Waterbury, Conn.; Sarah Beddington, New York and Elizabeth Knowles, New York. To view artwork
submissions, please go to www.ArtsBeach.com.
Community partnerships are vital to the success of the program. The GMCVB has secured the following pro
bono accommodations: Wave Hotel, Clinton Hotel, Ocean Spray Beach Hotel, Park Central Hotel, Holiday Inn
South Beach, The National Hotel, Eden Roc Resort, and Essex House Hotel. SMG and the City of Miami
Beach are providing artists' studio workspace. Miami Beach cultural organizations such as the Wolfsonian-
FI U, New World Symphony and Art/Center South Florida are collaborating to provide artists' tours, darkroom
and exhibition space.
Since 1997, the CAC has awarded nearly $3 million to approximately eighty not-for-profit arts groups. The
CAC has also joined economic forces with the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority (VCA) and the
Miami-Dade Department of Cultural Affairs to award grants for Beach-based cultural events and to help
promising local arts groups develop both programing and audience.
J MG/C~;~DS/MAS/rb
c: Christina M. Cuervo, Assistant City Manager
~ Donna Shaw, Director, Department of Tourism and Cultural Development
Cultural Arts Council