The visual arts are a single muscle working inside the creative body of Miami as a city; interactive dance, performance and theater are also vital organs needing consistent attention and nourishment. One such as the Miami Light Project, an innovative incubator for live performance, film production and youth education stationed. Since 1989, this creative muscle has flexed time and again in the interests of fostering new local and global talent.
Musicians, producers, dancers, performance artists and thespians have all seen the benefits of inhabiting a space where their differing modes of self-expression are understood and engaged. Performers such as Reggie Watts, Meow Meow, Teo Castellanos and Daniel Bernard Roumain have used the Miami Light Project as a motivational and practical springboard in expanding their respective crafts. A Filmmaker's Bootcamp and a commissioning challenge called Here & Now are also open to South Florida-based artists.
So what does it all add up to? This kind of growth is not just essential in its own right, but plays a significant part in the diversification and development of Miami as a city welcoming to artists of all shapes and sizes. It is this type of programming that allows artists to feel more at home in the city, exploring new ways of contributing to the community at large, and finding new routes in securing long-term sustainability. Possibly the most important element in the program is the existence of youth outreach and education: on any given day, schoolchildren can be seen touring the facility and participating in interactive games and arts challenges. Every summer, for example, the Miami Light Project hosts PATH (Preserving, Archiving & Teaching Hip-Hop), a program where kids aged 13 to 18 are exposed to Hip-Hop and its culture with the guidance of producers, performers and celebrity guests.
To find out more about the Miami Light Project, visit www.miamilightproject.com.
