By Sue Arrowsmith, Miami Dade College

This month, as many of Miami’s museums are offering 2-for-1 admission and perks with annual passes, Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Art Gallery System kicks off its summer art season. Everyone is invited to an opening reception at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 24, at the Freedom Tower at MDC, located at 600 Biscayne Blvd.

At MDC, you can see works by some of the world’s most influential and groundbreaking artists free of charge all year round. That’s right! MDC presents dozens of free exhibitions each year at its eight galleries and art spaces throughout Miami-Dade County, including the historic Freedom Tower. Educational tours can also be arranged for schools.

This summer season begins with Shutter: Selected Photography and Film from the CINTAS Foundation Fellows Collection, which runs from May 18, through Oct. 5. The exhibition features more than 40 works by prominent artists including Anthony Goicolea, Luis Gispert, Felipe Dulzaides and Gladys Triana, Shutter exemplifies the broad history and transformative mediums of still photography and film within the CINTAS Foundation Fellows Collection.

MDC is also presenting three unique exhibitions, which will open collectively on May 24 and run through August 11. They are: Emergence & Structure is an exhibition of scientifically inspired artists whose work visually explores the often esoteric concepts in scientific theory. Curated by New York-based artists Ron Janowich and Daniel Hill, it features more than 40 works by 16 internationally-renowned artists, including Mary Hambleton, Ed Kerns and Jim Toia, among others.

Embedded: A Photojournalist captures conflict and resistance consists of more than 800 still photographs, countless rolls of film and numerous oral testimonies collected over a nine-month period in the mid-1960s by Jim Nickless, a freelance cameraman for NBC News. Nickless documented the training, raids and daily activities of a group of Cuban patriots under the auspices of the Movimiento de Recuperación Revolucionaria (MRR) movement that attempted to overthrow Fidel Castro. Organized and curated by his children, Lea and Chris, Embedded will include a talk with the artist on Saturday, June 2, at 1 p.m.

Collections & Curiosities provides a rare glimpse into two personal art collections gifted to the College from the estates of Jock Truman and Norma Niurka, respectively. Both Truman and Niurka played important roles in the South Florida arts community and left behind an equally unique, colorful portrait of who they were as individuals. Truman, a Harvard graduate in architecture, was the director of the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York City. Niurka was an acclaimed journalist, writer and theater critic for The Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, from noon to 5 p.m. For more information, please contact MDC’s Art Gallery System at 305-237-7700.