This breakfast forum will be a first and likely not the last.
Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce
South Florida’s creative heavyweights are gathering around one table, and apparently, plenty of people wanted a seat.
The inaugural Tri-County Cultural Directors Breakfast Forum has sold out all 120 spots ahead of its Friday, Aug. 28 debut. Hosted by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce Arts & Business Council, the forum runs from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the chamber’s headquarters, 512 NE Third Ave. in Fort Lauderdale.
The morning will unite three regional cultural leaders: Graham Winick, assistant director of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs; Amanda Covach, assistant director of the Broward County Cultural Division; and Dave Lawrence, president and CEO of the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County.
Moderator Maxence Doytier spent months coordinating the gathering. The founder and chief public art curator of Broward-based creative agency Twenty6North Productions has chaired the chamber’s Arts & Business Council for the past two years.
“This was a vision of mine to bring the cultural directors to come and speak about the arts and therefore unite artists, art organizations and community leaders,” Doytier told Browardist. “We will all be in the same room to discuss how we can bring policy, public and private interests together to all support the artist community.”
The conversation will center on four direct questions: Why should tourism care about the arts? Why should development care? Why should small businesses care? And why should public education care?
Those prompts open the door to discussions about visitor spending, real estate, public art commissions, workforce attraction, education, local policy and the creative economy stretching across county lines. Attendees will include leaders from government, philanthropy, tourism, education, real estate, nonprofits and the arts.
“I think there needs to be a cultural shift that embraces the arts... and embraces it by providing opportunity, going to events, purchasing art,” Doytier said. “Plus, we need to be encouraging and sharing artists within our community that are doing something incredible.”
The sold-out crowd offers a persuasive answer of its own: South Florida wants this conversation. Doytier plans to expand the tri-county forum into an annual event, creating a recurring regional meeting ground for cultural and business leadership.
