Cultural Growth in Miami (Miami Beach, Cleveland: theatre, live, cheapest)

[MiamiGringo]

I think Miami is at a cultural tipping point. The growth in the diversity and size of cultural endeavors is speeding up here. I have been here 10 years and am very impressed with the growth and availability of serious music, theatre and other live performances in the last two years.

First the obvious - the Arsht Center, for all its problems, is an amazing venue. I have been to a variety of concerts at the James Knight Hall, sitting in the orchestra and also way up in the cheapest seats and have loved the acoustics.

The Cleveland Orchestra is great and the visiting musicians like Patti Lupone, Harry Connick and the Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fields are first class.

Less obvious but very important is the growth of the New World Symphony including the performance center planned at Miami Beach. I don't know of any other group like the New World Symphony - young, energetic, highly accessible and I think Miami is the perfect environment for a quality training orchestra.

Another thing that amazed me was the quality of the 2007 Book Fair. I've been to others international and national and the turnout in Miami seemed bigger and more diverse than at other literary events. I saw and heard more serious thinkers and writers at the Miami Book Festival than at the New Yorker Book Festival.

Are others on this board seeing the same things about the cultural scene in Miami?

[MiamiRob]

MiamiGringo I have been there longer than you when Miami was called a cultural wasteland. We now have Art Basel, the Coconut Grove arts festival ( one of the largest in the US) etc., in short if you can't find culture in Miami you aren't looking for it.

[tallrick]

Who really cares about that stuff? Between work and traffic there's no time to drive to some event where there is no parking, and waste time with it. You can find events in any city and most towns. Nobody I know ever participates in any cultural event. For me I would rather return to having fun outdoors like my parents did, and less of the expensive stuff.