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The Adrienne Arsht Center officially opened the season of arts and entertainment for the year 2018-19 with the Arts Launch on September 8, 2018, presented by American Airlines with the support of the South Florida BMW group.
The event, which opened from 10 am to 5 pm, inaugurated the rich Miami artistic season and the official opening of the box office, offering a taste of what the first and most important center of the arts and entertainment in Miami has to offer on this day open to the public: mini dance lessons, instrumental performances, ballets, musicals, live bands, DJs, ethnic dances and small interactive workshops for children. In addition to this they participated, in the popular Community Village, each with its own stand in the central hall of the Ziff Ballet Opera House, 50 cultural organizations of Miami.
Opened in 2006 and located in the heart of Miami, the Adrienne Arsht Center is a non-profit organization that not only serves as a launching pad for local artists, but also hosts personalities and legends from the international scene, such as Riccardo Muti and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Youssou Ndur, Andrea Bocelli and many more. It counts about 500 shows a year distributed in the two central buildings: the Ziff Ballet Opera House and the Knight Concert Hall connected by a bridge that crosses Biscayne Boulevard.
It was still in the early 1980s that the Miami-Dade County Commission began looking for a place that could bring together different local realities under one roof: the Florida Grand Opera, the Miami City Ballet, the New World Symphony and the Florida Philharmonic and the Florida Concert Association. Reality begins to take shape thanks to the donations of some benefactors.
Built on 5.9 acres of land generously donated by Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Knight Ridder located along the historic Biscayne Boulevard between 13th and 14th Street, in the heart of Miami, the different areas of the cultural center are named after benefactors who have invested millions of dollars in the realization of the project, among them: Ted Arrison of Carnival Corporations, from which the Carnival Concert Hall takes its name, the dr. Sanford L. Ziff, founder of Sunglass Hut International, named the Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House and the Knight Foundation from which the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall are named.
Designed by the famous Argentine architect Cesar Pelli – author of the Regan National Airport, Petronas Tower, Yale NSU College, and many other buildings of world interest – the project was started in 2001, and it is only in October 2006 that the official opening is inaugurated with the extraordinary performance of some local companies: the Concert Association of Florida, the Florida Grand Opera, the Miami City Ballet and the New World Symphony, and the America’s Orchestral Academy. The celebrations for this strongly wanted project lasted 4 days but it is only thanks to the $ 30 million investment in 2008 of the philanthropist Adrienne Arsht, President of the Adrienne Arsht Center Foundation in Miami that the project makes the leap in quality by guaranteeing both a financial balance and a high level cultural planning. As a sign of recognition for the donation, the Arison family has renounced the original name in exchange for the name of the Studio Theater, the bridge and the Art Deco Tower. In 2008 the center is renamed Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County.
Awarded with the Medal of Excellence by Carnegie Hall in 2017 for her social commitment and classified by The Chronicle of Philanthropy to 39th place on the list of the 50 most important American donors in 2008, Adrienne Arscht has also opened two more centers in dear ones: New York and Washington.
In 2014, pre and post show services were opened within the structure, including the BRAVA restaurant of chef Brad Kilgore and the Café at Books & Books in the Carnival Tower, a café-style restaurant with an adjoining bookshop.
The center’s program currently has 500 shows, including the largest jazz series in South Florida, the largest flamenco festival on the east coast, and a dense program of plays, musicals, dance and classical music as well as free programs for the community and an arts education program that serves about 30,000 children each year.
To see the center’s schedule visit www.arshtcenter.org.
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