Miami Beach Botanical Garden Hosts FREE Performing Arts Events

Miami Performance and Visual Art Festival - July 26-29

The first of its kind, this free festival will offer workshops, artist's talks, performances and parties for four days. Presented by Edge-Zones, a non-profit arts organization, live performances will be presented to the public in a participatory discourse during the four-day program. This intensive contemporary arts event will take place at three different sites: Downtown Miami, the Miami Design District, and the Botanical Gardens. 

This innovative program will explore the breaking down of boundaries between visual art, music, dance and poetry. A dynamic dialogue between time-based art practice and its documentation will occur through a comprehensive exhibition of site-reactive installations. 

At 9:30 a.m. on the 26th, the festival will start with a meet-and-greet here at the garden, with artist's talks and lunch to follow until noon. Come to the garden to pick up a schedule of events, and visit the event website here.

On the 29th, performances, installations, and discussions at the garden will start at 9:20 a.m., with a free children's workshop at 10 a.m. Events continue until 8 p.m., where you can join the party with DJ Action Pat at 150 NE 40th Street, a pop-up performance space in Miami. 

Shakespeare Under the Sun - August 4 and 11, 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily

The garden is hosting three outdoor plays produced by Arturo Fernandez of Ground Up & Rising. The first performance will be Julius Caesar, with two shows at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.  This is an hour-long, modern adaption of the Shakespearian classic. Ground Up & Rising is an award-winning,  non-profit theater organization with a vision "to replace the safe and already treaded with the avant-garde and risque." 

The producer, Arturo Fernandez, has been named as one of the Top 20 Artists Under 40 by the Miami New Times, and was given the 2010 Theater Visionary Award by the Miami ArtZine, amongst other accolades. Read more about Fernadez's performances and accomplishments here!

Start your weekend off right with a refreshing reminder of the performing talent Miami is known for. Some chairs will be provided, but everyone is encouraged to bring their own chairs or blankets to sit on and enjoy the zoysia grass. For more information, 305-673-7256, Ext. 201.

Performances to follow will be Macbeth on August 26 and September 2, and Danny & the Deep Blue Sea, September 16 and 30.

For more information, please visit the Miami Beach Botanical Garden website.

'Spring' Over to Zoo Miami for these Amazing April Events

Have fun and learn this Spring at Zoo Miami. The Zoo is celebrating the Spring season with a myriad of events and activities for the whole family, including Music of the Americas at Amazon and Beyond, Zoofari Spring Camp, Party for the Planet, Egg Safari and Brew at the Zoo.


For more information about any of the events listed below, please visit www.zoomiami.org and Facebook, or call 305-251-0400.

Music of the Americas at Amazon and Beyond

Music of the Americas at Amazon and Beyond will take place at 1 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays through April 29. Enjoy rhythmic samba tunes, Brazilian dance acts, South American flutes, woodwinds, and harp by the following artists and groups:  Roberto Perera & Jorge Alfano, Amazonas Samba Dancers and the Capoeira Jungle Circle.  

Egg Safari

The annual Egg Safari takes place on Saturday and Sunday, April 7 and 8 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.  It’s a magical weekend at Zoo Miami with continuous egg safaris, fun activities, the Easter Bunny and more for kids 12 and younger. The animals will also be receiving special holiday treats!

Party for the Planet

Zoo Miami’s Earth Day celebration, Party for the Planet, will be held Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. The Tropical Flowering Tree Society will be hosting the world’s largest flowering tree annual plant show and sale. There will also be fun “green” activities and entertainment for the entire family as well as animal enrichment with recycled items and/or natural materials like newspapers, cardboard tubes, bamboo, old tires, fire hoses and more.


During Party for the Planet, guests can come in free of charge if they turn in a cellphone as part of the Zoo's ECO-CELL Phone Recycling Program. Not only will each person donating a cellphone enter the zoo for free on these two days, but they will also help save gorillas!


Cell phones include coltan, a mineral extracted in the deep forests of Congo in central Africa, home to the world's endangered lowland gorillas. Fueled by the worldwide cell phone boom, Congo's out-of-control coltan mining business has in recent years led to a dramatic reduction of animal habitat and the rampant slaughter of great apes for the illegal bush-meat trade. Turning in a cell phone will reduce the need for additional coltan … and help protect the gorillas.

 Brew at the Zoo

Come celebrate Miami New Times’ and Zoo Miami’s Brew at the Zoo Saturday, April 28, from 6 p.m.-11 p.m. Sample more than 100 kinds of beer from around the globe and enjoy live musical performances by Alien Ant Farm and The Spazmatics. Beer bites will be available for purchase. More information is available www.newtimesbrewatthezoo.com.
  

2012 Summer Savings Pass: 4 attractions… 4 months of fun… 1 low price!

Lion Country Safari, Miami Seaquarium, Museum of Discovery and Science, and Zoo Miami will be offering the 2012 Summer Savings Pass for the fourth year in a row. The Summer Savings Pass will give its buyers unlimited admission to all four attractions throughout the summer!


The Summer Savings Pass will be available for purchase at each of the participating parks beginning May 14, 2012 and will be valid for admission to each of the attractions until September 30, 2012. 

Zoo Miami is located at 12400 SW 152 Street, Miami. General zoo admission is $15.95 per adult and $11.95 per child (3-12), plus tax. Children younger than 2 and zoo members enter free; parking is free. Zoo Miami’s hours are 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; ticket booths close at 4 p.m. Note: Some animals start going in for the night at 5 p.m.


For more information, please visit www.zoomiami.org or call 305-251-0400.

De Rodriguez Cuba's Chef Jose Luis Flores Wins New Times Iron Fork

Latin Chef Charms Judges with Innovative Nuevo Latino Twists Using Stone Crab

On Thursday night, De Rodriguez Cuba's Chef Jose Luis Flores battled the defending champion of the New Times' Iron Fork Competition, Area 31's John Critchley, and took home the prestigious Iron Fork award. Similar to the Food Network's Iron Chef America, the competing chefs were given 45 minutes to prepare an appetizer and entrée using the secret ingredient, stone crab.

A panel of four judges including Chef Dewey LoSasso and Adrianne Calvo selected Chef Jose Luis Flores of De Rodriguez Cuba as the winner with a Fire Flores wanted to keep with his Nuevo Latino traditions, but also realized the biggest challenge of time constraints:"45 minutes seems like 10 minutes." When asked what his key to winning was, he explains it was knowing how to use the secret ingredient. "The stone crab is easy to manipulate as long as you know how to mix it with other ingredients."

The Fire and Ice appetizer was an innovation that combined a lime juice granita with a ceviche of shrimp, snapper and stone crab. One of his most impressive moves was successfully making a citrus granita in less than one hour. For the entree course, Chef Flores played off a classic Surf and Turf. For the surf, Flores presented a Peruvian inspired tuna causa, a blue potato mash with ahi tuna, dusted with garlic and onion and served with a stone crab pico de gallo. For the turf, a beef tenderloin tartare was prepared with onion, garlic and stone crab.

Flores was truly honored by the win and plans to put his Iron Fork award in De Rodriguez Cuba to share with the restaurant and its guests. "I'm proud to be representing the Latin community," Flores exclaimed. "It's always nice to see friends, family and fans coming out to support me; it means a lot."

The De Rodriguez Hospitality Group is proud to call Chef Jose Luis one of their own and congratulates him on a job well done. To visit the New Time's Iron Fork Chef, come to De Rodriguez Cuba at The Astor Hotel located at 956 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach. For reservations call 305-673-DROD (3763) or visit www.drodriguezcuba.com