ABOUT ARTBURST

Artburst works with some of the best art journalists in South Florida writing reviews, features and articles covering our vibrant cultural community. Make Artburst your one-stop source for dance, music, theater and visual arts coverage. In addition, we promote the arts and arts journalism through social media. The arts are a major force in Miami-Dade with an economic impact of $1.4 billion. Over 16 million people attended an arts event, museum or performance last year. With over 1,000 arts organizations the opportunities for endless.

HOW TO GET COVERAGE

If you are an organization wanting to pitch a story or request coverage from ArtburstMiami, please contact Michelle F. Solomon, Artburst Editor In Chief: editor@artburstmiami.com or artbursteditor@gmail.com.

For pitches and coverage requests for Artbust En Español, contact editor Orlando Taquechel: editorinspanish@artburstmiami.com.

WHAT IS ARTBURST?

Artburst is a program of the Arts & Business Council of Miami with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.

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ARTBURST TEAM

Laura Bruney Manager

Jean Blackwell Font Blog Editor & Administrator

Josie Gulliksen Outreach

Adriana Perez Liaison

Michelle F. Solomon Editor & Writer

Orlando Taquechel Editor & Writer

about Laura Bruney

As President and CEO of the Arts & Business Council of Miami for the past 25 years, Laura Bruney has helped strengthen the cultural community through leadership and board development programs, audience development and marketing initiatives, volunteer programs for the arts and networking and community events. She is responsible for the day-to-day operations and management of Council staff, policy and programs. Ms. Bruney works closely with the governing board to develop and implement the Council’s strategic plan, interfaces with the cultural community on behalf of the Council, and is the Council’s chief spokesperson.

about Jean Blackwell Font

Jean Blackwell Font has lived and worked in Miami and the Beaches since 1990 in wide-ranging roles in the Arts, Hospitality, and the Non-profit sector. Years of collaborating and working with programs, exhibitions, digital marketing, and social media have manifested in a successful content-driven, strategic approach for marketing the Arts. As a practicing visual artist, she shares a studio in the Bird Road Arts District with her husband, Ignacio Font.

Jean serves as editor for ArtsBizBlog and Artburst Miami Blog, both projects of Arts & Business Council of Miami. On occasion, she contributes written pieces to both digital publications, garnering by-lines in The Miami Herald.

As Manager of Programs & Events, Jean oversees Artburst Miami, Patent Pro Bono Florida, and Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA), and will continue to look for even more ways to serve our creative community.

about Josie Gulliksen

Josie Gulliksen is a freelance writer and major arts advocate and enthusiast who loves everything cultural and is excited to live in such a thriving community as Miami. A Miami native, she currently writes for South Florida on the Cheap, Edible South Florida and Miami Media Group and has a personal blog Scene Around South FL. She worked for nearly a decade at Miami Today covering the arts community, calendar of events and restaurant scene. She has also worked in public relations in non-profit for the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation, in travel and tourism for Newman PR and at the Miami Science Museum. She has written for Florida Travel + Life Magazine, Family Matters Magazine and Florida Monthly Magazine.

about Adriana Perez

Native Miamian, Adriana Perez, joined the Miami-Dade Department of Cultural Affairs in 2008 as a Projects Administrator. She spearheads initiatives that support and develop the professional development of Miami-Dade County’s individual artists and manages a portfolio that includes: Dance Miami Choreographers’ Program, Playwright Development Program and Creative Capital Professional Development Program. In addition to working with individual artists, Adriana manages the Festivals & Special Events Grants program and the Cultural Development Program. On the journalistic side, she has the privilege of working with the team at the award-winning ArtBurst, Miami’s innovative hub providing arts coverage on multiple platforms. Prior to joining the department, she served as Producer of Major Presentations at the Adrienne Arsht Center booking sold-out performances for many top rated artists and commissioned several critically acclaimed new works, including: Michael Yawney’s 1000 Homosexuals, David Clarkson’sFlexion, Octavio Campos’ BugChasers, Gustavo Matamoros’ Cars and Fish, and Jennylin Duany’s Cabaret Unkempt, and collaborated on the world premiere of several others. Adriana received her Bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Florida and her Masters in Fine Arts in Theatre Management and Producing from Columbia University.

about Michelle F. Solomon

Michelle F. Solomon is the editor of ArtBurst Miami. Michelle was immersed in theater and the arts from a very young age. When she was 5, she began a professional singing career as was one of the featured performers with the Stars of Tomorrow at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, N.J. A graduate of Emerson College, Boston, Mass., with a Master’s degree from the State University of New York, Michelle has been arts editor at major and mid-sized newspapers, including Executive Arts Editor of the Albany Times Union and Assistant Features Editor of Entertainment at The Detroit Free Press. She was an on-air Entertainment Reporter and Managing Editor of New Media for NBC affiliate, WDIV-TV, Detroit, and digital executive producer of new media at ABC affiliate, Miami’s WPLG-TV, Local 10. Nominated for the 2022 Rabkin Prize for Visual Arts Journalism and a 2023 Sunshine State Award for Beat Reporting — Visual Arts coverage, in addition to her position as editor for artburstmiami.com, she covers a variety of cultural events for ArtBurst and is also editor and writer for miamiartzine.com, a publication of the Miami Beach Arts Trust.

about Orlando Taquechel

Orlando Taquechel has been a dance writer and dance researcher for over 35 years with articles published in Cuba, Mexico and the United States. He is also a professor, choreographer, and artistic director. Orlando graduated with a degree in Architecture, a Bachelors in Theater and Drama, and with a Masters. He is the recipient of the Medal to the Merit of Dance CIAD in July 2009 and the “Criticism and Culture of Ballet” Life Achievement Award at the XIX International Ballet Festival of Miami in September 2014. He’s the author of “Metodología para la Crítica de Ballet,” “Definición de la Escuela Cubana de Ballet” and “La danza en Miami (1998-2017): las reseñas cuentan su historia.” He is the Spanish-language Editor and dance critic for ArtBurst.