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N MIAMI CONDO NEWS — All About Condo Living in the Magic City — Edited by Heinz Dinter, PhD |
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Performing arts center gets millions — and a new name
Carnival, which earlier had given the center $10 million for the naming rights to the concert hall, contributed an additional $10 million and received the naming rights for the entire center, now dubbed the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts. The Knight Foundation, which had awarded more than $3 million in grants to the center, contributed about $7 million more and received the naming rights to the symphony hall, now named the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall. The Sanford & Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House will keep its name, bestowed after a $10 million gift from the South Florida philanthropists for which it is named. The gifts were announced at a 10 a.m. press conference this morning. Sherwood “Woody” Weiser, chairman of the MPAC Foundation, which raises private dollars for the center, hailed the two donors as paragons of civic philanthropy. “I don’t think anybody has given more to this community than the Knight Foundation and Carnival,” Weiser said. “Miami is coming of age. It’s no longer a sun and sand city.” Howard Frank, Carnival’s chief operating officer, said the cruise line’s relationship with the center dates back to about 1991, when company founder Ted Arison first pledged $10 million to the center. The latest gift was affirmed this spring over a tuna salad lunch with Frank, Weiser and Carnival CEO Mickey Arison. “We all felt it was important to get the performing arts center off to a good start from a financial standpoint,” Frank said, adding that the company’s board wrestled with the notion of such a prominent endeavor. In the past, Carnival has given to groups like the New World Symphony, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the United Way and Camillus House — without much fanfare. “Our philanthropy has been quiet philanthropy. Our corporate style has been quiet,” he said. “That was one of the things we considered.” Ultimately, Carnival’s board decided the center’s visibility made it worthwhile. “It gives recognition to Carnival and its employees,” Frank said. “I think this is the first time we’ve ever done something where we truly put our name out there.” The names John S. and James L. Knight are well known in Miami, the brothers having owned and operated the Miami Herald and given to countless local causes. Among their legacies is the Knight Foundation, whose commitment to the center dates back to 1995 and includes numerous grants in support of the center’s building campaign and artistic initiatives, such as the Merce Cunningham retrospective planned for early 2007. “We wanted to ensure that not only would the performing arts center get off on the right foot … but that the programming would be supported as well,” said Alberto Ibargüen, president of the Knight Foundation and former publisher of The Miami Herald. Ibargüen added that the foundation shares with Carnival a desire to improve the community. “There’s a commonality of purpose, of goals, of ambitions for Miami that we have with Carnival,” he said. In Miami, the Knight Foundation has awarded more than 1,000 grants worth more than $155 million since 1950. “This is easily our biggest grant ever in Miami,” he said. Weiser said he hoped the two gifts would encourage others to follow suit, as is often the case in philanthropy. “People are inspired by people they admire or want to be admired by — and also their own feelings about the cause,” Weiser said. Ibargüen added that even Ted Arison and John S. and James L. Knight began giving “in the thousands” before graduating to multi-million dollar donations. Michael Hardy, president and CEO of the center, stressed that the gifts also lent legitimacy to the $446.3 million project, which has been criticized in the past for construction delays and a $102.1 million cost overrun. “They serve to really validate the concept of a public-private partnership,” he said, “not just because of the size of the gifts but because of the reputations of the donors.” Carnival and the Knight Foundation’s gifts bring the performing arts center’s private fundraising tally to $83.7 million, of which about $50 million will be paid to the county for construction costs. The remainder will be paid for with public monies primarily derived from Miami-Dade County hotel tax revenues and the City of Miami’s Community Redevelopment Agency. As the center nears its scheduled completion date of August 4, private fundraising has picked up its pace, said Al Milano, the center’s chief fundraiser. In the past two years, Milano said, the Miami Performing Arts Center Foundation has raised about $32 million, or 40 percent of its goal. But as fundraising improves, an old concern is likely to arise regarding South Florida’s philanthropic limits. In the past, the center’s private fundraising was a cause for consternation among its resident companies — the Concert Association of Florida, the Florida Grand Opera, the Miami City Ballet and the New World Symphony. The resident companies are all cultural nonprofits that rely on individual and corporate donations to make up as much as one third to one half of their annual budgets. Some representatives of the resident companies had worried that the center’s fundraising would siphon money from their own campaigns. Mike Eidson, chairman of the board of the Miami City Ballet, said he is certain that the center’s fundraising for building and operations has cut into the ballet’s efforts. “It’s very logical that the performing arts center is competing with the resident companies,” he said. “We have a limited number of philanthropists who live in our community and donate to our community. “So it’s just logical to think you’re losing out on some of those people.” But Eidson said he is resigned to that circumstance and now hopes that the center will provide the ballet with an opportunity to grow its audience — and donor base — with bigger, better performances. “The performing arts center is a positive for the Miami City Ballet,” Eidson said. “The fact that we have to compete for donors is something that’s going to make us be better at presenting our case. “It’s bad in the sense that some of the money that would have gone to us is going there,” he said. “But it will be a beautiful place to perform. We will be able to bring in a bigger audience that will make bigger donations.” In fact, the ballet already has attracted a new corporate sponsor, U.S. Trust, a New York City financial institution with a Miami office. “We would not have gotten that gift if we were not going to the performing arts center,” Eidson said. Milano said he’s heard the concerns from resident companies before. But he believes that South Florida’s philanthropic potential has yet to be exhausted. Center fundraisers have approached local and international corporations, full-time and seasonal residents, foundations and other sources. “We’ve really done well across the board,” Milano said. “I think corporate Miami has stepped up. Among the local foundations I think we’ve done very well.” “People who care about the live performing arts without a doubt have come forward,” he said. “We have about 3,500 members and they’re all fairly high end. Just in memberships we’ve raised $3.5 million through Alliance for MPAC.” But Milano considers real estate developers among the region’s untapped donor sources. “You could write a list as long as your arm for all the developers who advertise that their buildings are in walking distance of the performing arts center,” he said, “and you can count on one hand the number of developers who have contributed.” The short list: Terra Group has given the center $1 million; local real estate broker Edie Laquer has given about $300,000. There’s still time for real estate developers and others to step forward, though. Milano said fundraising will continue through the center’s October 5 gala grand opening, and he’s hoping others will want to follow the example set by the Knight Foundation and Carnival Corporation. Source: www.MiamiHerald.com.
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