August 13, 2009 at 07:27am by Carlos Miller
Above: Part of the Life Is Art crew, from left to right, Adriana De Wende, Annette Peikert and James Echols.
While it’s rarely promoted as such, Miami is one of the most creative cities in the country.
With its blend of diverse cultures and clash of temperamental personalities and zeal for reckless abandonment, Miami is a city that sizzles with unbridled passion and fueled by intense ingenuity.
The only problem is, local officials have been unable to look beyond Romero Britto in promoting its own artists. They prefer to spark Miami’s artistic reputation by promoting outside artists.
And now that Miami-Dade County is threatening to cut more than $10 million in art funding, the situation looks even more dire for local artists.
However, a grassroots organization known as Life Is Art is doing what it can to promote local artists.
“We saw a need for an organization that would promote the arts of Miami for Miami as opposed to a lot of organizations who tend to promote artists from outside the city,” said James Echols, who founded Life Is Art in January.
“We saw a lot of big festivals that would bring artists from France and buyers from Italy and they would spend a lot of money but not necessarily on the artists from Miami.”
Echols, a forum member at Miami Beach 411, said so far they have hosted six events, which include networking, art sales and fundraising.
Partying at the River Lounge, Inside Epic Hotel
The latest event was Tuesday night at the River Lounge inside the luxurious Epic Hotel on the mouth of the Miami River. It doesn’t get anymore Miami than that. This is where the city started.
For those old-timers, this is where the Dupont Plaza Hotel used to stand, the landmark hotel that was built in 1957 and demolished in 2004. This is also the same spot where Henry Flagler – “the Father of Miami” – built the Royal Palm Hotel in 1897, which was the very first hotel in Miami.
It is also directly across the river from the Miami Circle, an archeological site discovered in 1998 that is believed to date back to the Tequesta Indians, the original inhabitants of Miami.
As I said, this is where it all started.
“We ran into Bobby Brandt, who is the proprietor of this lounge, and gave him our spiel and he jumped at it,” Echols said.
Brandt, a veteran of the South Beach clubbing scene, isn’t exactly a novice when it comes to recognizing successful ventures.
More than 200 people attended Tuesday’s event, which included live DJs, a fire dancer and drummer, a fashion show and, of course, a few local artists.
In attendance was Jonathan Rose, a longtime veteran of the Miami art community who publishes an email newsletter called the Cultural Bulletin where he reports on the local art scene.
Rose believes that Life Is Art is doing a good job in bringing the art community together, which he describes as being “disparate” and not very organized.
“I really like what they’re doing,” he said. “They are doing something that should have been done a long time ago.”
The next Life Is Art event is scheduled for August 22nd at the Green Building Resource Center, 120 NE 27th Street in Miami.
Click here for more information.
Above: R.E. Sanchez, left, stands next to his piece of artwork along with fellow artist Carla Fache
Above: Carla Fache, left, stands next to her piece of artwork along with fellow artist R.E. Sanchez.
Above: Miami artist Ross Ford stands next to his piece of artwork.
’
Above: Adriana Pitic designed the dresses the models worn
Life Is Art, a grassroots organization founded less than a year ago, seeks to promote local artists.
 | Carlos Miller is a senior editor at Miami Beach 411. He also operates Photography is Not a Crime, a blog about photographer rights, New Media and First Amendment issues. See more articles by Carlos Miller > |
