Artistically Social

Amy Rosenberg is an attorney and arts and environmental advocate who founded the Arsht Center’s young patrons group and is the co-founder of the environmental non-profit organization Dream in Green. Amy is a member of Art Basel’s Junior Host Committee and sits on the boards of LegalArt, the Funding Arts Network, New World Symphony’s executive committee and the Florida Association for Women Lawyers.

Despite the still hair-curling humidity, culture must soldier on. In October, Miami turned the voltage up.

Miami’s intellects gathered for Professor Michael Sandel’s appearance at Books and Books. Professor Sandel recreated his classroom while promoting: Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?, his book exploring moral reasoning. Sandel, a famous political philosopher who has a self-effacing style and the physical affect of Montgomery Burns from The Simpsons, is one of is one of the most popular professors at Harvard (he also has a 12 episode series on public television). Sandel was introduced by Senator Bob Graham. Professor Sandel asked the audience to examine their own morality through a number of provocative questions that drew on such controversial subject matter as same sex marriage.

More than a thousand men, women and children gathered to pay respect to Lincoln and his enduring legacy during the FREE 200th birthday celebration at the Arsht Center. The inimitable Dave Lawrence, Jr., former publisher of The Miami Herald and chair of the Lincoln Birth Bicentennial Commission, spearheaded A Lincoln Town Hall: Lincoln, Miami and the American Dream. Attendees were treated to a discussion by eminent Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and a collaborative performance by Florida Memorial University Ambassador Chorale and the New World School of the Arts Wind Ensemble. The poignant and provocative event often had the audience emotionally moved. A panel of

esteemed local luminaries including former Dade Community Foundation president, Ruth Shack, Knight Foundation president, Alberto Ibarguen, Miami-Dade mayor, Carlos Alvarez, and others explored Lincoln’s impact on Miami through a case study. As if that weren’t already enough, attendees were then shuttled to the Freedom Tower for raspberry shrub, chicken fricassee and apple brown betty, Lincoln’s favorite appetite quenchers.

The culture makers and shapers in Miami were all present at Hope Blossoms- An Art Happening, the annual extravaganza at the Margulies Collection that raises money for Lotus House. The indefatigable Constance Collins, executive director of Lotus House, created the organization as a resource center and residential facility to serve and empower homeless women and infants suffering from extreme poverty. Guests were invited to “touch, hear, feel, taste, sing…and love” as they interacted with their surroundings and nibbled bites from Sra. Martinez and Pacific Time. One of the highlights of this extraordinary event was Ruben Millares drum circle – a remarkable visual and auditory breakthrough that had the audience awed and shimmying.

From “pink ladies” in poodle skirts to flower-wearing peaceniks, more than 200 gathered to reminisce about old high school dances while raising funds for the arts at the 56th annual Beaux Arts Ball. A group of guests recreated the prom scene from the 1984 movie Footloose.

The new design for Simpson Park, one of Miami’s few remaining hammocks, was unveiled by Audi, landscape designer Enzo Enea and architect Chad Oppenheim. The public-private collaboration turned the once abandoned park into a beautiful, revitalized green space that will soon have educational kiosks. In attendance: Mayor Manny Diaz, Commissioner Marc Sarnoff and historian Arva Moore Parks.

Gen Art and the fabulous folks at Creative Supermarket transformed Wynwood’s Awarehouse into a glamorously sleazy 1970s cocktail den. The collaborative efforts of Missoni Home, American Apparel, Nue Studio and Jessica Bosch of Ford Artists were not lost on the crowd of hundreds. Hipsters in mesh, barely- there leotards and platforms channeled their inner disco diva and rocked out to the beats of Afrobeta.

New World Symphony took on Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” and then invited its young professionals group, Friends, to an after party at gleaming luxury condo, Marquis. The Green Room Band (one of the best live bands in Miami) performed “rock a la U2 meets Franz Ferdinand meets Muse” and had the dressed- to- the -nines crowd on their feet. Guests sampled innovative cuisine provided by A Fare to Remember and sipped Grey Goose cocktails.

The Arsht Center’s Green Room Society kicked off their Season of the Arts launch at the Fontainbleau with complimentary Bacardi cocktails and a symphonic showdown between The Miami Music Project and a local rap artist. Guests in attendance included Chair of the Arsht Center Ricky Arriola and GRS co-chairs Max Pierre, Jimmy Vargas and Rodrigo Gonzalez.

Starchitect Pierre de Meuron of Herzog & de Meuron led an enraptured audience of museum patrons and architecture students through his design plan for the new Miami Art Museum in Museum Park. The Swiss sensation presented the Herzog & de Meuron portfolio of global work and spoke about the decision to incorporate the surrounding landscape and climate into the three story Museum’s design. The Museum will triple MAM’s exhibition space.

Until next time…