Arts & Entertainment

There’s nothing ostentatious about this South Beach music hall, despite the fact that world-famous architect Frank Gehry designed it. Inside is a comfortable 756-seat, in-the-round auditorium. Above the stage are five huge sails that help render pitch-perfect acoustics and allow for dreamy video projections. Comfort rules here — flip-flops and tank tops after the beach won’t fly, but the dress code is definitely not opera gowns and tiaras. If you’d rather keep the beachwear, sprawl on a blanket outside for a free broadcast of the live concerts going on inside this classical music landmark.

From Medellin, Colombia, to Miami, Perro Negro is the center of reggaeton and perreo culture in South Florida. Writhing bodies are bathed in low red lighting on the dance floor. It’s tight, but people come for that intimate atmosphere and to dance to the sounds of DJs like Sebaxxss and Rudeboy. Bad Bunny and Feid even released a song named after the nightlife establishment. When it plays, the lights turn green and everyone sings along. The club has also been used by artists Ryan Castro and Blessd for album release parties since the night launched during Billboard Latin Music Week. Perro Negro brings raw sensuality with a touch of chaos that is the essence of reggaeton.

Responding to a hostile climate toward independent club promoters in Miami, the folks behind this raucous series of shindigs made lemons out of lemonade by hosting club-music gigs in a nondescript house in Brownsville. With nearly every DJ in town playing this best of parties, it became a rallying scene for the electronic underground and a rebuke to the city’s heavily commercialized club culture. Late last year, the Miami Ass Party folks shuttered their Brownsville doors, continuing to host events around town, but if you weren’t there for those original sweaty house parties, you might have missed the moment.

A new player has entered Miami’s busy festival game in the form of the We Belong Here festival. Although it’s been running for three years, this third iteration of the festival showed the city its real potential. It got crowds riled up with headliners like Guatemalan DJ Gordo and British DJ Duke Dumont on their 360-degree mainstage and strong local acts and label takeovers on smaller stages. Smorgasburg was the fest’s food vendor, so attendees had no trouble fueling up on local culinary options. With a beachside location on Virginia Key, We Belong Here presented a way more relaxed opportunity to enjoy electronic acts than the city’s more intense festivals.

Combining Old Florida hospitality with New Miami swagger, ZeyZey has become a scene unto itself, thanks to its embrace of globally minded live music and DJs playing everything from Afrobeat and son cubano to disco and jazz — especially meaningful in a city whose nightlife stakeholders offer little support to bands of any genre. With local food pop-ups and a beverage program focused on natural wine and craft cocktails, the trendy Little Haiti hotspot has also hosted community events like film screenings, pottery and candle-making workshops, and the Little River Flea vintage market.

Founder and chief experience officer of the Miami-based event agency Social Xchange, Alexis Brown is a “curator of cool.” After realizing there was a lack of entertainment events in Miami that cater to Black and brown millennial professionals, she launched her company with a monthly happy hour series in Wynwood. She soon expanded with a lineup of parties and activations at locations like Red Rooster and the Urban in Overtown. From Instagram-viral fetes at the Easton Rooftop Pool and Lounge in Fort Lauderdale to her music and mixology Art of Cocktail event, she’s elevating the going-out experience. Brown also challenged the status quo during Miami Art Week with her Basel Bae experience dedicated to promoting and lifting up Black art and bucking stereotypes about Black cuisine with the Black Pepper Festival. Brown will continue to pave the way for party innovation and inclusivity.

There are definitely more upscale options for karaoke in Miami than SevenSeas, but you’re unlikely to find a space with more quirk to belt out your favorite ’90s alt-rock classics, Spanish ballads, or pop favorites than this dingy dive in the ass-end of La Saguesera. It’s loud, and the kitschy, nautical-themed bar has seen better days — but the drinks are cheap and it’s one of the few remaining spots in Miami with the kind of neighborhood “regulars” that become bar legends. You can leave for 20 years and come back to hear some of the same crooners, and it’s that kind of consistency that makes SevenSeas’ karaoke the real deal. Stop in every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 10 p.m., and bring cash.

Medium Cool is a sleek and sexy basement club housed in the Gale South Beach hotel. Every Wednesday through Sunday evening between 7 and 10 p.m., you can find a lively rotation of our city’s finest jazz instrumentalists and crooners captivating crowds in this swanky hotspot. The atmosphere, along with the variety of virtuosic talent and diverse programming, make it the best jazz night in town despite some stiff competition. What helps up its cool factor from medium to high is that Medium Cool was recently nominated as one of the top ten best new bars in the country by the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation. So, with a cocktail in hand, under the sparkle of the overhead disco ball, there’ll be no question in your mind that heading to Medium Cool was the right call for the night.

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a million times: the local music scene suffers because local venues can’t stay open long enough. But since 2017, this nautical-themed bar on Calle Ocho with specialty craft cocktails has provided local troubadours a soft place to land. Offering a range of live entertainment seven nights a week, you can expect to catch anything from punk to folk to world music. Regardless of the genre, there’s something for everyone, like the monthly Stories in Song when local songwriters perform and discuss their craft or that time when Bar Nancy really embraced that upper-class nautical theme with a yacht-rock night.

In the heart of South Beach, long-running Kill Your Idol offers music fans just enough room to shake their asses while really taking in live acts. The place couldn’t be more of a departure from the puddle-deep sensibilities of the touristy environs right outside the club’s door. You’ll be in fine company at KYI, with life-size statues of Bruce Lee and an astronaut hanging overhead, as well as a crowd that actually cares about the music. Depending on the night, you might hear balls-to-the-wall rock, avant-garde punk, drag-themed karaoke, or heavy, driving bass music. Run by Subculture Group (think Lost Weekend, DADA Delray, and Subculture Coffee), the venue is tight on space, but there’s enough energy and devotion in it to fill a club five times its size.

They keep trying to take the Fillmore away from us. First, COVID-19 robbed us of a year and a half of shows. Then, from mid-2022 to the end of December 2023, the Fillmore was shut down for loading-dock renovations. It reopened in January with killer Elvis Costello and Mitski concerts, only for the Miami Beach City Commission to come and threaten to tear it down! When you walk into the lobby, you get goosebumps. You can just feel its rich and rewarding history. It would be a crime to raze the art deco theater that hosted everyone from Jackie Gleason to Madonna to Slayer. With Sting, Air, and Nicki Nicole on its fall calendar, make sure you enter its vaunted halls at least one more time before deep-pocketed developers actually take the Fillmore down.

