In her first meeting as the new City of Miami mayor, Eileen Higgins has impacted the arts and culture scene of the city in directing the future of the historic Tower Theater. <\/p>\n
Through a mayor-sponsored item, the City of Miami commission unanimously voted on Thursday to return the theater on Calle Ocho to the management of Miami Dade College, an effort that aims to revive the venue that had been managed by the city since 2022.<\/p>\n
New District 3 commissioner Rolando Escalona also sponsored the item.<\/p>\n
The quick reversal of a controversial city takeover of the space marks a rapid change of direction for the city\u2019s cultural scene under the new leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re excited that this might mean a new direction,\u201d filmmaker Robert Colom told WLRN about the development. \u201cI\u2019m thrilled that we have leadership that shares similar cultural values as a group of artists that I\u2019m in touch with.”<\/p>\n
The arts scene in South Florida has been battered by funding cuts at the federal<\/a> and state<\/a> levels over the last few years. Last year, Miami-Dade County was also very close to slashing arts funding<\/a> during a heated budgeting process, before it was restored on a temporary basis.<\/p>\n But for the local film scene, losing the Tower Theater was a particularly heavy loss. The theater \u2014 which turns 100-years-old this year \u2014 was the longtime home of the Miami Film Festival and other film festivals until the city booted the College from the premises in 2022.<\/p>\n Partly in response to losing the Tower Theater and other venues closing down, Colom launched a project called CineMovil, a mobile cinema that stops in different neighborhoods in order to try to fill the gaping hole left by the theater’s closure.<\/p>\n “It’s gonna mean a really significant shift in a place for cinephiles and filmmakers to go and congregate and have a place to gather again,” said Colom.<\/p>\n The long term lease for the iconic Little Havana cinema would be valid for a minimum of 20 years. The final negotiation and agreement still needs to be negotiated by the city before it goes into effect.<\/p>\n For its part, a representative of Miami Dade College told city commissioners that the College looks forward to gaining control of the property once again. The final negotiation and agreement still needs to be negotiated by the city before it goes into effect.<\/p>\n \u201cMiami Dade College looks forward to working in collaboration with the city of Miami, community leaders, local organizations, artists and residents to ensure that the theater remains an active, inclusive and welcoming cultural space,\u201d said Mar\u00eda Carla Chicu\u00e9n, the Executive Director of Cultural Affairs at the College.<\/p>\n \u201cFor more than 20 years Miami Dade College operated the Tower Theater as a vibrant educational and cultural space serving Little Havana, Calle Ocho, and the greater Miami community,\u201d said Chicu\u00e9n. \u201cDuring that time the College invested significant resources in the preservation, in the maintenance and activation of the theater, welcoming more than 1.2 million visitors and generating meaningful cultural and economic impact for the immediate surrounding neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n For years the theater was one of the few places where patrons could reliably watch Spanish-language films in the city. The city\u2019s decision \u2014 led by former commissioner Joe Carollo \u2014 not to renew the College\u2019s lease in 2022 drew widespread criticism and protest<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n