Past Events
November 2015
Moments in Motion
Bathing beauties, birthday parties, news flashes and tourist traps – there’s no telling what you’ll see between acts at The Swamp: Moments in Motion is culled from thousands upon thousands of hours of unique film and video images from the collections of the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives at Miami-Dade College.…
Havana and Haiti: Two Cultures, One Community
Sponsored by the Green Family Foundation. Carl Juste’s compelling and dynamic images from Haiti and Cuba take over the walls at The Swamp! A Haitian-born American who grew up in Miami, and whose mother was born and spent her childhood in Santiago de Cuba, Juste uses his unique perspective to aim his lens at the space where the metaphorical borders of Cuba and Haiti melt into each other. With his eye pressed to the viewfinder, he focuses on two of the most geopolitically contentious nations in the Caribbean.…
CircX Cabaret Show
“One part circus, two parts burlesque, a pinch of class and a dash of trash.” Incorporating mime, street theater, and burlesque, CircX’s unique brand of interactive antics and theatrical circus artistry is provocative and outrageously funny. Be on the lookout for CircX’s beautifully bizarre characters strolling through the crowd before the show. (for mature audiences) Sponsored by…
Swamp & Porch Opens
The Swamp and The Porch open strong with music, food trucks, giant outdoor games and Biscayne Bay Brewing beers! Come relax after work or grab a drink before your Evenings With session.…
Swamp Noir: How Swampy Can You Get?
Wade through the literary muck of steamy South Florida. The Friends of the Library, along with local authors Oscar Fuentes and Julie Tyler, present Swamp Noir, a curated night of poetry performances, film, and live jazz-fusion by the Swampsters. Connect with Miami’s mainstream and underground cultures, and exercise your literary sensibilities by writing your own shadowy Swamp scene.…
Live Music: Oriente
Oriente’s signature sound features funky, guitar driven tumbaos, blazing harmonic brass, and explosive Afro-Latin percussion – fusing Cuban roots with blues, jazz, Caribbean, and Brazilian influences.…
World’s Smallest Poetry Reading: An O, Miami Party
In celebration of Eight Miami Poets, a new volume of young and emerging poets in Miami-Dade County published by Jai-Alai Books, O, Miami is aiming small – Guinness-World-Record-for-Smallest-Poetry-Readings small. Each poet in the book will read their poems one at a time to one person at a time from inside specially made booths. Wait your turn with drink specials and a used-book exchange by Bookleggers.…
A Sound Trip through the Florida Film Archives
Come for the beer and bites; stay for a sound-and-image trip through Florida with a multidisciplinary installation by the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives at Miami Dade College and Obsolete Media Miami.…
A Little Swamp Romance
“Once upon a time…in a land very near…was a swamp that was not actually a swamp but a living river. . .” Join Alma Dance Theatre and Christina Pettersson for a vaudeville-esque extravaganza utilizing shadow puppetry, video projection, live dance, live narration, and musical accompaniment in this charming example of magical-realism.…
The Moth StorySLAM: Only in Miami, Literally
Tickets required: themoth.org Doors open at 7 p.m. Show at 7:30 p.m. The Moth, the acclaimed open-mic storytelling competition for true stories told live, comes to The Swamp! Have a story to tell? Bring it! Prepare a five-minute story about life in the Magic City and all the things that make Miami so… Miami. Come to tell a story, volunteer as a judge, or just sit back and listen. Visit themoth.org for more information and to purchase your tickets!…
National Book Foundation presents the Teen Press Conference
Sponsored by Meredyth Anne Dasburg Foundation. High school students from Miami-Dade County Public Schools act as journalists, asking questions to the Finalists for the 2015 National Book Award in Young People’s Literature. Since 1998, the Teen Press Conference has taken place at various literary landmarks in New York, including the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Scholastic Auditorium, Brooklyn Borough Hall, and now for the first time, at the Miami Book Fair!…
Havana and Haiti: Reshaping the New Americas and the World
Sponsored by the Green Family Foundation. Join Iris Photocollective-co-founder Carl Juste, project director Luis Rios and a panel of photojournalists and writers as they discuss Havana and Haiti: Two Cultures, One Community, a book of photographs and essays. Sponsored by …