Though Gramps, the beloved Wynwood watering hole, welcomes everyone to its bars and stages, it’s safe to say that it’s been recognized by the gay community as an honorary queer bar. That’s largely because the Thursday night Double Stubble party is rife with dance, drag, and delight. Hosted by Miami drag legend Karla Croqueta, Double Stubble features a weekly rotation of the Magic City’s best up-and-coming and established drag performers. In between the 9, 10, and 11 p.m. performances, resident DJs Hottpants and Zheno keep the patio flooded with sweaty, happy bodies dancing to gay anthems. By design, attitude, and thanks to the staff, Gramps has an inclusive, nonjudgmental, and celebratory atmosphere where Double Stubble has thrived. And don’t forget, it also has superb libations, delectable pizza, and, most importantly, flattering lighting.

GableStage’s producing artistic director Bari Newport was hell-bent on bringing The Lehman Trilogy to South Florida for the theater’s 2024 season. She wanted it here so badly that she sent a giant cookie to the rights-holders of the play to give them a nudge to accommodate her request. Maybe it was the cookie or her persistence, but it would be only the fifth time that the play — with just three actors telling the story of the Lehman Brothers bankers — would get a staging in the country. It was no small feat. The actors play between 50 and 75 roles in a show clocking in at three hours with two intermissions. Newport still has enormous shoes to fill after taking over GableStage in 2021, following the death of legendary founder and artistic director Joe Adler in 2020. But she’s not one to shy away from a challenge. She found a way to create big theater in the company’s small home, the historic horse stables of the Biltmore Hotel. While the show may have been about the fall of a dynasty, Newport proved she’s queen of the castle.

Audiences got up close and personal with famed collectors Don and Mera Rubell’s art when Miami New Drama artistic director Michel Hausmann launched his take of a night at the museum with The Museum Plays. He orchestrated six original ten-minute plays by six different playwrights. Each was tied to art in different rooms at the Rubell Museum in Allapattah. Ingenious and inventive, Hausmann had success with an unconventional venue in the past, albeit born out of necessity during the pandemic. He delivered Seven Deadly Sins, short plays by seven writers, in storefronts on Lincoln Road to keep audiences socially distanced. That endeavor made national news. The Museum Plays followed the same format, shuffling five different groups of 30 people throughout the museum at the same time. It was theater worthy of a museum.

Nilo Cruz left behind his homeland at nine years old when he boarded a Freedom Flight from Cuba to Miami in 1970. But the island would stay with him as he developed into a playwright. His play Anna in the Tropics was commissioned by the now-defunct New Theatre in Coral Gables. He was the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 2003 for the play, but Cruz never forgot where he got his start. For the 20th anniversary of the play last year, Cruz chose to direct the show for the first time himself at Miami New Drama. In March 2024, only a month after he wrote Sed en la Calle del Agua, he and Arca Images staged its premiere at Miami Dade County Auditorium. Talk about commitment! He was also just named by the president of the Carbonell Awards as the 2024 recipient of the prestigious George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts. Cruz is a national treasure, but lucky for local theater lovers, his roots remain in Miami.

Elijah Word has finesse. He can transform an iconic role that audiences have seen over and over again. Characters ingrained in our psyche are re-created entirely when he plays them on stage. Superstar Eddie Murphy defined James “Thunder” Early in Dreamgirls, but when Word played the role in Broward Stage Door’s Carbonell-winning production, there wasn’t an ounce of Murphy in the character. Likewise, there was not even a nod to Broadway’s legendary Billy Porter when Word played the drag artiste Lola in Slow Burn’s Kinky Boots. But where he truly proved his knack for originality was in Zoetic Stage’s Cabaret. His master of ceremonies was born anew — a love child of a contestant in RuPaul’s Drag Race and torch singer Billie Holiday.

Easily going from glam to gritty, Miami actress Lela Elam is nothing if not convincing. As Morgan Wright in Zoetic Stage’s Clark Gable Slept Here, she originated the role of the Hollywood diva pissed to be called away from the Golden Globes to help clean up a murder mess. Elam seamlessly juggled multiple roles in the Actors’ Playhouse production of A Rock Sails By. And she killed it as no-nonsense Coach Odessa Hicks in this season’s The Girls of Summer with M Ensemble Company. The role, which hearkened the 1992 classic film A League of Their Own, had the actress leading a team of Black female baseball players in the ’40s. Her range and convincing portrayals make it pretty clear that as an actress, Elam is herself in a league of her own.

Larger-than-life acting coach Violet Tcherkin is Miami’s only accredited instructor of the Chubbuck technique. It’s a 21st-century evolution of the widely studied Stanislavski method, which countless Hollywood A-listers have used to hone their craft. Tcherkin’s students swear not only by her prowess as a world-class instructor of thespians but also by her empathy and insights into the human condition. While she helps her students prepare for the rigorous and highly competitive acting industry, she also offers them what some call a life-changing journey of self-discovery and personal growth.

This absurdist, experimental troupe’s odd name was inspired by the title of a Google image of southwest Florida’s Lakewood Ranch. Founded by three FIU theater grads during the height of the pandemic, LakehouseranchDotPNG found a surprisingly eager audience while working out of a second-floor rented space in Kendall. The group is committed to showcasing new work, much of which is written by the company’s local resident playwrights. This season, they’re abandoning Kendall for Miami Lakes, but they aren’t straying from their commitment to innovative big-thinking: season three includes a horror play about creeper vines in West Virginia and a couple on the hunt for a cryptid known as Mothman.

Sisters Tanya and Natasha Bravo are the founding forces behind the magical Juggerknot Theatre Company. Year after year, production after production, the team delivers one helluva unique theater experience. Known for their immersive shows, Juggerknot knows how to engage and entertain an audience. Their latest production, Conjuring the King, is a raw, communal journey and one-woman show that follows the story of an Elvis Presley fan-club president. Taking care of business and takeovers are kind of their thing. The company put on exciting productions that took over motels (Miami Motel Stories) and even a house in Little Havana (The Blues Opera). We’re sure the Bravo sisters will continue to find creative ways to stay fresh and engaging.

A lot has changed for this veteran radio host since he was last named Miami New Times‘ Best FM Radio Personality in 2005. After several hiatuses in the aughts, he returned to 103.5 FM The Beat in 2010 as the voice of the afternoon rush hour segment. He became a voters’ rights advocate during the 2016 presidential election and platformed local grassroots organizations like the New Florida Majority. He launched the annual free People Matter Fest a year later to “save lives” through hip-hop with a 24-hour non-violence ceasefire and other community initiatives. He also partnered with Miami-Dade County Parks and Guitars over Guns to open the Papa Keith Music and Media Studio at Gwen Cherry Park. It provides state-of-the-art technology to students to create and learn about music and digital production. Despite this evolution, Papa Keith‘s signatures remain: He’s Trini to de bone, and his slick commentary on culture is why Miami trusts him as their go-to man on the mike.

