Give Miami Day: 10 Arts Organizations You Can Support

Founded in 2012 to fundraise for local nonprofits and community organizations, Give Miami Day is now a multi-day event, with early giving officially open through Wednesday. If recent history is any indication, the main event on Thursday, November 21, could beat last year's total of $34 million raised from more than 96,000 donations from 46,000 unique donors.

While thousands of organizations are asking for donations from the community this year, arts organizations are in particularly dire need of support. After a slow recovery in the aftermath of COVID, the arts sector was dealt another devastating blow when Gov. Ron DeSantis famously vetoed $32 million in grant funding from the state budget earlier this year. Adding insult to injury, Miami-Dade County also cut $950,000 in arts grants from its budget.

Arts organizations "took a real hit this year with government funding, both at the state and the local level," says Rebecca Fishman Lipsey, president and CEO of the Miami Foundation, which runs Give Miami Day.

To counter those hits, the foundation is making two opportunities available exclusively to arts organizations this year. The first is an anonymous million-dollar donation, which will be used to match each unique donation with an additional $25. Lipsey will only say that the funds were provided by "a young couple" who "don't want the glory. What they want is the impact." In addition, the Pérez Family Foundation and Related Group are also sponsoring another arts match.

Lipsey stresses that the greatest benefit of Give Miami Day for arts organizations is that funds are unrestricted — they are free to use the money as needed.

"What these organizations tell us is that a lot of their donations throughout the year are restricted to projects. And so what that means, especially if you're an arts organization, is people are funding a specific play or a specific program, but what they're not doing is funding the organization at large," Lipsey says.

She adds that the number of individual donations is just as important as the total dollar amount raised on Give Miami Day, as it's a tangible display of community involvement at large. "If we can create an environment where every single person who lives in Miami has causes and organizations that they are champions for, we will be a healthier Miami."

Looking for an arts organization to support this week? Here are ten institutions that could use your support on Give Miami Day.

Adele Myers & Dancers/Miami DanceMakers

Adele Myers and Dancers is a nonprofit dance theater company that nurtures and mentors local dancers. In particular, its annual Miami DanceMakers professional development program provides artists a stipend to create new works. The six-month program culminates in a showcase at the Pérez Art Museum of Miami, which launched Miami DanceMakers in partnership with Adele Myers & Dancers in 2021. The organization aims to raise $5,000 on Give Miami Day to fund its 2025 Miami DanceMakers season.

Arts Access Miami

There are plenty of opportunities to stretch your dollars farther on Give Miami Day, from donation matches to boosting your chosen organization's fundraising via bonus prizes. Another way you can make a wider impact is by donating to Arts Access Miami, which includes ten music and arts nonprofit organizations in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. AAM aims to provide children with free arts and music education in partnership with organizations, including Young Musicians Unite and Guitars Over Guns, among others, impacting more than 10,000 students across nearly 40 schools and sites weekly. The organization aims to raise $20,000 during Give Miami Day to repair instruments and distribute new supplies to local schools.

Brévo Theatre

Founded by managing director Zaylin Yates and artistic director Terrence Pride at Florida A&M University, Brévo Theatre uplifts diverse voices in the South Florida theater world, particularly those of Black creators and performers. The professional theater company creates three to four theatrical productions each season, stages productions at senior living communities, and runs a youth theater program through its "Young, Gifted & Brave" initiative. Brévo's latest production is Langston Hughes' Black Nativity gospel musical, running for four nights at the Sandrell Rivers Theater. The organization's goal is to raise $30,000 during Give Miami Day.

CollaboARTive

Miami is one of the most rent-burdened cities in the country, and artists sometimes feel the sting twice over. Paying the city's sky-high rents is increasingly difficult on an artist's pay, but for those who do manage, finding affordable studio space presents yet another challenge. Enter CollaboARTive, an organization that hosts thirteen affordable studio spaces for emerging and mid-career artists. The organization hopes to raise $40,000 on Give Miami Day to subsidize costs for the studios.

Context of a Generation

There's no shortage of standout artistic talent in South Florida, but cultivating that talent requires mentorship and significant resources. Founded by artists and sisters Symone and Quiana Major, Context of a Generation provides emerging musical and visual artists a platform to showcase their talent. Its COAG TV is home to the Indie Seat interview series and Mango Sessions, where musicians perform their original works. The organization also runs Project Realize, a free artist development program for independent musicians and poets.

Miami Acting Company

Miami Acting Company has fostered community theater productions in South Florida for nearly two decades, but the organization is still celebrating firsts. Right now, the company is holding its first local playwrighting competition, and submissions are open through the end of this year. MAC's 2025 season announcement is also imminent. To bring these projects to life, the organization hopes to raise a modest and very doable $2,000 on Give Miami Day.

Miami Girls Rock Camp

Whitney Houston once sang, "The children are our future, teach them" to rock — or something like that. For nearly a decade, Miami Girls Rock Camp has hosted a weeklong School of Rock for girls and nonbinary youth ages 8-17 during the summer. Kids of varying levels of musical experience enter camp on Monday, take two hours of musical instruction each day, attend performances and workshops by local musicians, write their own songs, and perform them in a multi-band showcase on Sunday. The result is always a brilliant display of what children can express when they're allowed the freedom to do so. In 2022, the organization introduced MGRC Youth Open Mic, a bi-monthly showcase open to performers under the age of 25. To keep rock alive, the organization aims to raise $10,000 this week.

Lugar Comun

Founded by Venezuelan immigrants, Lugar Comun publishes literary works in English, Spanish, and Italian by authors of diverse linguistic backgrounds. The organization's Miami Beach-based Alliteration Publishing House has published 18 titles, including two children's books, and hosted in-person events for literary-minded locals, including writing workshops and poetry readings.

Oya Matamba

Founded in September 2020, Oya Matamba fosters physical and mental health for local Black women and youth, primarily through capoeira, which the organization describes as "an ancestral technology and a powerful tool for life transformation." The organization's Ancient Futures Youth Camp, for kids ages 8-14 in Little Haiti and Liberty City, provides cultural enrichment activities, including Afrofuturist workshops, health and wellness programming, sustainability education, and more. Rainhas Guerreiras, the organization's women's conference, offers a weekend of healing movement workshops beyond capoeira, including yoga and dance. To make it all happen, Oya Matamba aims to raise $20,000 during Give Miami Day.

Women Artists Archive Miami

Since its founding, Miami has been an ever-changing city looking to the future without dwelling on its past. But understanding a place's history is crucial to shaping where it's going. Women Artists Archive Miami works to archive and preserve the artistic history of our city through exhibitions, the digitization of artists' studio archives, and the crowdsourcing of collections of Miami's women and nonbinary artists. Next month, the organization will host South Florida-born Kabuya Pamela Bowens-Saffo's first solo art exhibition in Miami at Miami Dade College's Padrón Campus Art Gallery. WAAM hopes to raise $10,000 this week to continue exhibiting works such as these.