Much to Celebrate!

The Culture Edit, September 21st-October 5th

Author

Susan Bannon
September 21, 2025

Miami’s arts community has been celebrating this weekend! That’s because, thanks to overwhelming support from patrons and culture lovers throughout the city, our county commissioners voted on Thursday to restore funding for the arts and our nationally-recognized Department of Cultural Affairs. Whew! A huge thank you to all of you that signed the petition and showed your support.

More news to celebrate: the Freedom Tower reopened, just in time for its 100th birthday, with lovingly restored architectural details, new immersive exhibits, and a recreation of its 1960’s Refugee Center.

And if cars are your thing, you’ll want to get yourself over to the Miami Beach Convention Center, where the annual Miami International Auto Show is opening on Friday.

Let’s get planning...

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Monday, September 22nd

Hambre: Screening with Director Q&A

O Cinema presents a special screening of Hambre, a tragicomic story of life in today’s Venezuela, with a post-film discussion with writer/director Joanna Nelson. The film depicts the agonizing “do I stay or do I go?” decision facing every single Venezuelan through a romance between two characters with opposing views. In Spanish with English subtitles.

7pm, O Cinema South Beach, $12-$14

Neighborhood: South Beach

Wednesday, September 24th

Subtropic: Max Strang at Mayfair

Books & Books hosts award-winning architect Max Strang at Mayfair House to discuss Subtropic, a gorgeous new monograph on the work of his namesake firm, STRANG. Internationally recognized for championing Florida modernism, STRANG’s invariably stunning projects center our unique climate and Floridian sensibilities. That this discussion will be in the garden at Mayfair House, Coconut Grove’s 1980’s tropical modernist gem, is just icing on the cake.

5:30pm, Mayfair House Hotel & Garden, Free

Neighborhood: Coconut Grove

Thursday, September 25th

Voloshyn Gallery presents Proxies, a new exhibition by Szuper Gallery, the long-term collaboration between artists Susanne Clausen (Germany/UK) and Pavlo Kerestey (Ukraine/Germany). For this show, the two artists combine video, drawing, painting, and hand-crafted puppets to explore how art can respond to war and displacement. 

6-8pm, Voloshyn Gallery, Free

Neighborhood: Allapattah

Also on September 25th:

  • Miami City Ballet’s Artistic Director and Principal Dancers host a behind-the-scenes discussion and sneak peak of their upcoming Peck: Miami in Motion performance, at 5:30pm at 1-800-LUCKY.

  • The FilmGate Miami Music Video Festival, showcasing work by local filmmakers, screens at the Miami Beach Bandshell at 6pm (promo code: FUNKY20 for 20% off).

  • The Bass Museum celebrates two new solo exhibits, by artists Sarah Crowner and Jack Pierson, featuring new commissions from both, with an artists’ reception from 6-9pm.

Friday, September 26th

Vince Mendoza & The Henry Mancini Orchestra

UM’s Frost School of Music welcomes multi-Grammy award-winning composer and arranger Vince Mendoza and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra for an evening of Mendoza’s high energy big-band and orchestral pieces. At the forefront of jazz and contemporary music for the last 30 years, Mendoza has collaborated with artists from Björk to Gregory Porter and Sting, racking up eight Grammy’s and thirty-eight nominations for his big-band sound that bursts with brass and rhythm.

7:30pm, UM’s Gusman Concert Hall, $15-$40

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Also on September 26th:

  • Los Amigos Invisibles bring their annual Latin-funk party to the Miami Beach Bandshell, with a new album out but plenty of their classics like Mentiras, at 8pm.

Saturday, September 27th

Papou: Sun Bleached

Spinello Projects celebrates the opening of Sun Bleached, the first Miami solo gallery exhibit by South Florida-native artist Papou. This new body of vibrant, large-scale paintings reflects the artist’s experience growing up around here - dolphins, palm shadows, bubble gum, the smell of chlorine after a day at the pool - and her personal symbolism, including a recurring chicken that represents her inner voice. How Miami is that?

6-9pm, Spinello Projects, Free

Neighborhood: Allapattah

Also on September 27th:

  • Coral Gables Art Cinema presents a screening of Naked Ambition (see below) followed by a Q&A with directors Kareem Tabsch & Dennis Scholl, at 1pm.

  • The newly expanded Underline celebrates the opening of OurMarket in its open-air market space in Coconut Grove with Underline Jazz, from 6-8pm.

  • Dot Fifty-One Gallery celebrates the opening of Atlantis, a photographic revelation of the lost city by Argentinian artist Gabriel Valansi, from 6-9pm.

  • City Theatre Miami presents HOMEGROWN, a series of staged readings of new work from Miami’s most exciting emerging playwrights, at the Arsht Center at 7:30pm.