How do we say this? Whether it’s on a half-mile stretch of Haulover Beach, crawling along I-95 and being flashed, or sitting in a sketchy mini-strip club in Miami, there are plenty of places to see boobs around these parts. Tootsie’s Cabaret is different. The largest strip club in Miami (it’s 76,000 square feet) has upward of 300 performers daily. And, here, it’s not a sacrifice of quality for quantity. The quality aspects include six stages, six bars, oodles of VIP areas, 300-plus HD TVs for sports action and fully nude performances throughout. A true distinguisher is Knocker’s Sports Bar. It’s not uncommon to see people lining up outside the club to pick up food and not even going in. Yes, the fried lobster tail ($32) and jumbo chicken wings ($16) are that good.

You ever get a hankering to play the slots or see some poker hands without making the hourlong drive to the giant guitar? There’s a much more central location to wager on games of chance — the Magic City Casino. Bets have been placed at the venue since it was known as Flagler Dog Track all the way back in 1935. Thankfully, the dogs stopped racing in 2019 when the casino started to offer cruelty-free jai alai competitions to wager on instead. Open from 10 to 3 a.m. Sunday to Thursday and 10 to 5 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, a million stories get told and created every night — from the jackpot hit as soon as you walked away to the straight flush you sucked out on to beat the four kings.

Some may claim “Rock is dead!” but, no, it’s alive and well — if a bit more underground these days. We only have to point to Miami psych-rock outfit the Floridians to prove our point. The band is led by frontman and guitarist Ian Renaud and keyboardist David Gonzalez and includes a cast of session musicians, including Caleb Carr, Danny Garcia, and Sebastian Holmes. The Floridians has quickly matured into an apt band worthy of throngs of adoring fans. Its latest release was back in January when it dropped “How Are You Are So Certain,” a cut that has the feel of MGMT at the peak of Oracular Spectacular. If you see the band on a local lineup, do yourself a favor and attend the show. For now, we wait until the band delivers something a bit more substantial, like an EP or, the music gods willing, an album.

Miami’s MJ Nebreda shows that breaking all the rules is a good look. The singer, producer, and DJ captivates crowds with her powerful prose, raunchy Spanish lyrics, and disorientating rapture-house music on the decks. Everything off her 2023 Arepa Mixtape shows that Latin music is no longer a boys’ club, it’s a hip-shaking, inclusive world where women and the LGBTQ community are raising their voices and bringing a new sound that’s provocative and fun. Fans should look forward to her upcoming work with Danny From Miami (AKA Danny Daze) for a perfect hybrid of Latin music and underground electronica. It’s clear from Nebreda’s rise that the times, they are a changin’, and for the better.

Her name may imply she’s an elusive singer-songwriter on the fringes of R&B, but Scribbles Who is stamping her imprint on the genre. The poet turned songwriter got her start penning songs for artists like Flo Rida and Trina before transitioning from behind the board to on the mike. Her 2023 project 12 Nights Under the Sun details her travel escapades over a sun-baked blend of Afrobeats and R&B, while her latest single, “Like Me,” is a melancholy indictment of a past lover. A soft-spoken introvert, Scribbles Who radiates stardom with jewel-adorned locks and a bejeweled grill that illuminates her smile. She says her next release will offer a more personal view of her artistry, promising a lot of soul and darker, blues-influenced songs.

iCandy‘s TikTok viral hit “Keep Dat” took the app by storm last year with celebrities like Lizzo, Tia Mowry, and Chloe Bailey using the breakup anthem to soundtrack their videos. The Pompano Beach native isn’t an overnight viral sensation. She started making music at 14 and credits her whimsical, tongue-in-cheek persona to Miami pioneers like Trina and Disney’s most famous pop star, Hannah Montana. She followed up that momentum with an all-star, all-girl remix featuring GloRilla, Kali, and Big Boss Vette. Last September, iCandy released the Lil Mama “Lip Gloss” sampled track “Big Mad,” with her lyrical counterpart Flo Milli. What’s next for the rising rapper? A debut EP hailing her the “CB County Princess.”

The first thing you’ll notice at an Alexa Lash concert is her distinctive and impressive pipes; then you’ll hear the wide array of inspirations woven together in her melodies and poetic lyrics. Her between-song patter is often a songwriting seminar, as she goes into intimate details about the muse for each track. The subjects can be heavy, like in the folky song “Missing,” a story of childhood trauma rife with double meanings. They can be lighthearted, as she playfully explores neurosis in “Fuck that Noise” or with “Sage and Wine” on bonding with friends while sniffing sage and sipping wine. But there’s no need to light up sage for this New Times‘ Readers Choice for 2023 Best Musical Act. Lash is all good vibes and a leader in her craft.

With his solo project, Hurricane Yellow, psych rock outfit Jai Alai frontman and guitarist Oscar Sardiñas has opted for something quieter and a bit more introspective. His debut single, “Midnight,” came out last year, taking listeners on a sonic journey into outer and inner space as he reflected on the experience of being a new father. Influenced by Beck’s quiet records and by a couple of Beatles who went solo, “Midnight” is a five-minute toe-dip in an exciting, brand-new direction. Thankfully, this isn’t a breakup omen for Jai Alai. Sardiñas instead will have and will offer the best of both worlds.

Cuban-American duo Camp Blu is reinvigorating indie rock in Miami. Singer Angelo Ruiz and guitarist Frank Ferrer have been steadfast in giving their robust and dreamy punk-meets-indie-sleaze sound a touch of 305 urban grit. The two have gone from sharing stages with underground icons like Ekkstacy to collaborations with major indie artists like Fat Nick. Their bigger hits like “Bloody Kisses” and “Bad Luck” have excited III Points audiences and gotten more than 30,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. As they bring fresh fervor back to Miami’s indie rock scene, their latest creative pursuits are slowly but surely stacking up in recognition. Not to be cliché, but catch Camp Blu live while the band is still accessible.

What’s way more fun than rise and shine? Rise and Toast, the Sunday Caribbean brunch party that combines the best of both weekend worlds with brunch from noon to 4 p.m. and a day party from 4 to 9 p.m. Launched in 2020 by Hybrid Events and party promoters Jewels and James, Rise and Toast kicked off in Wynwood before relocating to the Urban (1000 NW Second Ave.) in Overtown. Since then, it has drawn big crowds, including dancehall stars like Mavado and Jada Kingdom, and athletes like Chad Johnson and Usain Bolt. They came and stayed for the savory Jamaican brunch from Dynamic Cuisines food truck and a satiating mix of soca, dancehall, Afrobeats, reggae, and hip-hop from resident DJs Silent Addy, Dr. Esan, Deion, Greg Xcess, and Shadow Fyah.

