Miami Beach Cultural Crawl at The Betsy Hotel

Photography by Steve Blaine on October 18th, 2019 in Lifestyle

Miami Beach, FL – October 17, 2019 – The Betsy Hotel’s facade was lit for the Miami Beach Culture Crawl with jazz inside the front doors as part of The Betsy’s seven-night a week live music program, on this evening featuring the Andres Gonzalez Duo. Nestled into the Lobby Salon and surrounded by the art of Andy Sweet, guests enjoyed the music and art as they sipped on cocktails. The Betsy with O, Miami hosted some amazing projections on The Betsy Orb – a piece of public art located in the breezeway between Ocean Drive and Collins Ave, adjacent to The Alley Pizzeria. Poem fragments were projected onto The Orb from two poets: Ed Doyle-Gillespie, a detective with the Baltimore City Police Department, and Eduardo “Echo” Martinez, the Florida Prison Poet Laureate, appointed in a partnership between O, Miami and Exchange for Change.

In the Gallery and Carlton Room areas, The Betsy Hosted the Fifth Anniversary Party for Exchange for Change, celebrating the power of literature to transform writers from all walks of life, even those serving time in prison. Betsy owner, Jonathan Plutzik, welcomed the group. Noted the founder and artistic director of O, Miami as to the reason for the project – “This is a population that needs a voice, and if we believe in rehabilitation, we must listen. Ninety-five percent of people in prison will one day rejoin society. They are part of us. They are us. They are poets and they deserve to be heard … ”