FIU gets $10 million arts gift

Florida International University’s arts program will have a home in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood starting next year, funded by a donation worth $10 million from developer Moishe Mana. The program will be known as FIU CARTA (College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts) @ Mana Wynwood.

The gift is a $2.5 million donation and the in-kind use of 15,000 square feet of studio and lab space for architecture, design, art and communications students within Mana Wynwood, a 30-acre mixed-use development.

FIU CARTA @ Mana Wynwood will aim to attract visiting artists and designers from around the globe. It will offer FIU students and the community a variety of teaching opportunities, exhibitions, lectures, charrettes and master classes, as well as creative and research activities.

Mana’s donation will support programming, professional staff, student travel and scholarships, the university said last week. The gift will also fund two-year fellowships for Mana Innovation Fellows to work as artists-in-residence at Mana Wynwood.

“Not only do our students benefit from this exceptional opportunity to be immersed in Wynwood, but the local community will also be enriched by the innovation and creativity that emerges as a direct result of this historic partnership,” said CARTA Dean Brian Schriner.

The program will occupy temporary space at 2217 NW Fifth Ave. in Mana Wynwood beginning next June, with occupancy and classes starting as soon as fall semester 2017. The college will occupy a custombuilt 15,000-square-foot space on the new Mana Wynwood campus upon full construction of the site in three to five years.

“We see this investment as the start of a mutually beneficial collaboration that will bring in more partners from around the world,” Mana said. “Our ultimate goal is to ensure that Miami and the Wynwood Arts District remain globally relevant in the contemporary world of artistic and creative visionaries.”

In 2015, CARTA opened the Miami Beach Urban Studios (MBUS) on Lincoln Road, with design, gallery and performance space and the CARTA Innovation Lab.