Can you believe Sweat Records is almost 20? The Little Haiti stronghold has thrived for nearly two decades in a city not known for its longevity. That’s because it has so much more to offer than just records. To be sure, Sweat boasts a massive selection of new and reissued vinyl, as well as all the accoutrements needed to play your records. But the soul of Sweat is owner Lolo Reskin’s dedication to building community through scene-defining events, like the annual Miami ’80s Prom, and by giving music lovers the tools and wise staff to get their hands on the wax they want. Manager Daniel Blair, known by his signature daisy dukes and for getting people riled up on the dance floor as DJ Hottpants, is also part of the draw. If you want to remember why you love this scrappy town or to fall in love with it for the first time, swing by Sweat Records for some well-seasoned homegrown inspiration.

Founded in 1996 by Romulo del Castillo and Josh Kay, Schematic has been championing weirdly wonderful electronic music out of South Florida and from around the world for decades now. Over the years, the label released music by acts like Soul Oddity, Otto von Schirach, Dino Felipe, Nick Forté, Ossa, and Phoenecia. Look, you can spend all day and night devouring Schematic’s catalogue on its Bandcamp page, and we wouldn’t judge you for it — it’s just that good. From techno and IDM to ambient and noise, Schematic has released it all and continues to unleash new music to this day. Perhaps this acknowledgment feels more like a Hall of Fame induction, but we can only imagine where Miami’s music scene would be today without Schematic — and, trust us, it would not be pretty.

DJ and producer Nick León is at the helm of the evolution of electronic music in the Magic City. A great musician in his own right, he has a catalogue that includes lauded releases like his 2016 debut album, Profecía, and 2022’s Xtasis EP. This year, he also released Projections of a Coral City, an ambient project with marine-biology-meets-art collective Coral Morphologic. In addition to working on his own music, he’s contributed beats to Spanish star Rosalía, Miami-bred rapper Denzel Curry, pop experimentalist Tama Gucci, neoperreo act MJ Nebreda, and, most recently, indie pop singer Empress Of. With that impressive list, it’s undeniable that León is one of the most notable talents making and producing music in Miami today.

If you only know Jonny From Space as one of Club Space’s resident DJs, you might be surprised by the quietly joyful IDM album, Back Then I Didn’t But Now I Do, that he dropped on Anthony Naples’ Incienso label. Combining trip-hop, dub techno, video-game soundtracks, and the sun-dappled, outdoorsy electronica of early Four Tet and Boards of Canada, Back Then exchanges the dark confines of the club for a wide-eyed ramble through nature, yet nevertheless retains the bass thunks, acid wobbles, and left-field rhythms found in Miami’s rave scene.

DJ and self-proclaimed culturalist Jason Panton is the mastermind behind one of Miami’s most popular Afrobeats parties, the Shrine. Panton started curating parties back in 2013 when he spearheaded the reggae sound system event Dubwise in Kingston, Jamaica. He soon brought the concept to Coyo Taco in Wynwood, where it’s rallied weekly for almost a decade. After being introduced to Afrobeats at a family party in 2016, he decided to start the Shrine with collaborators like DJ Moma of the global event series Everyday People. The party is anchored at Red Rooster’s iconic pool hall, where he blends Afrobeats, amapiano, dancehall, reggae, Haitian konpa, and hip-hop alongside resident DJs Walshy Fire, Jumbee, and Milli Marv. He fuses diasporic genres, sticking with his DJ mantra: “The music is better blended together.”

You never know what you’re going to get from a Pressure Point set — from hard-hitting breakbeat bangers to iconic pop songs — but you’re going to break a messy sweat every time. The DJ is otherwise known as Akia Dorsainvil, a transdisciplinary artist whose musical selections have ranged from jungle and East Coast club to Miami bass and pop edits. Dorsainvil not only brings the beats; he’s a cofounder of the collective Masisi, a Miami arts and events organization that ensures that Black, queer Miamians have a social space to call their own.

Tucked away in downtown Miami, Jolene Sound Room is both an intimate retro-themed cocktail bar and underground dance club where bodies can move to great tunes without the unbearably large crowds. The low-lit “basement” is lined with high-quality speakers that fill it with dance music you can feel all over. Visitors can mingle with friends at the bar or head to the dance floor under a shimmering disco ball. Since its debut in May 2023, this diminutive nightclub has been delivering a one-of-kind dance experience that doesn’t rely only on big-name DJs, instead offering local talents time on the decks.

After announcing her retirement from certain aspects of the Miami drag scene, we can’t help but wonder what Yoko Oso has under her wig next. She’s charting a new path by abandoning bar gigs to focus on the aspects of drag that give her joy — acting, music, and whatever else she sets her mind to. One of Oso’s more unforgettable gigs was at Counter Corner, where she performed Kate Bush live on her electric upright bass before Stranger Things made the British crooner ubiquitous on social media. A fixture at gay gatherings — Revolution Live! as host, Double Stubble, Flaming Classics, and at Rocky Horror Picture Show screenings — Oso is a queen who can do it all. From live music to political commentary and the avant-garde, Oso manages to cultivate an alternative drag that challenges and elevates the status quo.

Though you might think a day job narrating true crime podcasts like Sacred Scandal or Cold Case Files, highlighting the worst of humanity, might shake the sense of humor right out of you, it’s only fueled comedian Paula Barros‘ hilarity. Also known as Pauley McPaulerson, Barros doubles audiences over at events all around town, whether it’s when she’s hosting at Hotel Greystone on South Beach and Arlo Wynwood, or gracing the stage at the Villain Theater. While most crowd-working comedians in Miami have made insult comedy a bit of a blood sport, Barros takes a more empathetic approach to confronting her audience. With style and class, she splits sides without the need for the sharp weapons of her podcast subjects. Instead, she comes armed with well-timed punchlines.

The makings of a good flack are simple. You have to actually read the papers, consume media, and know what the publication — or writer — is interested in and what they typically cover. Don’t cold email a writer with a pitch for something like “Hey! Did you know Miami was ranked as one of the cities with the most cracks on the sidewalk?” Enter Gino Campodonico, senior director of communications at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Campodonico is a class act in the public relations business. He not only tailors his pitches to the right reporters but is wicked fast with his replies and coordination of anything you need for a story. Plus, he’s personable and always at the Arsht Center for opening night performances, ready to greet his reporters with un besito.

