MIAMI (WSVN) - Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center is celebrating a milestone anniversary.
For the past 10 years, the performing arts hub has been providing the South Florida community with enriching cultural experiences through its unique programs and live performances.
“At the Arsht Center we have hosted well over three million people who have attended 100,000 performances by artists over the past ten years,” said Adrienne Arsht Center CEO, John Richard. “I can’t think of a more dynamic campus in this nation to be celebrating its 10th birthday, here in Miami.”
But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. The facility, which includes the Ziff Ballet Opera House, John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall, and the Carnival Studio Theater, initially faced some financial struggles. However, over the years, it ultimately became Miami-Dade County’s largest-ever public and private-sector partnership.
In recent years, the Arsht Center has been flourishing, and with it so has the downtown area.
“It was a hope that, not only would the Adrienne Arsht Center provide a lot of culture for this ever-growing area that we call greater Miami but also it would help resurrect that neighborhood,” said Miami-Dade College Historian, Paul S. George, “and indeed, it’s doing both.”
“And what we’re beginning to see in our relatively short period of time is the landscape changing around the Arsht Center,” said Richard, “the new development of high rise apartments, the workforce housing that’s being thought about, thousands of people now living in the local neighborhood, which was once a blighted district.”
In addition to its Annual Broadway in Miami series, the Arsht Center also offers several other programs, including Jazz Roots and classical music events, orchestra selections and up close theater experiences.
The theater also partners with Miami-Dade Public Schools to provide students with cultural initiatives that enhance the curriculum.
“The Arsht Center is open to everyone,” said Richard. “We treat everyone who comes through our doors like this is their home. Everyone is a VIP, whether you’re in the fourth tier or the front row. This is an experience to come and enjoy as one community together.”
Comedian Louis C.K. will be taking the stage at the Arsht Center in November.
Other events on the calendar include eight performances of the show-stopping, musical version of “Dirty Dancing,” the Miami City Ballet’s annual presentation of “The Nutcracker” in December and a special one-night only Valentine’s Day concert by world renowned tenor, Andrea Bocelli.
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