PRESS RELEASE

Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau Brings Back The Art of Black Miami African Diaspora Arts, Culture and Diversity Celebrated

Following a successful launch last year, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) brings back Art of Black Miami, a platform that shines a spotlight on local, national and international art and artists representing the African diaspora. Art of Black Miami takes part during the destination’s premier art event, Art Basel Miami Beach. This signature initiative is a celebration of the abundant artistic diversity found within Miami’s mosaic and heritage-rich neighborhoods. Residents and visitors will experience new artwork and projects while attending special events, meeting artists, visiting pop-up art galleries and more. A dedicated website – www.ArtOfBlackMiami.com – provides real-time updates and more information on the African diaspora art representing African-American, Caribbean, Latin American and African cultures.

“The GMCVB’s newly formed Multicultural Tourism Department is proud to bring back Art of Black because it combines two leading pillars in our community: the diversity of our heritage-rich neighborhoods and our global position as a premier art and culture destination,” says GMCVB President & CEO, William D. Talbert, III, CDME. “Having just announced another record-breaking year in tourism welcoming 15.1 million overnight visitors to Greater Miami we know that visitors extend their vacation and stay longer to experience art and culture in our multicultural neighborhoods.”

The City of Miami will extend their iconic trolley routes in order to provide free transportation for Art of Black Miami participants around heritage neighborhoods. Community pockets within Miami and The Beaches are embracing the event with specially programmed exhibits such as “Soul Basel” in historic Overtown and TIZITA (Ti-zee-ta) a fine art group exhibition featuring Ethiopian and African Diaspora art on Miami Beach.

More than forty-seven (47) events in Miami’s heritage neighborhoods (including Little Haiti, Coconut Grove, Liberty City, Opa-Locka, Historic Overtown, Wynwood, MiMo District, Miami Gardens, Coral Gables and Downtown) and throughout the destination include: The Art of Black Miami Kick-off Soiree: A celebration and preview of what’s planned will take place on Wednesday, November 18, at the Historic Lyric Theatre Cultural Arts Complex, from 6:30pm-8:30pm.

At the Historic Lyric Theatre Cultural Arts Complex, present Soul Basel from December 2 – 6, Art Africa Miami Arts Fair will feature a multidisciplinary exhibition of fine contemporary art from the global African Diaspora. The central idea of Art Africa Miami is to present an array of visual works that pay homage to the centrality of Africa and its descendant’s contribution to the modern art world.

Miami’s Yeelen Gallery in Little Haiti feature “What’s Inside Her Never Dies… A Black Woman’s Legacy” – Being a black woman is a journey oftentimes taxed with a history of ruined and objectified bodies that recall and carry on complex legacies of suffering and struggle. Through painting, drawing, photography, and sculpture, “What’s Inside Her Never Dies… A Black Women’s Legacy” presents the dignity, distress, and character of these heroes who affect us generation after generation.

In celebration of Art Basel Miami Beach (December 3-6) at the Futurama Building, local artists will paint patio umbrellas which are displayed along historic Calle 8 in Little Havana.

“Through the Eyes of Others” presented by the Opa-Iocka Community Development Corporation aims to provide a critical platform for re-imaging the past, present and future possibilities of blackness as something more complex than race. What words, actions and images can interrogate the culture of violence, distrust and hatred applied to black people? While stereotype images of black people continue to reinforce negative attitudes, work in the exhibition resists and defies easy consumption of these subjects.

PEREZ ART MUSEUM MIAMI Presents “No Boundaries: Aboriginal Australian Contemporary Abstract Painting” brings together the work of nine Aboriginal Australian artists who are leader within their community and while they began painting late in life, their works explore complex and innovative modes of abstraction. Relating to cultural systems, religious beliefs, and social structures, these intricate works are at once distinctly grounded in the context of Aboriginal life and profoundly resonant with abstract painting of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The Little Haiti Cultural Center will feature The Borderless Caribbean exhibition which is part of the larger Global Caribbean art program started by the Haitian Cultural Arts Alliance in 2009. It has been designed to create an artistic dialogue, and to encourage exchange between Caribbean and Miami-based artists, which have emerged from the Caribbean Diaspora. (December 4 – January 17)