By Laura Bruney, Arts & Business Council of Miami

ABC: What role do see the arts playing in Miami’s growth as a global community? The arts are the core of what started the growth of Miami as we know it today. When I first moved here in the late 80s I came to such an incredibly different place. At that time Miami was a rich, South American banking center, whose wealth was represented in the stunning architecture on Brickell, with one building more extravagant than the next. Downtown Miami was a ghost town after 5:00 when the business professionals all drove home. South Miami Beach’s Deco buildings were in dire state, saved by, but suffering under a building moratorium, with just a few hints of what Ocean Drive would become. Lincoln Road on Miami Beach was being transformed by the arts. From Miami City Ballets store front rehearsal space where pedestrians gathered to watch the dancers to the artists and galleries of Art Center South Florida. From Romero Britto’s gallery filled with his joyous Miami-centric style of art to the New World Symphony’s world class concerts the arts brought people, energy and action back to the beach. In the 80’s Miami was the third most important film production city in the US. I came here to begin a career in filmmaking. They were exciting times and you could see the beginnings of how art would change Miami from its roots as holiday destination to a global community.

I returned to Miami many years later. Miami had transformed into what it is today, a global cultural and innovative community. Today the arts are everywhere and at the core of our identity and our unprecedented quality of life. The tremendous growth and international acclaim of Art Basel Miami Beach, Ultra Music Festival, Coconut Grove Arts Festival, Miami International Film Festival, and the Miami Book Fair have made us the envy of other cities. The success of venues like the Adrienne Arsht Center, the Perez Art Museum Miami, South Dade Performing Arts Center, Coral Gables Museum and the soon to open Frost Science Museum prove how the investment in the arts has revamped our communities. Miami has become a place where the world turns to for art and innovation. The local roots in Miami’s cultural community now run deep.

ABC: Why do so many Brits come to Florida? TH: I imagine that many Brits just get fed up with the cold and grey of ole Blighty, and come to Florida for the glorious weather, to melt, and soak up the sun. British multinationals and business professionals have always been attracted to Miami as the gateway city into the Caribbean and Latin America, to set up headquarters and to do business.

ABC: Why did you start Britweek in Miami? TH: There was so much synergy between Miami and the UK that it just made sense to celebrate and bring attention to the depth of the partnerships. The presence and importance of British companies in Florida is quite surprising. Florida and the UK share a vital bilateral trading relationship worth almost $4 billion annually. Britain is the largest foreign employer in Florida with almost 400 British-affiliated companies operating here. South Florida is headquarters for a number of UK firms, including: HSBC, BUPA Latin America, Barclays Capital, Standard Chartered, Ryder, BBC Worldwide, EMI Music Publishing, Diageo, British Airways, and Lloyds of London. If the weather brought the Brits here, then business and finance and the jobs keep them here. The quality of life including the arts attract and keep sophisticated international businesses here.

ABC: From your perspective how can we leverage the arts to build a more connected community? TH: BritWeek is all about innovation and creative fusion — just like Miami! Coming to Miami as an outsider, the arts have provided my husband, Justin Jones, and I with a path to connect with so many different sectors. Our Miami program highlights innovation in art, design, entertainment, business, technology, fashion, retail, cuisine, sports and more. We leverage the arts to celebrate the Brits commitment to this community and celebrate our growing creative fusion with Miami and Britain.