Public art brings culture to everyone, and it brings people together. Germane Barnes’ Ukhamba, an installation outside of the Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus, accomplishes both things. Ukhamba asks Miami not just to look but to sit and stay with each other. The architect and designer worked on the piece as part of a commission by the Museum of Art and Design’s (MOAD) second-annual MOAD Pavilions series and was first unveiled ahead of last year’s Miami Book Fair International. The 32-foot-wide, ten-foot-tall structure resembles a large woven basket and was inspired by Barnes’ time living in Cape Town, South Africa. In a recent Miami New Times interview, Barnes said, “All the work that I do is always about inviting people and always about communal spaces.”

Third Cinema, the ’60s-’70s political film movement out of Latin America and Africa, decried neocolonialism and capitalism and aimed to revolutionize film. Third Horizon Film Festival channels that ethos with a focus on the future and an eye on the islands. Celebrating its seventh year, the organization highlights the rich and vibrant cinematic arts of the Caribbean and its diaspora. It uses film to speak truth to power and disrupt norms that simply just do not work for everyone. It’s a big idea, and each year its filmmakers and crews bring it to life with screenings, discussions, and special events that spotlight some of the world’s most fascinating films. Third Horizon uses and enhances Miami’s position as a global gateway to reach its audiences, sparking conversations around cinema, community, and culture as it celebrates and empowers filmmakers — and Miami’s creatives.

She’s covered big-time weather events in Denver, Tennessee, and West Virginia. And, since 2022, boy, we’re glad to have Chelsea Ambriz giving us the scoop here in Miami. From looming South Florida hurricane threats to that wild once-in-a-millennium storm that pummeled Fort Lauderdale last year, Ambriz keeps it as real as it gets alongside her NBC 6 First Alert Weather colleagues. Part of that realness is her Midwestern charm and passion for the South Florida community. She hails from Indianapolis and, locally, is an active member of the Junior League of Miami, regularly volunteering with a women’s shelter, food rescue organization, and more. A big-time local foodie, event-goer, and proud cat mom, she’s also a blast to follow on Instagram. A perfect storm led Ambriz to Miami, and we’re glad those winds carried her here.

Let’s not beat around the bush — Mike Cugno isn’t your typical sports anchor. As CBS Miami’s lead sports anchor and host of multiple local shows, he looks as if he could suit up for just about any team in town. His energy for the local teams is infectious, and his delivery is down-to-earth with a tone that keeps you returning for more. Whether he’s covering a Miami Dolphins preseason game or appearing on the 560 WQAM Hochman and Crowder show to give the play-by-play of trying a McDonald’s McRib for the first time, Cugno has grown up in our living rooms, on our airwaves, and now, seems to be in his prime with decades left in the tank. We wouldn’t be surprised if, in 30 years, we’re writing something similar, gushing about how the best sports anchor in town is still outworking the competition and looking frustratingly handsome doing it.

When it comes to Kristin Sanchez, host of NBC 6’s midday lifestyle and entertainment show South Florida Live, the question is… what can’t she do? She’s a mom of three under three after welcoming twin girls in January. She’s out and about in the community supporting the likes of Miss Arc Broward, Rebuilding Together Broward, and the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. Sanchez is from Long Island, New York, went to college in Florida, and has called Fort Lauderdale home since 2018. In her six years here, she’s zipped around town and accomplished as much as some South Florida lifers have. For her energy, pizzazz, and the voice she gives others, Sanchez really is the best.

He had style, he had flair, he was there, and that’s how Layron Livingston became the best TV news reporter. News reporters go where the wind takes them for work, like traveling circus performers, and they eventually all come to adopt a recognizable, universal baritone. Livingston, however, scrapped that — and the suits — for a different approach. The young star on Local 10 is known to rock a T-shirt while on camera or look dapper with a three-piece beige suit to complement his just-the-facts-ma’am storytelling with his segment “Leave It to Layron.” He can cut the stuffy air with a joke and a perfect smile that feels like he’s talking just to you. Having anchored in Texas, Ohio’s Miami, and now the Magic City, Livingston’s demeanor and style are perfectly fitting for these tropics.

Since 1980, WDNA has been airing “serious jazz” for South Florida audiences at 88.9 FM on the radio dial. You no longer have to be within the proximity of their antenna to appreciate the width and breadth of their programming, because they stream worldwide on their website now, wdna.org. They spin blues records, world music, and their bread and butter, all that jazz — from bebop to fusion to Latin. The public radio station provides a welcome relief to local airwaves dominated by Clear Channel crap and pop songs stuck on repeat. WDNA does so much for this city. It opens minds to a diversity of sounds, keeps us updated on the local jazz scene, and lets us know about touring artists that make it to our neck of the woods.

We figured it was about time Sarah Blaskey was recognized with this honor. Blaskey, who joined the Herald in 2018, quickly became a household name for topnotch investigative journalism in the Sunshine State. Since then, she and her colleagues have turned over figurative slimy rocks to uncover muck involving local public officials. (Take a bow, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez; your penchant for pricey parties and junkets and lucrative side gigs — including image-scrubbing for the Saudi Arabian government — make you the proverbial gift that keeps on giving to an investigative reporter.) Blaskey was part of the reporting teams that won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Champlain Towers South condo collapse in Surfside and a George Polk Award in the political reporting category for an investigation into the migrant airlifts to Martha’s Vineyard orchestrated by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. In journalism, though, it seems every silver lining has its cloud: As we were preparing this issue to go to press, Blaskey announced she would be leaving the Herald to take a job at the Washington Post.

When Miami Herald photojournalist Al Diaz reaches for a long lens, odds are the stunning images that follow will tell stories that words cannot. Diaz has been on multiple Herald teams that have won Pulitzer Prizes, including one in 2022 for coverage of the collapse of the Surfside Champlain Towers South condo that evoked horror around the nation. Diaz’s portfolio illustrates the impressive scale of his work and includes celebratory shots from the 2024 Super Bowl, helmet-crushing plays by the Dolphins, and a smile from Pope Francis. His work is also powerful, like when he captured an image of a person waving an upside-down American flag during a George Floyd protest in downtown Miami with a police cruiser in the backdrop in flames. When he isn’t working, Diaz takes life one click at a time. Last February, he spearheaded a two-day Chasing the Light expo in Miami that drew world-renowned photographers. And last year, Miami Dade College invited Diaz to be the guest of honor at the Kendall campus newsroom of the school newspaper, The Reporter. Immaculata-La Salle High School holds an annual student photography contest in honor of Diaz, a ’76 grad. Students who email Diaz increase their shutter speed when he replies. His signature line reads: “May the best shot be yours.”

