See DWNTWN Art Days Give Miami Its Own Cultural Festival.
If you're sick of boozing and baking in the sun after a long Labor Day, you can spend next weekend soaking up our city's culture instead at DWNTWN Art Days.
This two-day arts and culture event is a project of the Miami Downtown Development Authority (Miami DDA) and includes a whole host of (mostly free) opportunities to visit museums, check out art installations, and participate in fun group activities. The lineup includes more than 50 entertaining options including concerts, a bike tour, and a kickball match -- not to mention all the art. Lots and lots of art.
The concept for DWNTWN Art Days was born out of the Miami DDA's arts and culture group, an offshoot organization comprised of representatives from each of the city's major downtown arts and culture institutions who meet three times a year to guide programming.
"This is the first comprehensive art event for downtown that aims to bring together the arts and culture community and provide easy access to visitors and residents of downtown alike. We started our arts and culture group over a year ago, and the need to bring together the fantastic art spaces and museums of downtown was a priority -- hence DWNTWN Art Days was born. We see this as an ongoing annual event," says Claire Breukel, the curator working on programming for Art Days.
The lineup of events is extremely extensive, and includes an exhibition by Rashid Johnson at the Miami Art Museum-Cultural Plaza; an Art in the Park event at Bayfront Park including free yoga, pony rides, a food truck rally and more; and an after-party at the Vagabond.
The setup will include three information booths at the Arsht, MAM and Brickell Avenue, as well as an Art Days trolley service that will take visitors to the different venues. The booths will be open from 12 to 5 p.m.
Hours for the different events vary, as well as admission costs, but most of the museums are free. A full schedule of events, trolley maps, and all other details can be viewed at dwntwnartdays.com; you might even want to print out this PDF, if you're planning to hit up multiple events throughout the weekend. Parking options include a discounted rate in Lots C and B at the Arsht Center, a $5 fee at the Artisan Lounge, or spots in the Cultural Plaza garage.
Follow Cultist on Facebook and Twitter @CultistMiami.
