HomeMy WebLinkAboutCRA-R-19-0036 Back upGRANT
APPLICATION
SUBMISSION
FOR
art 0 africa
miami arts Fair 2019
A THEMATIC
ART & CULTURAL
EXHIBITION
FOR THE
Southeast Overtown Park West
Community Redevelopment Agency
19 July 2019
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PRODUCERS STATEMENT
TheUrbanCollective (TUC) is an urban gallery featuring fine authentic artisan artwork from
Africa and the Diaspora. We place emphasis on using our retail gallery to promote emerging
local African, African -American and Caribbean artists from the South Florida Community.
Founded in 2004 by Neil Hall, AIA, over the course of fourteen years, we have sponsored and
hosted numerous events, salons and shows in support of the local art scene. In doing so,
TheUrbanCollective has fashioned itself as a cultural and artistic reference point within the
local Black arts community and the ever -evolving Overtown cultural epicenter. As the sole
proprietor and purveyor of African Art in this historic area, we have emerged as the source
and champion of local artists of African descent.
We are dedicated to running an ethically and socially conscious business that supports the
fair trade of art & crafts produced by artisans from the African Diaspora. On a local level,
we partner with non-profit organizations to produce creative events in support of
institutions that sustain communities with their charitable work.
The Urban Collective is comprised of a group of seasoned professionals who possess artistic,
administrative, creative and event planning and management skills necessary to plan
and execute a project from conception through completion.
Enclosed please find the requested proposal to produce an Art & Cultural Exhibition. As
you many determine in review of this submittal, TUC is qualified in every aspect to
perform the desired services and execute an inspired, successful production for the
community's enjoyment and enrichment.
Sincerely,
NEIL HALL, AIA NOMAC
President/CEO
LETTER OF INTENT
July 19, 2019
Mr. Neil Shiver
Director
Southeast Overtown/ Park West CRA
1490 NW 3rd Ave, #105
Miami, FL 33136
RE: Proposal to Provide Complete Production & Management Services
SUBJ: 9t' Annual Art Africa Miami Arts Fair & Soul Basel in Historic Overtown
Dear Mr. Shiver:
THE ART AFRICA MIAMI 2019 - LOCATED IN HISTORIC OVERTOWN, MIAMI'S URBAN
HEARTBEAT - IS THE PREMIERE SHOW EXHIBITING THE BEST OF CUTTING -EDGE
CONTEMPORARY VISUAL ART FROM THE AFRICAN DIASPORA.
TheUrbanCollective is pleased to present this
proposal for your review and consideration to
produce Art Africa Miami 2019 & Soul Basel
Overtown. We look forward to partnering with the
Southeast Overtown Park West CRA once again to
provide Historic Overtown with exciting cultural
programming that continues each year to elevate
Overtown's brand in our local community as a
cultural hub, as well as, boost the rebirth of
Overtown's history as the epicenter of Black Art and
Culture in Miami.
J
The Art Africa Miami Arts Fair is the premiere showcase of contemporary visual artists from the
African Diaspora during the Art Basel Miami exhibition week, located every year since its
inception in the epicenter of Miami's Historic Overtown. Established in 2011, Art Africa Miami -
with the support of artists, galleries, museums, and the SEOPW CRA - is comprised of a group of
seasoned professionals who possess the creative planning, event planning and management skills
necessary to produce a first class art and cultural exhibition. We operate as an urban gallery
featuring fine artwork from Africa and the Diaspora. We place emphasis on using our brand exposure
to promote emerging local African, African -American and Caribbean artists from the South Florida
community.
Over the course of 14 years, TheUrbanCollective has sponsored and hosted numerous events,
including producing the renowned Art Africa Miami Arts Fair from 2011-2018, featuring lectures,
film screenings, community youth art events and shows in support of the local art scene. In doing
so, TheUrbanCollective has become a cultural reference point within the local Black arts
community.
As the largest purveyor of African art in the district during Miami Art Week, we have emerged
as the source and champion of local artists of African descent.
We look forward to further discussing this proposal with you in the near future. Should you have
any questions or require additional clarification, please let us know. We are here to work with
you as your partners in this effort.
Sincerely,
Neil Hall, AIA
President / CEO
Enclosures
EXHIBITION CONCEPT
It is our intention to produce the 9th Annual Art Africa Miami Arts Fair during Art Basel Miami 2019 /
Miami Art Week. We continue to pay homage to the centrality of Africa's artistic contribution to the
modern world and to brand art from the Miami Black art community as a significant attraction during Art
Basel Miami annually. TheUrbanCollective will house the works from a number of artists building an entire
theme around the art and culture of Africa and its Diaspora, providing a centralized space to house the art
of this region during Art Basel Miami / Miami Art Week.