Just as street artists have been graffiti-bombing abandoned skyscrapers in Los Angeles, Miami had its own derelict real estate turned into a canvas during Miami Art Week last year. Reportedly led by Atomik, famous for his smiling orange character, dozens of artists drew tags on the soon-to-be-demolished Vitas Healthcare building at One Bayfront Plaza. Unlike in L.A., where police have used helicopters to deter the taggers, stakeholders in Miami have celebrated the artists for turning an eyesore into a monument to the city’s street art culture. WLRN’s Colette Gaiter called them “major milestones” and the building’s owner even offered to sell the tagged artwork to the Museum of Graffiti. Say what you will about this city, but it certainly loves its intentional or unintentional public art.

There’s a fine line between cringe and cute — and unlike most TikTok couples, Braxton Berrios and Alix Earle are the latter. Berrios is a Miami Dolphins wide receiver, and Earle is a University of Miami grad who skyrocketed to TikTok fame with her Get Ready With Me (GRWM) videos (she currently boasts a whopping 6.6 million followers). A conventionally attractive, model-looking couple, it’s easy to see why people obsess over them. They’re like real-life Barbie and Ken dolls. But aside from being easy on the eyes, Berrios and Earle also seem to have an incredibly wholesome relationship, which they made official in November 2023. Earle often posts about quality time the duo spends with loved ones, like Berrios hosting the TikToker’s family and friends at his home for barbecues and sleepovers with Earle’s young siblings. Maybe it’s a big saccharine, but in a chaotic world, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a bit of light, hopeful, eye-candy content.

Hialeah council member Jesus Tundidor has a masterful way of maintaining his composure when people hit below the belt. Last November, former council member Bryan Calvo publicly attacked Tundidor’s family about a lawsuit against the city involving former Mayor Carlos Hernández and a 2019 police raid of their Hialeah strip club. A former salsa instructor, Tundidor showed he can take it on the chin while dancing toe-to-toe, and respectfully chided Calvo for speaking about his family — a no-no even in Miami political circles. That night, others agreed, and the Hialeah Council voted 6-to-1 to formally disapprove of Calvo’s “personal and political” agenda. When angry residents from Brownsville poured into City Hall last May and took aim at proposed annexation by Hialeah, Tundidor diffused tensions by letting everyone know they would work with the community. The proposal was later dropped. And during a raucous meeting last year about renaming Palm Avenue to Trump Avenue, Tundidor patiently let dissenters voice their opinions. Tundidor’s favorite quote wraps it up: “Tough times don’t last; tough people do.”

Kevin Escalera of Snack Eating Snacks is the TikToker to turn to when it comes to munching around the globe. He’s mastered the art of sharing in-depth food reviews and documenting every little thing he has ever consumed — whether in Miami, at a Costco in Spain, or a vending machine in L.A. Although he started documenting his adventures less than three years ago, his TikToks have garnered hundreds of thousands of views. Locally, he brought his followers on a full day of scarfing down food at Miami’s best Jamaican spots and has gone on the hunt for the best cookies in town. Plus, if you need travel inspo, he’s your guy, offering tips on where to chow down around the world. As his name implies, he started as a snack reviewer, so his snack reviews will leave you drooling for a lowly bag of kettle chips from an old-school vending machine.

Remember in January 2024, when eight-foot-tall aliens around Bayside Marketplace triggered a colossal police response? Or was that narrative just a crock of unabashed bullshit? We’re leaning toward the earthly explanation — that the cops were there to break up a crowd of unruly teenagers — though who’s to say for certain. Maybe some extraterrestrial interlopers needed fresh kicks from Foot Locker or, for reasons beyond human comprehension, wanted to buy a $10 pink pencil from Claire’s. In any event, conspiracy theories about the supposed otherworldly presence at Bayside gained traction, and the web was teeming with Miami mall alien memes, most of which, to be frank, were pretty damn lazy. One content creator actually put some effort into it, with a meme depicting his trademark alien-bro characters chillin’ at typical mall stores and shopping for clothes. You win, comedian and MTV Wild ‘N Out cast member Brent Pella. Your store names were inaccurate for Bayside, but your bit was better than the dime-a-dozen memes incorporating Giorgio Tsoukalos from Ancient Aliens.

Jimmy Butler is the master of the makeover on the NBA’s media day. Well aware that his headshots from the day will be plastered to his player profile in TV broadcasts, Butler shows up with cheeky hairdos and odd fashion choices designed to make fans do a double-take. After sporting fake bleached dreadlocks in 2022, Butler arrived in glorious emo style this year with flat-ironed hair draped over his statuesque features, lip and eyebrow piercings (authenticity unverified), and black nail polish. “Yeah, laugh it up,” Butler said upon taking the stage at a press conference, seemingly trying to contain a prankster’s grin. When asked about the new look, he professed, “This is my emotional state. I’m one with my emotions.”

Miamians finally understood the pride of punk legitimacy when Iggy Pop became the gem resident in our rock-star crown more than 20 years ago. South Florida is fortunate to have a new musical legend living in our midst, at least part-time. And this 65-year-old is repping the city as hard as, and you better believe it, DJ Khaled. Noise innovator Thurston Moore, formerly of genre-shifting experimental band Sonic Youth, has returned to the city where he was born (in Doctor’s Hospital) to winter. And he really likes it here! The chapter in his 2023 biography, Sonic Life, about his time as a kid living in his mom’s hometown of Coral Gables will have you choked up with nostalgia for this tropical paradise. Moore has been lurking around town for more than a decade, attending Miami Heat games and the International Noise Conference run by his friend, noise-rock elder Rat Bastard (Frank Falestra). He’s also been conspicuous on Instagram, heavily promoting shows led by Seafoam Walls or Las Nubes — both signed to his Daydream Library Series/Ecstatic Peace label. Having Moore around is “100%” a “Kool Thing” for a city with a rock scene that’s too often overlooked.

Once dubbed “Miami’s NIL King,” Ruiz was a darling of the early name-image-and-likeness (NIL) era for college athletes. The attorney and entrepreneur was one of the most prominent athletic supporters of his alma mater, the University of Miami, and sunk $14 million into NIL deals for more than 160 athletes across the country. However, his fall from grace was quick. After taking his company MSP Recovery (AKA LifeWallet) public with a $32 billion valuation in 2022, its stock suddenly collapsed. He subsequently ran into trouble after UM’s women’s basketball team learned that he invited two recruits, the famed Cavinder twins, to his home for dinner (the team was sanctioned by the NCAA). Now, Ruiz and LifeWallet are under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice over the company’s algorithms and other issues — on top of the company reporting a net loss of a whopping $835 million last year. Whew!

