WPBT2 is launching a weekly series on the arts and we are looking to acquire or commission short form video content that highlights or documents the arts and culture across the region.

We are looking for story segments in the 3-8 minute range and all submissions will be considered based upon the content mix of existing inventory.

We are interested but not limited to documentary, performance, interview and experimental video.

Individuals and organizations are encouraged to apply and the submissions are opened until further notice.

You can download the full RFP and send any submissions or questions to neal@uvuvideo.org

    On Tuesday I had the pleasure of spending the day with rising super star, street artist Cassie "Kazilla" Williams.  From leading an art tour of Wynwood, brushing shoulders with iconic graffiti artists, to adding the finishing touches on a massive mural in a community park, our day was eventful to say the least.

    Being German street artist Max Zorn's first time in Miami, what better place to site see than Wynwood's Art District. And what better tour guide than South Florida's own Kazilla! Max was astonished by the enormous amount of art in Wynwood. "I thought we were only going to walk about two streets and that was going to be it! I had no clue there was this much art down here!" 

    As our walk through Wynwood progressed, we noticed that there was a mural in the works inside Wynwood Walls. Curious as to what was going on, Kazilla and I decided to get a better look. As we got closer we were both extremely excited at what we saw. Shepard Fairey himself, mostly known as OBEY GIANT and more widely known for his '08 election Obama "Hope" poster, working on his next mural to be displayed inside the Wynwood Walls. Star struck, we introduced ourselves. Kazilla was elated when he stated that he knew her and her work. He even let her snag a photo! Shepard's mural will be unveiled Thursday, December 4th, at Wynwood Walls. The mural includes images of powerful men through out history.

    After that highlight of a lifetime, the up and coming street artist and I headed to Little Haiti Soccer Park where Kazilla and some fellow artists were working on a mural of their own! 

MLK- Moving the Lives of Kids Community Mural Project is unveiling its latest mural at Little Haiti Soccer Park this Saturday December 1, 2012 in efforts to develop the vast artistic and intellectual wealth in our gifted  youth. The mural includes work from local artists such as Kazilla and Luzalma Gonzalez. 

All in all, Kazilla and I both agree, Tuesday was a great day of art in Miami.

The Adrienne Arsht Center continues a partnership with the House Theatre of Chicago, bringing new and inventive productions to South Florida.  This holiday season brings a reimagined "Nutcracker." Not a ballet but as a play, this in-the-round production features many of the traditional elements but in a more cohesive narrative that tells the story of joy and loss at the is time of year.

Meant as family entertainment, it still features some elements that might be a little frightening to the youngest audience, including the battle with the Rat King and his minions, but there are also some surprises that will delight young and old, including cookies, living toys and even snow.

In this clip get a sneak peek and meet the director and a few of the Miami based cast for this production, including young Clara the heroine.

When the British government produced the poster “Keep Calm and Carry On” in 1939, it was a rallying cry for the public, and a demonstration of a new collaboration between the government and the creative class. The Norton Museum of Art opens its special exhibition season exploring the ways in which artists, designers, architects, and filmmakers in Great Britain bolstered a nation and helped win the war on the home front.  Keep Calm and Carry On: World War II and the British Home Front, 1938-1951, opens Nov. 1, 2012 and runs through Jan. 20, 2013. 

Keep Calm and Carry On examines design between 1938 and 1951, the years immediately before, during, and after England’s participation in the war.  The exhibition is divided into three sections: 
•    Design for Fashion and Beauty, which features women’s dresses—some by couturier to the royal family Hardy Amies—and uniforms from the era, a clothing rations book, and copies of British Vogue.
•    Design for Shelter and Protection, which highlights air-raid shelter designs and drawings, and domestic objects, including utility furniture.
•    Design for Entertainment and Propaganda, which demonstrates the ways graphic designers and filmmakers shaped the nation’s behaviors and attitudes from encouraging women to enter the workforce and plant victory gardens to imploring everyone to “keep calm and carry on.”

The Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival is heading into the final week.  As one of (if not the) longest annual Film Festival, FLIFF 2012 has had guests a'plenty including Carroll Baker and her daughter, Actress Blanche Baker, Ft. Lauderdale's own Bailee Madison, Molly Parker and James Caan,

Of course there was the usual collection of independent filmmakers and emerging talents, theatrical premieres and in general some good films with good friends, which makes attending FLIFF each year a must do event.

Here are some video highlights from the fest so far.

Today's final profile for the Art Live Fair is Misael Soto.  

Artist Misael Soto, one of the local artists participating in Lotus House's Art Live event discusses is project. We caught up with Misael during the DWNTOWN ARTS DAYS at Bayfront Park as he installed is work "Picnic Blanket"

Today's Art Live Fair profile is Christina Petterson

Christina Petterson discusses her performance piece she is preparing for Art Live 2012. She is revisiting the life of Marie Anntoinette in attempts to ressurect her in a different light. 

Today's Art Fair Live profile is Ruben Millares

Today's Art Live Fair profile is Patricia Hernandez

the end/SPRING BREAK are Domingo Castillo, Patricia Hernandez & Kathryn Marks.

In this segment, Patricia Hernandez discusses their project for Art Live 2012, working with dancer Jenna Balfe to create a Body Movement event using contact improversation.

About the end/SPING BREAK:

the end / SPRING BREAK is a nomadic artist-run project committed to developing new modes of
considering issues in contemporary art and culture within South Florida communities.

Our focus is to develop programming that seeks to engage our audience as participants and
elicit a discussion surrounding the thematic concept chosen for that event. In collaboration with
various artists and members of the community, our goal is to stimulate a dialogue that will enable
one event to inform another in a manner that reflects the movement between the different methods
of presenting ideas.

Our programming will include but not be limited to lectures, exhibitions, site-specific projects,
publications, educational workshops, etc.

Today's Art Live Fair profile is Tower of Babel

T O W E R   O F   B A B E L, act two, World-Systems Theory, 2012 is a performance where a trinity of consciousness become one... in an attempt to expose and explore the confusion of tongues, or variations in human language used to structure and divide contemporary society. This is a playful investigation into, The most well-known version of the world-system approach developed by US sociologist, Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein.  World-systems theory... which simple put divides our one world into three groupings. from the bottom up;

Periphery countries - Third world -  lower class -  preformed by Sinisa Kukec
Semi-periphery countries - Second world -  middle class - preformed by Brandon Opalka
Core countries - upper class - First world -  preformed by Stephan tugrul

Core countries focus on higher skill, capital- intensive production, and the rest of the world focuses on low-skill, labor-intensive production and extraction of raw materials.This constantly reinforces the dominance of the core countries. Nonetheless, the system is dynamic, and individual states can gain or lose the core (semi-periphery, periphery) status over time. For a time, some countries become the world hegemon; throughout last few centuries, this status has passed from the  Netherlands,  to the United Kingdom, and most recently, the United States of America. Until the top may reach unto the heavens... we are all one, and yet many from the bottom up.