Other Fun Stuff

Loni Johnson’s Altar-making workshop invites guests to utilize meaningful objects —such as photographs, memorabilia, crystals, and jewelry, and more — to build small altars as offerings to their ancestors. Loni Johnson will guide participants to contemplate how we claim, navigate, and hold space; how ancestral and historical memory informs where, when, and how we occupy spaces; and how we carry and honor our ancestors in the spaces we move through. Participants can keep their objects or can opt to include them to become part of an alter installation temporarily displayed at Goulds Park, which will remain up and viewable to the public for two weeks. Johnson participated in BFI’s Heat Exchange Residency program in 2022, spending a month in Norway researching arts infrastructure through site visits and meetings with key artists who initiate education programs, unions, artist run residencies, artist run spaces, design practices, and more in Stavanger, Utsira, and Oslo. In 2023, Kristina Ketola Bore, Curator at the Stavanger Kunsthalle invited Johnson to coordinate a workshop series to empower and amplify the voices of the youth in Stavanger. This initiative came directly from introductions made as part of Heat Exchange, bringing Johnson and Chire Regans, both Oolite Social Justice award winners, back to Norway to further their artwork. The workshop inspired Norwegian youth to begin to consider the role of art and artists within the framework of Social Justice and how they define Social Justice for themselves. Once they began to think about what Social Justice meant to them personally, they could reimagine what their roles are and consider what concerns them in their communities and start to create ways to impact and confront these issues. They can consider art as a tool to utilize to activate change. Bringing this project to Norwegian youth anchored the importance of prioritizing the community Johnson grew up in, where she continues to live and create empowering educational art initiatives. Siting this project at Goulds Park anchors long term work Johnson has been doing for her community, sharing new modalities amplified by her international experiences. About the Artists: Loni Johnson is a multi-disciplinary visual artist born and raised in Miami, FL. As an artist, educator, mother, and activist, Johnson understands that as artists, there is a cyclical obligation to give back and nurture our communities with her creative gift and it must be utilized to better our world. Through movement and ritual, the artist creates healing spaces for Black women and explores how ancestral and historical memory informs how, when and where we enter and claim spaces. Selected exhibitions and performances include: As We Move Forward at Augusta Savage Gallery, Amherst MA(2024), Making Miami Design District, Miami(2023), Biscayne at Kampong Gardens, Coconut Grove(2023), Asake: A Conversation with self at 74th and Collins Oolite’s Walgreens storefront, Miami Beach(2023), Remnants at Locust Projects, Miami, Making Visible: The Studio Archives of Chire Regans and Loni Johnson, WAAM at Dimensions Variable, Miami (2020); Say Their Names, Chire Regans/Vanta Black Memorial Mural Project Unveiling, Bakehouse Art Complex, Miami (2020); Performans Fanm/Global Borderless Caribbean XII: Focus Miami, Little Haiti Cultural Arts Center, Miami (2020); Homegoing, NADA Art Fair, Miami (2017); Offerings III, Bas Fisher Invitational and O’Miami, Miami (2017); Offerings II, Common Field Convening, Miami (2016). Johnson is the Lead Coordinator of Art Detectives, an arts education program rooted in the framework of Social Justice at Perez Art Museum(PAMM) Miami, Prevention Coordinator of youth arts prevention program at Concept Health Systems, and Chairperson for the National Visual Arts Selection Panel for National YoungArts Foundation. She is also one of the founders of Miami Melanated Arts, a collective of Black artists who are creating space to reimagine what effective and impactful Arts ecosystems in South Florida could be.

The City of Miami proudly announces the inaugural PitMasters Barbecue Competition and Festival. This exciting event aims to celebrate the art of barbecue and unite enthusiasts from across the region. The event will take place on April 20, 2024 at Maurice Ferre Park and is fully sanctioned by the Florida Barbecue Association and promises to showcase some of the top barbecue teams in the nation. This year’s competition and festival will be a feast for all of the senses. There will be a wide range of entertainment for the entire family! Listen to the best bands in latin, soul, and jazz like Deep Fried Funk, Dennis Reyes, Son QBA and Nicole Henry. Enjoy craft vendors, live cooking demonstrations with barbecue experts, kids fun zone and a People’s Choice VIP Food Tasting Experience to judge team submissions with drinks and light bites! For more information, please visit MiamiPitMasters.com.

Join us in celebrating the joy of reading and the diversity of Hispanic literature at ENTRELIBROS, a Children's Book Festival in Spanish. This vibrant festival promotes literacy and cultural appreciation with a curated selection of illustrated books from Spain and Latin America, interactive workshops, storytelling sessions, musical performances, and much more!

Enjoy fresh seafood, chef demos, live entertainment and kid’s activities at the award-winning Deering Seafood Festival on Sunday, April 14, 2024 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Deering Estate.

Formerly a sparsely settled area, Opa-Locka was born from the vision of Glenn Curtiss in 1926. Curtiss, together with the architect Bernhardt Miller, designed a One Thousand and One Nights-themed city, which now holds one of the largest collections of Moorish Revival architecture in the Western Hemisphere, with twenty buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Acclaimed artist and architect Germane Barnes leads a walking tour of Opa-Locka, exploring the city's unique architectural heritage and its fascinating history and culture.