Sunday, September 28th

Naked Ambition: Screening with Director Q&A

Coral Gables Art Cinema hosts a special screening of Naked Ambition, a new documentary on groundbreaking pin-up photographer Bunny Yeager, followed by a Q&A with co-director Kareem Tabsch. “The World’s Prettiest Photographer,” Yeager literally defined the look of sex appeal for mid-century America, making icons of both herself and legendary pin-up’s like Betty Page. Naked Ambition chronicles her artistic vision and the “anti-smut” backlash that hounded her career (check out the trailer here).

3:30pm, Coral Gables Art Cinema, $16

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Also on September 28th:

Happening NEXT Week:

Because maybe your friends are busy this week. Or you're busy this week. Or this week just seems too soon to pull your act together and make a plan.

Thursday, October 2nd

An Evening with John J. Lennon & Andrew Boryga

Books & Books hosts a conversation between award-winning author Andrew Boryga and incarcerated journalist John J. Lennon, who will be dialing in from prison to discuss his new book, The Tragedy of True Crime. Convicted of killing a man on a Brooklyn street in 2001, and sentenced to 28 years to life, Lennon became an nationally recognized journalist behind bars. His new book is a first-person journalistic account of the lives of four other men convicted of murder. Moderator Boryga is a Bronx-born, Miami-based author whose debut novel, Victim, was a New York Times Editor’s Choice pick for 2024.

7pm, Books & Books Coral Gables, Free

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Friday, October 1st

SAXYN Dance Works: Seolh

New York-based SAXYN Dance Works presents Seolh, a contemporary dance-theater work based on Scottish tales of the “selkies” - mythical sea creatures, half woman, half seal - who can live for a while with a man on land, but eventually return to wildness and the sea. Set to an original score composed and sung by Bre Short, the work evokes haunting feelings of long-ago memories and identities lost.

7:30pm, The Moss Center, $47

Neighborhood: Cutler Bay

Nearby Eats: Not much! Grab dinner at Platea or Golden Rule Seafood on your way down there and have some rooftop cocktails at Ivy Rooftop or martinis at Fox’s on your way back.

Saturday, October 4th

New World Symphony Season Opener

New World Symphony kicks off its 38th season with a salute to revolutionaries! Artistic Director Stéphane Denève conducts the New World Fellows in works dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, and Napoleon Bonaparte. The latter work is of course Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony (Symphony No. 3), one of classical music’s most celebrated works, and alas, an object lesson in how our idols let us down. (After Napoleon declared himself Emperor, Beethoven reportedly tore the dedication page of this work to pieces.) *Saturday’s performance will be projected for a free WALLCAST concert in adjacent Soundscape park.

7:30pm Saturday, 2pm Sunday, New World Center, $40-$175

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

Nearby Eats: Casa Tua, Blue Ribbon Sushi, Joe’s Pizza NYC | Drinks: Sweet Liberty, Water Lion at the Sagamore

Also on October 4th:

Sunday, October 5th

National Theatre Live: Inter Alia

Coral Gables Art Cinema presents a National Theatre Live recording of Oscar-nominated actress Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl, Saltburn) in Inter Alia, the hit play currently running on the London stage. Pike plays Jessica, a loving wife, mother, and smart Crown Court Judge at the top of her career. When an unforeseen event threatens to upend her life, can she hold it all together? You can check out the trailer here.

2pm, Coral Gables Art Cinema, $20

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Also on October 5th:

Planning Ahead:

Miami's most anticipated events sell out and those new restaurants you want to try book up. For the ultimate plan-ahead guide, you have my complete Highlights of the Fall Season, but if that’s too much trouble, you can just plan for these two…

October 9th-10th

The Best of Seraphic Fire

Seraphic Fire, Miami’s stunningly good vocal ensemble, opens the new season with a crowd-pleasing, audience-choice program of their greatest hits, including Ticheli’s Earth Song, Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium, and Bermudez’ Padre Nuestro. If you haven’t gotten a chance to hear this group, make it a priority. It’s like an aural bath for the part of your brain that experiences awe.

October 9th at 7:30pm, St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church, $45-$65

Neighborhood: The Roads

October 11th at 7:30pm, St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, $45-$65

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Sunday, November 2nd

Miami Film Festival Conversation with Ethan Hawke

Miami Film Festival and Variety magazine host a conversation and award presentation with actor Ethan Hawke as part of MFF’s upcoming GEMS fest. Hawke, who has starred in over sixty films since his debut in 1989’s era-defining Dead Poets Society, will discuss his 35-year career with Variety's Co-Editor in Chief Ramin Setoodeh and receive Variety’s Virtuoso award. Tickets for this are selling out fast, so if you want to go, book it now.

7pm, MDC Wolfson Auditorium, $35

Neighborhood: Downtown

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