Our Streets
Rediscovering Downtown
Explore the neighborhood. Take a walk down Flagler Street and enjoy music, theater, magicians, and art installations where vacant storefronts stood. Downtown News. Aurea Veras collaborated.
The initiative to make Flagler Street more accessible to residents can’t come at a better time — now that we can see the light at the end of the long COVID tunnel, and people simply need to get out.
Downtown News had a chance to briefly converse with the well-know Downtowner Robert Geitner, the man behind Olympia Center Inc.
RG: We started working with the DDA and the Flagler Street BID to turn vacant storefronts into gallery walls. People can see art installations from the street without the risk of going inside. And there was a performance component to activate the street. The Olympia Theater is taking its community programing out, and we branded it Street Stage.
DN: Do outside what you have been doing inside before Covid-19…
RG: For the past five years we created spaces and opportunities for young emerging performers, and gave them a place to connect with an audience, with downtown residents.
The Olympia Theater has been downtown’s cultural center, the place neighbors turned for great jazz, improvisation, the Moth, literary salons, etc. COVID put an end to all that. Many performers tried to adapt to virtual platforms, but it is not the same performing behind a screen than in front of a live-audience. Street Stages is an effort to reconnect downtown to live-performances, modeling safe and responsible behavior for both performers and audiences. DDA Ambassadors are at hand to ensure social distancing is maintained, and handout masks.
RG: Our efforts are concentrated on the East 100 block of Flagler Street, working to make that spot a gallery for all residents. This is a central place, and right there you can find bars and restaurants, or within a block from there. You can create a wonderful Saturday evening out.
DN: How is the project going?
RG: We’ve learned a lot since we started, and we are pushing for Saturdays as the real focus to get our neighbors out of their apartments, and grab a cocktail, enjoy art, and see some wonderful local performers. To be part of a community again.
DN: In other words, rediscover the neighborhood. A natural development would be to make Flagler Street pedestrian for a few hours on Saturdays, would that be possible?
RG: That is a big effort, involving multiple agencies… I’d certainly love to see that. It would make a lot of things a little simpler. However, our approach is more like what we can accomplish today. As we get momentum, as we learn more about the dynamics of the street, we’ll see where it goes. Our desire is to demonstrate what Flagler Street will be post construction.
Programming
The idea is to produce and present community-based programming, and channel funding to the artists. Thy are not paid big bucks, but they are all paid. It’s a way to show hard-hit performers some financial support.
DN: How can downtown residents have their input as to what kind of programing they want.
RG: That will be determined next. The first round is based on the roster of performers that we have been working with at the Olympia for some time, and others that were on our list for last year and COVID derailed. As part of the storefront and the street activations, the DDA asked artists to submit ideas, and the Olympia determined what could be translated to the street… And we ran the gamut. it’s not just limited to music, we’ve done theater and comedy. At the Olympia ticket booth, Diane George does an impersonation of Walter Mercado, proffering very Miami, very downtown fortune card and astrological readings from behind the glass.
Downtown News followed a gentleman who did consult Walter Mercado about success: What does it take to be successful in Miami. Mr. Mercado? Walter Mercado selected an oversized card from the deck. Stamped on it was the key to success. The card showed a slipper, the classic Cuban chancleta. “Anyone who stands in your way,” said the impersonated Walter Mercado, “un chancletazo, whack him with the slipper.”
RG: We have magicians doing some spectacular tricks… We have jugglers. Circus performers. We had a drag-influenced talk show. We have amazing jazz musicians of all ages, and Magic City Opera, and a couple of dance troops have joined us along the way.
Saturdays
Intentionally, more programming has been reserved for Saturdays because the goal is to get residents to come out. The goal is to have families come together and enjoy Flagler Street.
RG: All performers are aware that we are not doing this in a venue but outside, and that the content of their work must be safe — not geared to anything very adult. Early in the evening, even the music is family-centric. The beauty of doing live-performance is that artists can respond to the audience. When a family with kids is around, they will gravitate in the direction of those folks. If they have an older bunch of guys, maybe they will take the intellectual level of the sarcasm up a notch or two.
Thee Stages
One at the Dupont Building, another is located outside Exile Books, 142 E. Flagler, and the home-base is under the Olympia Theater Marquee.
And since all shows must end, now that the art is out on the street, let’s end this with a succinct line by Robert Geitner: “We are no longer bound by a building.”
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