Art Africa Miami Arts Fair will be hosted in the ground
floors of the Lyric Plaza that will give our fair goers and
exhibitors an opportunity to experience an unparalleled
body of work curated by art professionals whose
contributions to the art world are extensive and of critical
4 importance to both seasoned and emerging artists and
galleries alike. This will be our third consecutive year in
this significant location in the hub of Historic Overtown.
As in 2018, we will utilize the entire 5,000 square feet of
the building #1 and expand to building #2 behind it, with an impressive program featuring visual artists,
salon talks, film screenings, youth engagement and much more. The 2019 showcase will span over five
days to accommodate interest and outreach from not only throughout North America but also the
Caribbean, Africa, South America and Europe.
Each year Art Basel Miami attracts a multitude of art buyers, collectors, curators and gallery owners to
our fair city. It draws over 75,000 visitors, offers more than 5,000 gallery venues and creates over
$2.5 billion in sales revenue throughout this event. The number of museums, galleries, and studios that
proffer this wealth of visual art continue to increase exponentially each year and in response, the
visitors and the revenues they bring to the community at large also continue to increase. In short, Art
Basel Miami is the world's pre-eminent contemporary art fair whose cultural significance and revenue
generating ability cannot be underestimated.
As South Florida temporarily transforms into the
international Mecca for art during Art Basel Miami, the
local Black art community continues its efforts to
establish a significant presence in the expo. Since the
launch of the Art Africa Miami Arts Fair in 2011, several
others have followed suit and created other venues that
exhibit art from the African Diaspora, and these venues
tend to be placed within the heritage communities,
scattered in various smaller art spaces throughout the -
city. Within the Overtown neighborhood specifically,
we've seen the launch of other art spaces all spawned by the initiative and energy brought by Art Africa
Miami eight years ago.
The Art Africa Miami Arts Fair is the first art fair during Art Basel Miami to showcase solely artwork from
the Diaspora and we have received widespread recognition for it. The paucity of venues during Basel
week that support and/or promote African art does a disservice to the fair itself and the city which hosts
it.
° —
It is our belief that Historic Overtown, as the bygone
epicenter of Black Arts and Culture, must continue to be
the destination for this yearly celebration of the very
a
best cultural capital emanating from the African
Diaspora; a first class event bridging Historic Overtown's
pan.
oil
swinging past with its elegant future. Fair goers will have
I
the opportunity to Shop, Dine and Explore the best of
Overtown's commercial businesses as we venture to
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during the run of the event. This will prove a mutually
engage local vendors by offering Art Africa Specials
beneficial business model for both our local small
businesses, Miami CRA, and Art Africa Miami alike.
By advancing both local and global African, African -American and Afro -Caribbean artists, Art Africa Miami
has created a wider audience and broadened the scope of opportunities available to the artists, galleries
and local small businesses that participate in the successful fruition of Art Africa Miami Arts fair. We seek
each year to transform, educate and enlighten the international community to the depth and breadth of art
emanating from our local Black community, providing artists from the Diaspora a chance to leave their
distinct mark on Art Basel and the international art clientele which it attracts.
For 2019, we have extended invitations to an esteemed list of renowned artists, curators and gallerists to
exhibit in this landmark effort and as you are a member of this revered group, we look forward to your
support and participation.
2019 ART & CULTURAL SEASON
As a result of the growth experienced in 2018, we were left with no choice but to dedicate 2019 to
travel in search of new, exciting and relevant works for this year's show. We toured the African
continent and visited South Africa to attend the Indaba Design Conference. We had meetings in
Dakar at the Museum of Black Civilisations to confirm bringing the renowned "Now Africa:
Contemporary African Expressions".
"Now Africa is taking the pulse of the continent and the diaspora in this new cycle of change,
accounting for the forces at work; creating and projecting new realities and resituating visual
expressions in their proper role as tools for personal and collective transformation."
Catalog Text, Museum of Black Civilisations
For 2019, we are exploring partnerships for accommodations with a Host Hotel for Art Africa Miami.
We now have the recognition and have become a destination for tourists visiting South Florida during
Art Basel Miami week.
Art Basel / Miami Art Week is very hectic and overwhelming with an average annual 80,000 visitors
trying to navigate all that Miami has to offer during this exciting week. We will work to define the
"Black Basel Experience" for art and culture.
Exhibition Schedule
December
The support of the Art Africa Miami Arts Fair has grown substantially each year by locals and
visitors from abroad. Our schedule will match the week-long festivities of Miami Art Week, as
promoted worldwide by the Greater Miami Visitors and Convention Bureau. This brings huge
value and greater awareness of the cultural legacy native to the Historic Overtown neighborhood.
