Next week in Broward County, the city of
Pompano Beach will unveil its new Cultural Center. It's a place that they
hope will help solidify pompano Beach's
place in South Florida's art scene,
while breathing some new life into the
city's blighted Northwest neighborhood.
Nearly two and a half years after
breaking ground, the Pompano Beach
cultural center looks to be a beacon of
the city's burgeoning art scene. The
center joins Bailey Contemporary Arts, a
home to artists studios and exhibitions,
along with the Alley building, with its
focus on highlighting the
African-American experience with
concerts and dance. Together they help
create Pompano Beach's creative arts
district. A hub for art education,
creativity, and diversity. The center will
also host artists in residence programs
for 11 South Florida nonprofit
organizations and innovators. The nearly
50,000 square feet two-story structure
includes an art gallery and exhibition
space, a multimedia digital art center,
and the latest in audio and video
equipment, capable of live-streaming
performances. And a 5,000 square-foot
theater and flexible space for
performances and special events. Add to
that, a new Broward County Library
opening in the fall and this mix of
culture, arts, and education, have the
Pompano Beach Cultural Center poised to
be a major player in South Florida's
emerging art scene. It looks amazing
doesn't it? Joining me now to tell us
more about what we can expect for the
all new Pompano Beach Cultural Center is
Alyona Ushe, president and CEO of Cultural
Arts Creative which programs the Center
and Hannah Baumgarten, co-founder of Dance
Now Miami, one of the performing arts
organizations in residence at the Cultural
Center. Ladies, thank you so much for
being here. Thank you for having us. Very
exciting to see the center finally open,
right? And get off the ground. Alyona
tell me about how you all are feeling
that it's finally arrived.
It's incredible absolutely incredible
the building is breathtaking, it's even
more incredible than we could have ever
imagined, both inside and it's
iconic architecture and beautiful
interior inside. It is going to be
fantastic.
The pictures look amazing. So this is
something that you do, you've done this
before kind of bringing all of this
together, so tell us more about that. The
idea behind the Cultural Center is to
really showcase the phenomenal talent
that we have in South Florida and to
integrate that with international talent
that surrounds. So Hannah and her company
of course in a perfect example of what
it is the way envisioning for the Center
but in South Florida the talent is
abundant and we want to showcase that
incredible talent in a beautiful home.
And there are 11 resident companies,
that's a lot. It's a of companies. It was a
very competitive process to get the
companies selected, but they're very
diverse and that's part of the beauty of
the whole Cultural Center. Between three very
different theater companies, very
different dance companies, vocal
components to it,
Japanese drumming, you
got a little bit everything. So Hannah
let's talk about Dance Now Miami. I got
to see one of the videos, the
modern dance, it's spectacular. Thank you.
Our dancers are internationally
trained and they work with us on a
year-long basis. They are incredible
artists and incredible athletes. So why
did it seem like it was such a good fit
for you to be at this new Center? Well
our community in Miami-Dade is a very
rich with culture and we were just so
honored and excited to be invited to be
part of this new cultural epicenter in
Broward County. I mean really the
foresight and the wisdom of Broward
County and the city of Pompano Beach to
create this theater space, it's multi-use
space and it has the opportunity for
really anchoring a plethora of cultural
activities, including the possibility to
collaborate with some of the other
groups. And it's so hard, we're working so
hard in our own realms, ever to intersect
and to connect with vocal, theater,
children's groups, all the things that
it's going to provide. Alyona, you were
about to tell me a little bit more about
that, so talk about so you mentioned
Japanese drumming and what would that be
paired with? And I just want to follow up
on what Hanna was saying, it's precisely
the vision of the Cultural Center. It's
one thing to have a number of resident
companies
performing side-by-side, and that in
itself is very exciting. But the idea of
collaboration of getting those groups
together to think globally, to really
envision something fantastic and to look
at this building, not just as an
independent stage, but a place for
everybody to come together. I think
that's what's really going to separate
us from the rest of the universe. And how
are you going to get the word out?
Because obviously it has so much
to offer, you want people to come, you
want there to be a lot of buzz. Tell me
more about that.
I
think the word is gonna spread very
quickly like like wildfire basically.
Not only will 11 companies that are part
of our group are going to be
also talking about this as well, but
there's so much excitement in the air,
that I think the word will get out.
Opening weekend celebration as you
mentioned is this weekend, the
ribbon-cutting ceremonies on Thursday,
but it's an entire weekend full of
activities. We have our preview party on
set on Friday, which is a big fundraising
event where we're going to showcase the
entire building. And then on Saturday is
our Havana night and that's we're going
to feature 20 top contemporary
artists in Cuba.
Wonderful. So exciting. Congratulations
and best of luck at the Center and we're
so happy that you're able to join us and
tell us more about it. Thank you. Thank
You