Antonia Wright
Antonia Wright studied at the International Center of Photography, and The New School in New York City where she graduated with an MFA in Poetry. She has exhibited, and been awarded artist residencies, nationally and internationally. Recent solo presentations include Luis de Jesus Gallery (Los Angeles, CA); Locust Projects (Miami, FL), Spinello Projects (Miami, FL); NSU Art Museum, Ft. Lauderdale; Vizcaya Museum and Gardens (Miami, FL); and Art@Work at the Mosquera Collection, The Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami. International shows include Ping Pong (Basel, Switzerland); Faena Art Center (Buenos Aires, Argentina); The National Gallery of Art (Nassau, Bahamas), and Aeroplastics (Brussels, Belgium). Wright was the first artist-inresidence at the Lotus House Shelter for women and children in Overtown, Miami, in 2012, and was more recently awarded residencies at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, NY (2015) and the Leipzig International Program (2016). Wright’s work has been presented in publications including The New York Times, Artforum’s Critics’ Picks, Art In America, New York Magazine, The Miami Herlad, and The Art Newspaper.
Franky Cruz
Franky Cruz was born in the Dominican Republic in 1984 and raised in Hialeah. He received my BFA in painting from our very own New World School of the Arts in Miami in 2011. He was a resident at the HomeBase Project in Berlin (2012)and Airie residency in the Everglades National park where he continued to expand his interests in multimedia painting, murals sculpture, drawing ,performance and video. Cruz’s practice has lead him to experiment and collaborate with plants, crystallization, and cycles in the flow of water, as well as found human and organic objects, whilst observing, and raising the beautiful winged insects and collecting their emergence secretions onto water color paper.
Miami Music Club
Miami Music Club is a nomadic space for experimental music and art focused on creating and documenting alternative social atmospheres. MMC curates music performances, artistic commissions, and DJs—from dance music, to sound art, to forward-thinking bands and conceptual installations. In May 2015, MMC opened as a storefront donated by Dacra in Miami’s Design District. In the five months there, the collective curated 13 events including live music performances, film screenings, dance parties, and audio-visual installations. MMC was named 2015’s “Best Underground Club” by the Miami New Times. In the summer of 2016, MMC was the first participant in the ICA Miami’s newly launched residency program. MMC brought three artists from outside Florida to perform in three major concerts in and around the ICA’s current location in the Moore Building. MMC has partnered with many local cultural organizations on a variety of performances, discussion panels, and audio-visual installations. These include the Coral Gables Art Cinema, Audiotheque at Artcenter South Florida, Common Field Convening, the Miami International Book Fair, and the International Noise Conference. In November 2016, Miami Music Club was awarded a Knight Arts Challenge Grant, which will greatly assist in sustaining the collective’s activities moving forward as we continue our mission of serving Miami’s diverse arts communities with spaces to dance, think, and thrive.
Sammy Gonzalez
Sammy Gonzalez is one of Miami’s most established musicians and a staple in the local music scene. Since playing his first guitar concert at ten years old, he grew to become an accomplished Classical Guitarist, and bassist for Jacobs Ladder, a nationally recognized rock band. Sammy currently owns and operates The Bull Productions in Miami, where he produces, records, and mixes artists from all genres and backgrounds. As First Chair in the Miami Beach Classical Guitar Quintet, Sammy toured the U.S. and Japan, winning awards both at regional and national levels. As a rock musician, Sammy has played nearly 900+ concerts, has been on fifteen US tours, and landed spots at SXSW music festival, Van’s Warped Tour with Jacobs Ladder, and as a solo guitarist, he has performed at several national Film Festivals. Sammy is President/CEO & Co-Founder of the non-profit Young Musicians Unite. Since 2013, Young Musicians Unite (YMU) has been dedicated to providing free in-school and after school music programs to South Florida’s youth. Under the leadership of Sammy Gonzalez, YMU engages youth from at-risk communities with limited or non-existent music programs. YMU currently provides four programs ranging from Guitar Ensembles to Jazz and a Rock Band. YMU has successfully worked with 180+ students over the last three years. As an educator, Sammy has been teaching since 2004. His students have gone on to schools such as New World School of the Arts, Harvard, NYU, Georgetown, Cornell, and Penn State. Many of his students have attended All State and have received a wide range of music awards. Sammy graduated New World School of the Arts/University of Florida, studying under Professor Albert Kunze. Sammy has also studied with Rafael Padron (UM), Professor Bruce (FSU) & Adam Holzman (UT) and Kevin Gallagher (the first American to win the prestigious Francisco Tarrega Contest). He has also studied in Master Classes with David Russell, The Assad Brothers, Xufei Yang, LAGQ, Andrew York, Adam Holzman, and Berta Rojas.
Asif Farooq
Asif Farooq is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Miami, Florida. Being from Miami, Asif has utilized the unique resources available in this location to create a concise body of work that speaks to the history of the region, himself, and our interactions with the world at large.