Tuesday, December 3rd
NOON
— 7pm (Pre -Basel / Press Preview / Artist Interviews)
Wednesday, December 4t"
NOON
- 11pm (Opening Night / VIP Gala)
Thursday, December 5th
NOON
- 7pm (Gen. Admission, Film Screening)
Friday, December 6th
NOON
- 7pm (Gen. Admission, Salon Talks)
Saturday, December 7th
NOON
- Midnight (Gen. Adm, Salon Talks & The Black Party)
Sunday, December 8th
NOON -
1pm (Final Day)
The supporting budget for this week-long extravaganza can be found in Attachment "A".
Art Africa Marketing Strategy
It is our intent to enter into formal agreements with several of our partners assisting us in
our efforts to create this exciting event —the 9th Annual Art Africa Miami Arts Fair - during Art
Basel Miami. The partnership arrangement seeks to link the three areas of importance that
would make the event meaningful, attractive, successful, and add another flavor to the
Taj Hunter Waite ■ CONTACT • Yvette Harris
954.283.7195 786.897.8854
ambience of Art Basel Miami. This includes institutions such as museums, academic
institutions, artists, curators, galleries, fashion designers, interior designers, etc.
Miicaiim
We are working with nationally renowned museums that continue to lend their expertise in
areas such as curatorship, art discussion panels, multi -media interactive installations, and
general advisement to this important artistic cultural event.
Academia
We are actively in discussions with interested local academic institutions that have art and
art history departments including Nova Southeastern University and Florida International
University, FLAASC, University of Miami and Florida Memorial University. This is to engage local
participants from local student bodies and professors to be engaged with this important event.
Media
Our media outreach efforts include our partnership with Legacy Magazine/ Miami Herald,
Sugarcane Magazine, Sun Sentinel, and Palm Beach Post, renowned art blogs, local
radio distribution through Cox Media Group as well as National Public Radio.
Social Media
Art Africa Miami continues its efforts to garner the public's awareness of this event through
various social media platforms, includingthe show website, ArtAfricaMiamiFair.com, Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram and other affiliate partner(s) social media distribution accounts.
Local and International Art Fairs
It is our desire to associate the Art Africa Miami Arts Fair with established national and
international fairs such as Art Basel Miami, International Black Fine Arts Fair and Caribbean
Fine Arts (CAFA) Fair.
In closing, we cannot thank enough the City of Miami Board of Commissioners & the Southeast
Overtown Park West CRA, its Director and staff members for the continued support and
partnership throughout the years. It is because of you, this initiative has been a success and a
hallmark of the Historic Overtown community. It is because of you, the artists we feature both
locally and throughout the African Diaspora have grown in notoriety. It is because of you,
Overtown's cultural currency has grown in the eyes of the international art and culture tourism
audience. Please view our highlights throughout the years at ArtAfricaMiamiFair.com Gallery
Page and our Facebook page.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A — 2019 Budget
Taj Hunter Waite ■ CONTACT • Yvette Harris
954.283.7195 786.897.8854
AMENDED ART AFRICA MIAMI-PROJECT BUDGET 2019
A. MARKETING
Creation and printing of marketing brochures $2,000.00
Event signage and street flags on display $6,000.00
Design fee for artwork for marketing materials $2,000.00
Photographer, Videographer and Social Media Promo $15,000.00
Soul Basel Marketing and Art of Conversation Event $40,000.00
Consultants $20,000.00
Total
B. INSTALLATION AND SET-UP
Building
A
13[1]
Construction of Panels and Walls
$3,000.00
$5,000.00
$8,000.00
Electrical /Event lighting
$3,000.00
$5,000.00
$8,000.00
Air Condition Installation
$5,000.00
$5,000.00
$16,000.00
Furniture Rentals for events
$3,000.00
$5,000.00
$8,000.00
Labor Costs (set-up and breakdown)
$5,000.00
$5,000.00
$10,000.00
Total
$19,000.00
$25,000.00
[11 Building B is a raw space, unlike building A which has been
built out. Building B is essential to replace the square footage
lost with the 920 Building. All lectures, presentations,
receptions and other social events will happen in Building B.
C. EVENT OPERATIONAL COSTS
Curator(s) fee
$20,000.00
Producer(s) fee
$30,000.00
Insurance Premium
$2,000.00
Security
$4,000.00
Catering
$8,000.00
Entertainment
$2,000.00
City of Miami Inspection
$1,500.00
Total
D. MISCELLANEOUS
Travel and Accommodations for artists and speakers $5,000.00
Shipping $8,000.00
Framing $7,000.00
Rental of Restroom trailers $7,500.00
Total
$85,000.00
$50,000.00
$67,500.00
$27,500.00
TOTAL EVENT BUDGET $230,000.00