Cultural shift
An arty tour of Miami The gallery and museum landscape is especially vibrant, spurred on by Art Basel Miami Beach and the emergence of the Design District and the Wynwood Art District in the early 2000s. In North Miami, the Museum of Contemporary Art draws serious art lovers with mixed-media pieces, video art and sculpture, plus a Friday night jazz series.
Miami Beach is home to the Bass, a newly renovated contemporary art museum with a terrific café. Across Biscayne Bay is the Pérez Art Museum, which opened in 2013 and houses rotating exhibits in a striking, 120,000-squarefoot building. Next door is the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, a sprawling, three-theatre complex whose resident companies include the Miami City Ballet and the Florida Grand Opera.
The Arsht Center also hosts the Cleveland Orchestra for a twoweekend winter residency. Though the dissolution of the Florida Philharmonic in 2003 left Miami without a full-time professional orchestra, the city is home to some creative upstarts including the Nu Deco Ensemble, whose recent season comprised modern classical repertoire and pop arrangements.