This Barby is not like the other Barbie. This one is an accused insurrectionist. Barbara “Barby” Balmaseda, a 23-year-old from Miami Lakes, was arrested in December for allegedly storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, alongside members of the far-right Proud Boys. In the months following the insurrection, online sleuths zeroed in on the former Florida International University student and GOP strategist — whom they dubbed “#PinkGaiterPBG” — after she was photographed inside the U.S. Capitol sporting a baseball cap with an American flag and a black-and-pink gaiter. Notably, she was caught in photos alongside Proud Boys Gabriel Garcia and Ethan Nordean, who also face charges connected to the riot. Balmaseda interned for U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio between 2018 and 2019, worked as an organizer on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2018 campaign, and served as campaign manager for Ileana Garcia’s controversial 2020 Florida Senate race. She also previously served as the director-at-large for Miami Young Republicans.

In many ways, Logan Sargeant is like your typical South Floridian: He roots for the Miami Dolphins, enjoys fishing, and loves Cafe Martorano. But unlike most locals, he happens to be one of the greatest racing drivers on the planet. Born in Fort Lauderdale, the 23-year-old moved to Europe as a teenager to pursue his racing dreams. He made a splash in the Formula 2 championship, where he secured three podium finishes in 2022, and made his Formula 1 debut with the British F1 team Williams Racing in March 2023 at the Bahrain Grand Prix, where he finished 12th. In December, Williams Racing announced that Sargeant will remain with the team for the 2024 Formula 1 season. He now lives in West London — more than 4,000 miles from his sunny hometown — where he rents a modest apartment and drives around in a tiny Vauxhall Astra.

Though the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami has come under fire for alleged censorship, it shouldn’t dull the importance of what curator Gean Moreno does at this Design District museum. His thought-provoking shows shine a light on under-recognized artists of the Caribbean and African diaspora. He brought the colorful works of Grenada native and dub-reggae painter Denzil Forrester and politically minded 79-year-old conceptual artist Charles Gaines into the Miami to the local stage. He has also shepherded important books on artists like Carlos Alfonzo, Belkis Ayón, and Juan Francisco Elso and enriched the local arts scene through events and exhibitions as co-director of local press [NAME] Publications.

RuPaul’s Drag Race is an international stage for the enchanting art of drag. This season featured not one but two Miami girls! Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige and Morphine Love Dion set the stage on fire with unforgettable lip-synchs. While Florida was the butt of many jokes in reference to a certain governor’s anti-drag rhetoric and homophobic and transphobic policies, Le’Paige and Dion gave a reassuring face and voice to the state’s queer community. Not only did the two queens bring their personalities and talents to the world, but they also spotlighted the amazing drag of South Florida. There’s been a divide between being a “Ru Girl” and a “Local Girl,” but Le’Paige and Dion prove that you can be both at once — and look incredible doing it.

From her work at the Third Horizon Film Festival and producing the award-winning short film T, Monica Sorelle has been a filmmaker on the rise. The Miami-born Haitian-American hit a new peak in her career with the release of her first feature, Mountains. Sorelle is again securing much-deserved awards and acclaim, including a Someone to Watch Award from the Independent Spirit Awards. Tapped-in Miamians already had an eye on Sorelle and her work, but now a wider audience can discover her immense talents. After an impressive festival tour, Mountains finally made its Miami debut at the Miami Film Festival, where it earned the Made in MIA Feature Film Award. The specificity of Sorelle’s exploration of displacement and alienation as it relates to the diasporic experience in Miami is a marvel. Fortunately, this gifted artist is sharing that story with the rest of the world through film.

With her 2024 documentary Razing Liberty Square, director Katja Esson zooms in on the complex and devastating consequences of climate gentrification in Liberty City, a historically Black, under-resourced Miami neighborhood. She captures the entirety of a $300 million mixed-income development project in Liberty Square, previously the oldest segregated public housing project in the U.S. Located eight miles inland from the beach and on a ridge twelve feet above sea level, it’s become a very attractive plot of land for wealthy developers. Razing Liberty Square is a fierce investigation into the disproportionate effects of climate change on Black communities. The film highlights the struggles of community members who face demolition, displacement, and rightful distrust in their local government.

Miami locals know too well the confusing mix of love and hate they feel toward the city where they live. Chris Molina’s debut feature, Fallen Fruit, captures those contradictions beautifully. Named Miami New Times’ Best Film Director in 2022, Molina follows a 20-something going through a quarter-life crisis when an impending hurricane forces him to evaluate his life. The only thing more Miami than its synopsis is Fallen Fruit‘s production. Supported by a 2023 Oolite Arts Cinematic Arts Residency, this micro-budget feature is the product of local filmmakers and local love. Not only does the character rediscover the unique charms of the Magic City, but the film is a fantastic showcase of our filmmaking community. After three sold-out screenings at the Miami Film Festival and OUTshine Film Festival, Fallen Fruit is poised to show everyone the real Miami.

From crackdowns on password sharing and ever-increasing subscription fees, the sheen of the streaming revolution is fading fast. If you’re bored on the couch and endlessly scrolling, AV Club 16mm is the antidote to your stasis. This innovative film series is the brainchild of librarian Katharine Labuda. It makes use of the Miami-Dade Public Library’s extensive collection of 16mm films, bringing forgotten films and filmmakers — like Homer Groening, the father of The Simpsons‘ creator — to new audiences. It’s refreshing to cede control and let Labuda thoughtfully curate an audio-visual feast. Each event feels special, with unique presentations at cool spots across the city, from the New Schnitzel House to the downtown branch of Miami-Dade Public Library. With the budgets and resources of local libraries shrinking, it feels hopeful to see this fascinating archive given new life.

O Cinema has been at the center of film culture in South Florida since its inception. From its first location in Wynwood, its efforts to showcase the art of film — and the fun of film — soon helped it become a mini-chain, bringing indie flicks to Miami Shores and North Miami Beach, too. Under the stewardship of Vivian Marthell, it continues to challenge, entertain, and educate with the silver screen. Now, with one location housed in the former Miami Beach Cinematheque, O Cinema offers beach-goers and film nerds an intimate oasis, removed from the chaos of Washington Avenue. There it fosters the film community with curated selections, VR/AR experiences, and special series, like Sing-Along Sundays and collaborations with Flaming Classics that pair queer classics with live drag queens.

The Regal Dania Pointe’s 4DX cinema experience is big, brash, and all-encompassing — it’s nothing like your couch. A cross between a movie theater and an amusement park ride, 4DX comes with a safety warning: Enter at your own risk. Combining state-of-the-art projection and sound with moving seats, specialty lighting, water effects, and even smells, 4DX creates a totally immersive experience. Developed in South Korea, this new technology is considered the biggest innovation in theatrical exhibition in decades. See? The 4DX theater experience at Regal Dania Pointe crushes your couch in every way. So get up and go feel the sands shift beneath you as you trudge your way through Dune: Part 2.

