During Miami Art Week, Make Room for the Culture Created Here
Originally published by South Florida Caribbean News Read the original
MIAMI – When the world comes to Miami for Art Week, I hope visitors discover the artists who have been creating here all along.
The poet working through a new piece. The singer building an audience one performance at a time. The independent producer bringing people together month after month. Their work helps define South Florida’s character, and their future depends on the support we offer throughout the year.
A Community Built Around Listening
For 25 years, I have been part of that work through ON THE B SIDE.
I founded the platform in 2001 to create a home for spoken word and live music. Poetry, soul, jazz, and R&B could share a stage, and people could gather around the experience of listening.
The lasting reward has been watching a community grow around that idea.
An artist takes a chance on a new piece. A guest hears words that linger. Strangers begin talking after the show. Someone returns with a friend to share what they found.
These moments rarely appear in a city’s promotional materials, yet they help explain why people feel attached to it.
Where Cultural Traditions Meet
South Florida’s Caribbean communities understand the importance of gathering through creative expression. Across distinct island and mainland traditions, music, storytelling and performance offer ways to celebrate, remember, question and connect.
Here, those traditions meet other Black diasporic experiences and the many cultures that shape our region. A live performance offers an opportunity to hear those relationships unfold in personal, sometimes unexpected ways.
That exchange needs places where it can happen.
The Work Behind the Stage
Independent cultural platforms provide stages for artists and meeting places for audiences. They offer space to develop work, build relationships, and reach audiences beyond an immediate circle. Their value grows through consistency: people know there will be another opportunity to gather, perform, and participate. Maintaining that consistency takes effort.
Someone must secure the venue, coordinate performers, promote the experience, and manage the details that let the audience enjoy the evening.
Artists need to be paid. Partnerships need to be maintained. Each gathering requires preparation long before the microphone is switched on.
When we discuss supporting local culture, those practical realities should be part of the conversation.
Making Support Last
Businesses can sponsor a series and help it plan ahead. Venues can build reliable relationships with independent producers. Audiences can buy tickets, arrive ready to listen, and recommend the experience to others. Media coverage can introduce readers and viewers to the people doing this work.
Support becomes more useful when it is sustained over time.
Celebrating 25 Years in Overtown
On December 5, ON THE B SIDE will celebrate its 25th anniversary at the Historic Lyric Theater in Overtown. B SIDE 25 will bring spoken word and live music together with archival imagery and community memories, honoring the artists, patrons, and venues that have shaped our journey.
For me, the anniversary is an opportunity to acknowledge the many people behind those 25 years. A cultural platform endures because others choose to invest their talent, time, and trust in it. The setting matters, too. Gathering in Overtown invites us to reflect on our place in a longer cultural narrative and our responsibility to preserve the chapters we are writing now.
Preserving Memories, Building the Future
Preservation can begin with something as straightforward as identifying the people in an old photograph or recording an artist’s recollection. The memories held by audiences and organizers deserve care alongside the work presented onstage.
As Miami Art Week approaches, I encourage residents and visitors to seek out a local performance, listen to someone unfamiliar, and learn about the community around the work. Then come back after the week is over.
The future of South Florida’s cultural life will be shaped by those ongoing relationships. We have the opportunity to help artists grow, keep gathering places active, and ensure that the next generation finds a stage waiting for them.
After 25 years, that remains the work I believe in and the invitation I hope people will embrace.
The post During Miami Art Week, Make Room for the Culture Created Here appeared first on South Florida Caribbean News.