Maker Faire is a gathering of fascinating, curious people who enjoy learning and who love sharing what they can do. From engineers to artists to scientists to crafters, Maker Faire is a venue for these "makers" to show hobbies, experiments, projects. We call it the Greatest Show (& Tell) on Earth - a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity, and resourcefulness. Watch combat robots battle for prizes, a live student EV build-a-thon, hear talks from professional makers, learn to solder, and so much more. Come glimpse the future and get inspired!

Indigenous and Afro-diasporic spiritual systems have long interested internationally acclaimed artist José Bedia, who avidly collects ritualistic and ceremonial art. Bedia has traveled extensively to research and expand his knowledge of the people and the places where this art is created. Bedia and Carol Damian, Curator of the Kislak Center, discuss how collecting and collections enhance our world view, both historically and in the present. Examining a selection of works from the Jay I. Kislak Collection at MDC and the artist's own collection, Bedia and Damian explore the significance of these fascinating objects to our cultural history. One of Miami’s most prominent artists, Jose Bedia was born in Havana, Cuba, and was one of the pioneering group of young artists in the groundbreaking 1981 exhibition Volumen 1, which helped spark a transformation of the Cuban cultural scene. His deep interest in indigenous American and Afro-Transatlantic cultures have led to both anthropological study and personal engagement with the religious beliefs of “La Regla Kongo” (in which he was initiated in 1983), the “Regla de Ocha,” and the Leopard Society of Abakuas. Fascinated by the African roots of American culture, Bedia has traveled widely in Africa and Latin America. His work has been exhibited around the world, including in the biennials of Havana, São Paulo, Venice, and Beijing, and is included in the collections of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Cuba; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Tate; Smithsonian American Art Museum; the Daros Collection; Institut Valencià d’Art Modern; Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the Pérez Art Museum Miami. Dr. Carol Damian is an art historian, former Professor of Art History in the School of Art and Art History at Florida International University, and former Director and Chief Curator of the Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum at FIU. She has contributed to numerous publications and lectures frequently on Latin American and Caribbean art, and the local art scene. She is currently Curator of the Kislak Center, part of the Miami Dade College Special Collections, housed at the Freedom Tower; and of the Chapel of La Merced Colonial Collection at Corpus Christi in Miami. Kislak Center programs are made possible with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners. They are sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts. The Miami Herald is a media sponsor of Kislak Center programming. Miami Dade College is an equal access/ equal opportunity institution which does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, marital status, age, religion, national origin, disability, veteran's status, ethnicity, pregnancy, sexual orientation, or genetic information. To obtain additional information about the College's equal access and equal opportunity policies, procedures, and practices, please contact the College's Equity Officer: Cindy Lau Evans, Director, Office of Equal Opportunity Programs and ADA Coordinator at (305) 237-2577 (Voice) or 711 (Relay Service). 11011 SW 104 St., Room 1102-01; Miami, FL 33176. EquityOff@mdc.edu Image: Offering Vessel in the Form of a Bat (detail), Taíno, circa 900–1500 CE Greenstone, 4 x 13 x 8 ½ inches (10.2 x 33 x 21.6 cm) Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Early Americas, Exploration and Navigation This event is free and open to the public.

Hosted in B BAR at The Betsy Hotel This National Poetry Month event is hosted by Caridad Moro-Gronlier, Poetry Curator-at-large, The Betsy Writers Room, and Nicole Tallman, Poetry Ambassador, Miami-Dade County. A special celebration for female and female-identifying fans of Sylvia Plath and Ann Sexton, this event celebrates literary friendship and writing - while toasting with mini-martinis and lite bites - with other female-identifying poets in a supportive, salon-like happy hour space. This event is designed to engage fellow Plath and Sexton fans, and/or writers looking to generate new work and receive feedback from the group, and ultimately publish a Three-Martini Afternoon at The Betsy special zine onsite to be shared with the public online via thebetsywritersroom.com and in a limited print run with copies for attendees.

Bookleggers Library is relaunching Storytime for Grown-Ups as Storytime the Podcast...and we’re going international! Whereas Storytime for Grown-ups brought a Miami artist into your home, The Podcast brings Miami artists to their homeland to rediscover their roots and tell us the stories where they’re from. Join us March 28th from 6-9 pm to listen to the first episode of Storytime the Podcast: Peru, hosted by Juan Ledesma. We will be celebrating the launch with Peruvian bites, Pizco (for those 21+), and vibes brought to you by DJ Mario Garibaldi. Listen to all episodes on Spotify, Apple and bookleggerslibrary.com.

Bistoury Physical Theatre and Film presents the 305 International Improv Fest ’24 (8th Edition), a festival dedicated to fostering the art of improvisation in both live performance and film. Spanning two consecutive weeks, this festival unfolds in the vibrant cities of Miami and San Jose.