Think Miami is a philistine, unlettered backwater town? Think again, friends. Miami’s quarterly Islandia Journal proves otherwise. This unapologetically eccentric journal has a wealth of locally authored prose, poetry, and visual art that paints a lush picture of the myths behind this swamp and the ecology of the land itself. It’s dedicated to the more esoteric side of Florida and the Caribbean — its untapped histories, legends, folklore, cryptozoology, and the paranormal. If you ask us, it’s about time that the skunk ape and chupacabra got more love in print. Islandia‘s digital library has plenty of captivating ephemera, and following them on Instagram is a must for more archival weirdness.

Have you ever picked up a book and thought to yourself, “Why hasn’t this been done before?” Many Miamians will think just that when they see the bright orange cover of Ventanitas: A Window Into Miami’s Coffee Culture. Oddly enough, author Daniela Perez was studying abroad in London when she was inspired to write a book on the unique culture surrounding coffee windows in Miami. The idea for a book was later picked up by Miami’s poetry people, O, Miami, when photographer Gesi Schilling joined the project. Schilling ventured out, presumably cafecito in hand, to capture stunning portraits of the city’s favorite ventanitas. Published earlier this year, Ventanitas is quite literally the perfect coffee table book about coffee.

Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami founder Pedro Pablo Peña has offered safe haven more than once to dancers fleeing Cuba. He himself arrived in Miami on the 1980 Mariel boatlift. In fact, his company’s season finale at the Fillmore Miami Beach this year featured four Cuban dancers who left the National Ballet of Cuba while visiting Puerto Rico. When Peña formed his company in 2006, it was to preserve the style of Cuban ballet outside the island. His openness to deserters seeking a better life in the U.S. has been a great gain for Miami audiences. And many go on to work with the country’s top ballet companies. Peña’s company also draws in dancers from other countries around the world for the celebrated International Ballet Festival of Miami.

It may come as a shock, but South Florida’s best museum is, in fact, not even in the Miami-Dade County. Between shows that explore important artists and movements like color-field painting (“Glory of the World”) and ones that showcase the largesse of the region’s local artists (“Future Past Perfect”), NSU Art Museum in downtown Fort Lauderdale shines. It offers the type of ambitious programming that other area institutions should strive for.

Moving her home-hosted gallery to a dedicated space on the growing art corridor of NW 22nd Street in Allapattah has only boosted Katia David Rosenthal’s largesse as the most dominant dealer in town. The move made national news, securing her gallery as a “must-see” in Miami. Her slate of artists includes some of the most fun, funky, and buzzed-about in Miami, including Joel Gaitan, Susan Kim Alvarez, and Alejandro Piñeiro Bello, all of whom earned museum showings last year with art that impressed as much as it amused.

With the best art out of all the major fairs and the most enjoyable, laid-back atmosphere, NADA Miami was the place to be during Miami Art Week in 2023. The fair, run by the New York-based New Art Dealers Alliance, offers the best balance between high quality and reasonable prices — for those actually buying art — and its support of rising Miami galleries is also notable. This past year, KDR, homework, and PRIMARY all exhibited at the fair, while previous participants, Dále Zine, debuted their mini-truck mobile bookshop two years ago.

Not everyone can pull off a Dope Tavio creation, but that’s kind of the point. Created by designer Octavio Aguilar, the line juxtaposes the casual ease of streetwear with the complexity of the avant-garde. Filtered through an influential combination of ’90s club kid and early hip-hop, Aguilar’s genderless garments stun and elate. Worn by stylish divas like Erykah Badu and Janet Jackson and drag and burlesque performers Raja Gemini and Carmen Carrera, Dope Tavio is custom-made and one-of-a-kind. Aguilar earned a stamp of approval from legendary stylist and Sex and the City costume designer Patricia Field, who stocks Dope Tavio in her fashion-art hybrid ARTFashion Gallery in New York City. Featured at New York Fashion Week and in countless editorials for glossy magazines like Vogue and L’Officiel, Aguilar is a master of wearable art.

When it comes to photography, framing is arguably everything. Miami-based photographer Ian O’Connor is a master when it comes to placing his subjects in just the right spot before he captures the moment on film. His subjects are famously inanimate objects like colored paper, bouncing balls, or tree trunks. His works are not only visibly beautiful, but their power goes beyond what you see to make you feel something. Well-respected and well-known, you’ll probably run into O’Connor at any given art opening around town supporting his community. One of his photographs from his “Transcend” series is up at Miami International Airport as part of its permanent collection.

Graphic designer Juan Mejía is one-third of the Jezebel collective, which aims to promote a sustainable, inclusive, hyper-local dance scene here in Miami. But we’re obsessed with his eye-catching, rave-influenced style. His efforts designing posters and artwork for parties and musicians across the country continue to draw in crowds. Now based in New York, where he holds down residencies at Newtown Radio and regular gigs at the city’s hottest clubs under the name Liquid J, he frequently visits Miami and continues to serve clients here. We expect his design for the “final” Miami Ass Party (Best of Miami’s Best Party 2024 winner) to become a collector’s item someday.

Developers might be dead set on bulldozing Miami’s past, but local illustrator Melissa Gutierrez is here to make sure our collective living memories of it remain intact. Her charming “Westofchester” illustration series offers authentic pangs of nostalgia for anyone who grew up with classic Miami spots like El Palacio de Los Jugos, Ñooo Que Barato, and Navarro Discount Pharmacy as psychogeographical landmarks. Gutierrez recently illustrated the cover of one of our issues featuring a joint-toking rooster bro making the scene on Calle Ocho — a perfect example of her finely tuned aesthetic sense of what is uniquely Miamian.

Lush with iridescent, Fauvist color schemes and fluidic technique, Alejandro Piñeiro Bello‘s paintings practically drip off the canvas. You can almost feel the humidity and pressure as you pick out the surreal, mythical motifs hidden within. The Cuban-born artist had an exceptional 2023, debuting work at NSU Art Museum, KDR Gallery, and the Rubell Museum, where two of his monumental canvases currently hang.

How would you decorate a skate park in the middle of the Everglades? Probably with a mural featuring incredibly precious, humorous depictions of local animals like Florida panthers and gators on skateboards and roller skates in tropical shades of green, right? Well, that’s exactly what poet, artist, and activist Houston R. Cypress, prolific Miami artist Brian Butler, and a group of Miccosukee youths conceived of and created at Trail Skate Park. While the mural is new, the park was launched in 2020 at the Miccosukee government headquarters community center. Cypress, who is from the Otter Clan of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, spearheaded the project with support from artist-run presenting organization Bas Fisher Invitational and nonprofit Love the Everglades Movement. What resulted is a whimsical place for locals to shred and marvel at how creativity is so key to building community. Feel it for yourself. Trail Skate Park is open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays, sunup to sundown.