Emerging out of the present moment, Knight New Work 2020 called for applicants to submit works and projects that reinvented the performing arts for the current pandemic reality. The initiative seeks to envision a world where the performing arts continue to exist in innovative ways without a traditional audience from drive-ins to digital productions accessible via mobile devices.
New Work s 18 first-round winners have been tasked with using their $10,000 grant to create a spectrum of programs and projects adapted to be accessed even after the pandemic is over. Winners have chosen a range of projects, from female-driven music of the Black Caribbean diaspora living in Miami to an immersion in modern technology s capabilities for interactive live performance.
It remains unclear what Mana intends to do with space, other than a statement from a representative that the site will remain art-centric.
What is happening to the artists at 777 International Mall, on the other hand, seems to be following a familiar pattern in Miami and elsewhere: A deep-pocketed developer buys up property in a neglected area and rents out space at below-market rates to creative types who move in and catalyze gentrification. When market rates rise, the artists are pushed out.
But the pandemic, and the stalled economy it engendered, appears to have shaken things up.
Anyone who has set foot inside 777 knows the property has been in decline for decades. It opened in 1948 as a 1,850-seat movie house called the Miami Theatre, which closed down in 1978 and subsequently was repurposed as a small shopping center in the 80s.