Rod Deal
Director/Photographer Rod Deal was born in Miami, Florida, yet raised in Oakland California. He returned to Miami to study photographic technology at Miami-Dade College, FIU, & UM. He was trained to shoot all mediums of analog film as well as digital imagery. He is an expert working with all formats of cinema and digital photography, & has worked extensively with polaroid films for numerous projects. He specializes in editorial portraits and photo journalism. His clients include Adidas, III points Music Festival Sweatstock, Miami Herald, Sun Sentinel, and Miami New Times, CashMoney Record’s Austin Mahone, Miami Arts Center, New Art Dealers Alliance Art Fair, Sidebar, Wood Tavern, and the Delano Hotel. Rod Deal’s first foray into Video Production was the Halloween Hoodie campaign an infomercial for Trayvon Martin that was featured & debated on CNN. His BTS documentaries featuring Floyd Mayweather & 50 cent have reached millions of views. He’s currently filming a documentary on the Poetry & arts scene of South Florida. Since 2006 he created Stone Groove a weekly night of expression for artists, bohemians & poets in Miami. Voted best Open Mic in Miami numerous years in a row. He recently rebranded the night as The Imperial with the closing of The Vagabond Miami. It is currently located at Sidebar Miami & is a home to Miami’s most stellar & influential young artists. Rod Deal has had numerous art shows showcasing his photography and unique photo mosaics all over south Florida. He is available for assignment worldwide.
Milagros Collective
The MILAGROS collective was founded in 2008. The main stays are founders Felici Asteinza & Joey Fillastre with an ever changing cast of collaborators. They are based out of Miami, FL and are currently artists in residence at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA. Felici Asteinza and Joey Fillastre are mural and installation artists operating under the name MILAGROS. The objective of MILAGROS is to reinforce individual strength through collaboration. Mutual respect and trust allow for a free environment of evolving creation. MILAGROS energizes spaces with a spirit of exuberance that champions the hand-made and radiates human dignity. Their intuitive way of working combines the context of a space and its history with color and intricate patterns. Site specificity is integral to the work. MILAGROS uses architecture as a counter-point; visually obliterating the seams of a space while simultaneously high-lighting its unique attributes. Elements of play and spontaneity culminate in surprise elation. Synchronicities and serendipity birth a new mysticism, based in the celebration of growth.
Oliver Sanchez
Oliver Sanchez’s has had a running relationship with Miami’s Design District for 50 years. As founder of Swampspace, a contemporary art space that has long been a constant in the Design District, he’s been a beacon of productivity as an artist and facilitator for others. Born in Cuba, Sanchez lost his father immediately after birth to the executors of dictator Fulgencio Batista’s regime and emigrated to Miami with his mother and brother at the age of 9. In the ’80s, Sanchez was a part of the East Village art scene and was friends with the decade’s most iconic artists like Madonna and Keith Haring. Back in Miami since the early ’90s, Sanchez has become the go-to fabricator for local and international artists. With his studio now turned an art space, Sanchez has become an altruistic benefactor of sorts for emerging artists.
Agatha Wright
Agatha Wright (Miami, FL) attained her degree in Art History from the University of California, Riverside in 2010 with an emphasis on the performing arts. Ms. Wright has danced for: Roya Carreras, Tommy winner Tiffany Billings, Brazarte Dance Company, The Dancers Space, artist Belaxis Buil, Donna Murray, Daniel Armstrong, Kyra Jean Green, and BODYTRAFFIC. Ms. Wright was the recipient of the Dramatic Allied Arts Guild award for best dancer in Los Angeles-2007. As the Artistic Director of the Agatha Wright Dance Co. her work has been presented and curated in stages and galleries across the country from Miami to Los Angeles and New York. Most recently Agatha was curated to sold out performances during Art Basel and the SoFlo Web Fest with Miami Urban Contemporary Experience and the Stella Design Group. Under Ms. Wright’s direction as head Art Administrator for AileyCamp Miami at the Adrienne Arsht Center the program was awarded the National Endowment Award in 2016 and the hundred thousand dollar Knights Arts Grant. Agatha has taught technique classes in Ballet, Modern, and Contemporary at the most prestigious schools, studios and organizations in South Florida. She is a Broadway Certified instructor. Her life’s work consists of maintaining the lineage and artistic pedagogy associated with modern dance alive within a contemporary context.
Jill C. Weisberg
South Florida native Jill C. Weisberg’s work creates thought-provoking fine art and public art with a feminist edge. A background both in graphic design and fine art has influenced her to create work that uses both parts of her experience in those fields. Having shown in South Florida and across the United States, her work uses unique materials and dazzling colors while also engaging the viewer conceptually. Artists like Barbara Kruger and John Baldessari have made an impression on how she views the cross-pollination of fine art and design. Both artists integrate type and images to evoke a strong emotional response when their work is viewed, which is the same goal Weisberg’s artwork achieves.
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