Friday
- St. Pat's Wynwood at Wynwood Alley at Mana: Forget your last few St Patrick's Days (if you can remember them to begin with) and debauch with throngs of kelly-green-bedecked college kids at St. Pat's Wynwood. Last year's party-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow attracted more than 20,000 revelers for green beer and leprechauns, and this year stands to attract an even larger crowd through arts and crafts, food trucks, DJs, and Jameson Irish whiskey. You'll invoke the true luck of the Irish when you black out and wake up somewhere other than a street corner.
- TEDx of CoconutGrove 2017: Escape at Ransom Everglades School: Even though we live in a place most people escape to, there's still plenty we want to escape from: our parents' houses, for example, or our acknowledgment of the impending effects of climate change. The independently organized TEDx of Coconut Grove was inspired by the original TED format to start its own series of short talks, and this round is all about that need to run away. Speakers range from TV hosts to best-selling authors to professional educators, so there's guaranteed to be plenty of knowledge to go around. Stick around afterward for a Tasting Village with local eateries.
- Koresh Dance Company at Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts: If modern dance sounds like something your awkward cousin tried in his trying-to-find-himself phase, you might not have gotten a great first impression. But the Koresh Dance Company dancers are professionals, and watching 25 years' worth of choreography will convince you of this art form's merit. As a testament to the company's diverse work, this anniversary program is cherry-picking from more than 60 pieces created by founder Ronen Koresh. A new collaborative effort with Paul D. Miller (AKA DJ Spooky) will also be featured, and a postshow conversation with Miller, Koresh, and the company is scheduled for Friday.
- Omni Park Grand Opening: Dade's newest green space debuts with a ribbon-cutting at 5:30 p.m., followed by festivities including live music by Roosevelt Collier and Derek Fairholm Trio; DJs Mr Pauer and Benton on the decks; and food and happy-hour drinks.
- FemmeFest Tenth Anniversary at Churchill's Pub: We should be celebrating women every single day, but in this America, we’re lucky to get a month to reflect on female accomplishments. The tenth-annual FemmeFest is doing just that with a daylong event at Churchill’s Pub featuring poets, artists, vendors, political activist speakers, and more than 20 bands. The rules? Respect women. The attire? Feel free to bring your pro-lady signs, and don’t forget your pussyhats.
- Global Cuba Fest at Miami-Dade County Auditorium: The Global Cuba festival has showcased talent from the island and its émigrés across the world for ten years. To celebrate a decade of artistic and cultural exchange, FUNDarte is throwing a party with world-class performers, including Carlos Puig and Érnan López Nussa. Closing the night is the Madrid-based band Picadillo, whose name not only induces flashbacks of a Miami childhood but also speaks to the influence of traditional Cuban music on the group's work.
Crate Diggers Record Fair: See Saturday.
Gramps
- Code Art Miami at Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus: On average, women make up less than a third of the STEM workforce in the U.S., and this is directly related to how girls are received in science and technology classrooms. To create a supportive community and promote girls' participation in computer technology, Code Art Miami organizes an annual showcase of digital artwork, along with a coding competition for girls in grades 3 through 12.
- Crate Diggers Record Fair and Afterparty at Gramps: Typically, you score the best records from your aunt’s basement, an old guy’s yard sale, or your last trip to San Francisco, but Gramps’ Crate Diggers Record Fair aims to change that. Thanks to the bar’s daylong event presented by Discogs, you can get prized vinyl from more than 30 vendors right in Wynwood, to the soundtrack of experienced DJs. Crate Diggers will be followed by a wild late-night afterparty.
- 19th-Annual Medical Marijuana Benefit Concert at the Wynwood Yard: Two things you can always count on to bring the party: marijuana and Trick Daddy. Both will be in the spotlight at the 19th-annual Medical Marijuana Benefit Concert, presented by Ploppy Palace, Modern Galaxy TV, and NORML of Florida. Activism, pot, and amazing music that also includes live acts Grind Mode, Telekinetic Walrus, Tamboka, and Nag Champayons are certain to sway a few minds to support legalizing the use of weed to help those with legit health conditions.
- 12th-Annual Jazz in the Gardens Music Festival at Hard Rock Stadium: Jazz in the Gardens reaches beyond the ambitions of a music festival. This year, a poetry contest and film, music, and art conference accompany LL Cool J, Jill Scott, and Common in gracing the fair city of Miami Gardens. Though a lineup of superstars is sure to attract the most attention, the poetry finals nod to the historical ties between jazz and poetry, and the conference allows established and emerging Miami artists to rub elbows and trade secrets.
- South Beach Photomarathon at Miami Beach Botanical Garden: Photo nerds with big hearts will be pleased to know they can pair their love of the camera and do-gooder ways for the 12th South Beach Photomarathon. The Tropicolor fundraiser benefits Fotomission Kids, a photography program for children with cancer. Participants will pay a nominal fee and be assigned six topics to shoot on the beach for five hours.
- Rebirth of a Nation at Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts: DJ Spooky is someone who brought spinning to the level of artistry. His multimedia film project, Rebirth of a Nation, deconstructs the racist 1915 film by the same name through DJ tricks. He will apply his turntable savvy to cinema, remixing the terrible views of the past at the Arsht Center’s Peacock Foundation Studio. If ever there were an apt time to examine revisionist history, it’s 2017.
- The Nerve Performance Art Festival 2017 at FATVillage Projects: Performance art – there's nothing more delightfully weird and thought-provoking, which is why it's worth a bit of a hike to witness it in its full glory. The Nerve is in its second year of presenting genre-bending live art from artists of all stripes and types. This year's festival includes 22 performances from 48 performers spread over three nights and five venues in Fort Lauderdale.
