Rhythm Foundation 2023 Gala at The Miami Beach Bandshell

Miami Beach, FL – November 2, 2023 – The Rhythm Foundation, which manages the Miami Beach Bandshell for the City of Miami Beach, welcomed 300 guests into the venue on November 2nd for their bi-annual gala. The evening was hosted by local 10’s Louis Aguirre; and featured an interactive art installation by Carlos Betancourt, a Fela Kuti tribute by the Afrobeat Allstars, and dinner courtesy of Meat N’ Bone.

The Rhythm Foundation took this opportunity to showcase several exciting updates, most notably a huge new project in the works with South Florida PBS, WPBT, as well as the recently awarded two-year CreARTE grant from The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation at The Miami Foundation. In an unexpected but welcome twist, Mayor Dan Gelber presented Rhythm Foundation director James Quinlan with a Key to the City as a gesture of gratitude for his pivotal role in transforming the City-owned Bandshell into the vibrant & booming venue it is today, with only growth on the horizon.

The Rhythm Foundation also shared updates on their 2021 Knight Foundation grant, the goal of which was to create Miami’s virtual performance space and share our local cultural scene with a wider audience by expanded use of technology. The team set out to use this investment to reimagine the possibilities of the Bandshell using innovation and technology. Through this effort, they now empower performers to create cutting-edge content, immersive experiences, livestream productions and recorded performances.

The progress of the hard work on these fronts is most readily seen in the creation of Bandshell Studios, an audio-visual content studio, and Bandshell Laboratories, a modern platform to commission new, groundbreaking artwork and support local artists.