RE Log Spring 2021

SPRING 2021 Ransom Everglades LOG 9 Photo courtesy of Mark Handforth Photo by Suzanne Kores The panelists brought perspectives from various corners of the art world, and they bonded on one issue: In the heart of a pandemic, Miami needs art more than ever. “What we have here is world class,” Rubell said. “Art really supports us as individuals. We need to cherish what we have here.” It wasn’t always this way. Miami wasn’t always an art mecca. Growing up in the visual arts The panel recalled the days when the city’s midtown, downtown and Brickell areas shut down after 5 p.m., bereft of any sort of vibrant nightlife and social scene. It was then that Reed joined the push to bring Art Basel to Miami that was spearheaded by collector Norman Braman – who is a parent and grandparent of alumni and is memorialized at the middle school by the Braman Family Media Center. Reed’s work in the late 1990s with South Florida’s collectors, curators, museum directors, patrons and denizens helped create the now world- renowned art experience that debuted in 2002 and grew to draw more than 70,000 attendees annually. The festival in no small part served to elevate the reputation of Miami overall. “What’s so exciting about the Miami Beach show is that it embraces the community,” Reed said. As Art Basel grew in stature, so, too, did the Wynwood district. The Rubell family opened its collection to the public in an old Drug Enforcement Agency warehouse in 1993, moving into an area populated largely by abandoned buildings. They were soon joined by the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, which opened in 1999 with highly regarded art curator and gallery director Katherine Hinds ’75 at the helm. At about that time, Tony Goldman and his son and daughter, Jessica Goldman Srebnick (also an RE parent), invested in revitalizing the district and creating the now-famous Wynwood Walls. Miami’s downtown underwent a simultaneous facelift. Greene recalled the 20-acre Bicentennial Park that predated today’s Maurice A. Ferré Park and PAMM; it was an overgrown, derelict space surrounded by grim fencing that went largely unvisited. She also remembered the excitement surrounding the land’s potential when a $75 million bond was issued to build an art museum there alongside a new science museum. Insisting upon a light-infused, “outside was inside” vibe, and that the facility function as a neighborhood town hall, she and fellow project leaders helped bring the signature waterfront museum to fruition in 2013 – seven years after the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts opened a few blocks north on Biscayne Boulevard. “We wanted it to be … a community gathering place where people could come and enjoy the beauty of the center on the water,” Greene said. Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz married in 1962, and began assembling a collection of contemporary art that would eventually outgrow their Key Biscayne residence. In 2009, the couple moved their art to a 30,000-square-foot space in the Design District, operating this new museum as an extension of their home. “We’ve always liked to share,” Rosa explained. Stefanie Block Reed