ABC: What is something awesome that you are currently working on? TH: We are currently planning Britweek 2015 which will take place from March 5^th to the 13^th. It is going to be such an exciting year. We are so lucky to collaborate with some of the best connected and most likeable Brits and Americans around! In our third year we are celebrating Miami as a global hub for art and technology with partners like eMerge Americas, Downtown Development Authority, Beacon Council, Enterprise Florida, Arts & Business Council, Miami International Film Festival and CAMACOL. We are planning an exciting new technology event, All Day Coding for Kids, which will simultaneously take place in Miami and London in collaboration with the Knight Foundation and the British government. In another inventive alliance Romero Britto will paint a Bentley. The Britto Bentley will be seen driving around Miami during the festival. Our Closing Party will have a new twist as we celebrate art and technology through an exciting Formula-E race. We are thankful to our invested and creative sponsors including Romero Britto, Bentley, AFEX, Greenberg Traurig, the BBC, Virgin Atlantic, The Bond and the Royal Bank of Canada. Founded in California in 2007, BritWeek is a recognized charitable organization with a strong commitment towards serving and giving back to the local community. Our charity of choice this year is the Little Dreams Foundation, fulfilling the dreams of aspiring talented children without the financial means to achieve their goals. Visit our website www.Britweek.com for all the details about the festival.

ABC: How has creativity impacted who you are today? TH: I grew up in a very creative, literary and political family. My parents moved here from Europe in their twenties, believing that they were moving to a country of great hope and possibilities. They named me after an American Indian chief and set me on my way with a ‘real’ American name, which means thunder bolt! My father worked in the State Department Foreign Service with seven presidents from Eisenhower to Reagan. Papa was an incredible raconteur, and we grew up hearing many true life stories. We were taught at a young age to think and to contribute to the conversation. We lived in Arlington, Virginia, just five miles from the White House, and my parents were keen supporters of the Smithsonian museums. Our backyard playground was the National Mall and every week we hit a different museum. I loved the National Gallery, Air & Space Museum and National History Museum. I didn’t know it at the time but we were incredibly privileged to have such amazing institutions as part of our daily lives. We were there when I.M. Pei opened the new wing of the National Gallery and we welcomed King Tut. To top it off my high school years were spent working weekends as an usher at the Kennedy Center and I fell in love with classical music. Every year our family welcomed in the New Year waltzing to the music of Alexander Schneider and Friends, and my father took great joy in teaching my friends the gallope! I have spent most of my life trying to support the arts in ways big and small and am teaching my children the same by taking them to Miami’s many museums, festivals and performances.

ABC: Have you had an amazing arts experience you can tell us about? TH: After I graduated from William and Mary with a degree in Philosophy and English Literature, I went to the University of Madrid to do a graduate degree in Philology, as I was fascinated with the power of the word. As a graduate student I was one of the first non-Spanish students to get a very competitive internship in Spain on the daily newspaper, El Pais, and fell in love with news and print journalism. I always wanted to be a newspaper reporter and I guess you could say that what led to my most amazing arts experience began with utter disillusionment. It turned out that I wasn’t cut out to become a reporter. At that time in Spain I started seeing very different, somehow more relevant and cutting edge documentary films than I had seen in the States, and I was inspired to make those sorts of films. Film held the power of images to tell the stories I longed to tell. I returned to the States and began a long and winding road to becoming a documentary filmmaker. Many years later the best most amazing arts experience occurred when James Earl Jones awarded me an Emmy for Outstanding Informational or Cultural Programming. The trophy sits here at home, reminding me to get back to work for the next most amazing experience!

ABC: What excites you about Miami? TH: The rapid growth that I’ve seen as Miami’s cultural and technological hub takes shape. One of the most awesome things about Britweek is the opportunity to partner with the people who truly have their finger on the pulse of what Miami is and can become. Where else but Miami can such a diverse collection of people work together to create something both magical and magnificent.

ABC: What is something fun that people don’t know about you? TH: That I am a crazy, passionate, busy body mother with a love of being artsy. When my children were young in England I was a volunteer mum. I remember one day we took the whole elementary school into the woods to collect the found objects to make dream catchers. Another day we created papier-mâché marine life to decorate the classroom, and ended up with a life sized giant squid floating across the entire classroom. Whenever I am asked what my favorite production is, I never say which film, I always say our two kids, Sebastian and Skye!

About the Articulators Blog Articulators are change makers that join two parts together. The Arts & Business Council developed the Articulators blog to shine the spotlight on entrepreneurs, industry insiders and community collaborators that are developing imaginative and innovative intersections with the arts and the creative community.