Miami Mayors Discuss Magic City’s Appeal to Entertainment Talent and Execs

Miami Mayors Discuss Magic City’s Appeal to Entertainment Talent and Execs

04/05/2022

Situated in the southeastern tip of Florida, Miami-Dade County and its cities, led by the capital of Miami and resort town Miami Beach, have long been a hotbed for entertainment. As Miami-Dade’s Daniella Levine Cava, elected as the county’s first-ever female mayor in November 2020, points out: “Miami-Dade County is a major production hub for all forms of entertainment media, from movies and music to fashion and print. We are home to over 200 production studios, multiple sound stages and recording studios, as well as three Spanish-language production companies.”

She also notes that two of the major Spanish-language broadcasters, Telemundo and Univision, are based in Miami-Dade. “Industry production accounts for thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue. Within county hall, we have a dedicated production office that liaises with studios to provide services,” she adds.

Levine Cava points to the county’s natural resources, culture, multilingual workforce, backdrops, cityscapes and climate as some of the factors that have attracted more than 50% of all production in Florida. Miami-Dade County offers a filming incentive stipulating that for every $1 million a production spends, the county provides a grant of $100,000. However, “70% of the production must be based in Miami-Dade, 70% of staff must be Miami- Dade residents and 70% of hired contractors and vendors must be Miami-Dade businesses,” she says.

Levine Cava adds that Warner Bros. and Apple TV have been filming the largest production ever shot in Miami-Dade County in a decade, the $100 million series “Bad Monkey” by “Ted Lasso” co-creator Bill Lawrence and starring Vince Vaughn.

With Hispanics or Latinos making up nearly 70% of Miami-Dade’s population of 2.7 million, per the 2020 census, it’s no wonder that their cultures dominate, but it remains a “diverse community of people from all over the world, with different backgrounds, identities and orientations.”

“The Hispanic and LGBTQ+ communities are both significant parts of the fabric of Miami-Dade,” Levine Cava says.

“We are a pretty good model of a city that embraces its diversity,” concurs Miami Beach mayor Dan Gelber, who points to the city’s newest public space, the 5.8-acre Pride Park, named in support of the robust LGBTQ community.

Both agree that the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law, is an aberration.

“The ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill would make it a crime to hold a ‘classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity’ in schools. I can’t think of anything more damaging to our students than prohibiting open discussion about their identities, their feelings and the challenges they may face as they mature and navigate the world,” says Levine Cava.

“It’s hard to gather the words on how wrongheaded and stupid it is; it’s just another embarrassment for our state,” says Gelber, who is especially proud of the city’s STEAM Plus Program that integrates visual and performing arts into the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curriculum and operates in partnership with cultural organizations.

An even more pressing issue for Miami-Dade County and Miami Beach is the impact of climate change, given that Miami-Dade is only about 6 feet above sea level.

“We are on the front lines of the climate crisis, and I am actively working to shore up [no pun intended] our community’s infrastructure to be better equipped to deal with climate change and sea level rise,” says Levine Cava.

“We get a crush of people here every spring but the rise of sea levels is a more of a real issue,” Gelber, whose office has implemented a series of measures to counteract the looming crisis, concurs.

“We are the gateway to the Americas, serving as a cultural, economic, and logistical bridge between Latin America and the United States,” concludes Levine Cava.

Source: Read Full Article