Miami Improv Showcase
Come watch some of the best improv troupes in South Florida turn your prompts into on-the-fly magic. Your belly will ache with laughter!…
Live Music: Spam All-Stars
Dance all night with the Spam All-Stars, hailed as the pioneers of Miami fusion, as they blend improvisational electronic elements and turntables with latin, funk, hip hop and dub to create what they call an electronic descarga.…
Beyond Basel
The City of Miami Beach turned 100 years old this year, and long before Art Basel, South Beach’s cultural richness rooted the city in the world’s consciousness. Tom Austin, a 2015 South Florida Knight Arts Challenge finalist for “Beyond Basel: The zine History of South Beach,” moderates an irreverent multi-media panel presentation on contemporary South Beach. With Nathaniel Sandler, founder of Bookleggers Library; Cristina Favretto, Head of Special Collections, University of Miami Libraries;…
Beyond Basel
Live Music: Electric Kif
Electric Kif captures the energy of execution in their fusion of cosmic funk, rock, soul, and jazz. Their powerful live show brings an unparalleled energy and sound every night for music lovers in the Magic City.…
Saved by the Sunshine State: Writers Find Themselves in Florida
In Collaboration with Wordier Than Thou It’s rare to meet someone living in Florida who was actually born and raised in Florida. It’s such a transient state, and everyone has their own reasons for coming here – love, money, or simply the need for a fresh start. Several Florida-based authors will share their stories of what drew them to the Sunshine State.…
Havana and Haiti: Reshaping the New Americas and the World
Sponsored by the Green Family Foundation. Miami-based Iris PhotoCollective’s upcoming book, Havana Haiti: Two Cultures One Community, is a photo-journalism and essay project that portrays the complex connections between Haiti and her neighbor, Cuba. Iris PhotoCollective co-founder Carl Juste and project director Luis Rios will be joined by prominent photo journalists and writers André Chung, Edwidge Dandicat, Carol Guzy, CW Griffin, Ana Menendez,…
The Working Poet Radio Show: Bringing Books to Life
(Corner of NE 3rd Street and 2nd Avenue) The Working Poet Radio Show (WPRS) is a podcast and interview series dedicated to the working lives of creative people. Inspired by late-night talk shows, Joseph Lapin — journalist, author and host of WPRS — explores the poetry that powers the creative impulse. Join Lapin and his guests: comics author Derf Backderf, Abrams ComicArts editorial director Charles Kochman, and actor/author John Leguizamo.…
Live Music: AfroBeta
There are few names as recognizable and in the Miami music scene as Afrobeta, the electro-pop duo who have become a staple on EDM stages around the world. AfroBeta’s infectious beats deliver a universal message.…
Qué Pasa en mi Casa?
Start your Sunday with pastelitos, croquetas, café con leche and some Qué Pasa! Enjoy a behind the scenes talking tour of the iconic sitcom ¿Qué Pasa USA? with executive producer and writer Pepe Bahamonde, in conversation with cast members Barbara Ann Martin (Sharon) and Glenda Diaz Rigau (Marta). Relive some of Qué Pasa’s memorable moments and stay for a staged reading and sneak preview of Pepe’s new bilingual sitcom presented in collaboration with Teatro Prometeo.…
EXPATS! Haitian Women Poets in Exile: A Trilingual Reading in English, French, and Haitian Creole
Sponsored by the Green Family Foundation. Three women from Haiti will read and discuss poems that examine the physical, sociopolitical, canonical, and psychological kinds of exile endured by women writers of Haitian Descent. Poets Rebecca N. Carmant, Angie Bell, and Naomiel in conversation with M.J. Fievre will probe the complex issues of race, nationality, gender, sexuality, and class that limit (or enrich!) their lives as expats. Sponsored by Presented in partnership with:…
Live Music: Batuke Samba Funk
Come jam with this high energy Brazilian band that mixes 70’s Funk with Afro Samba, Brazilian Big Band, Batucada, Soul, and R&B. Batuke “brazilianizes” American sounds and “americanizes” Brazilian sounds to create a perfectly balanced fusion.…
Iconic Miami
Explorers’ accounts from the 1600s, obscure journals and zines, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas’ early writing as a reporter and recent poetic and fictional musings on the Magic City: Discover new and unknown writers with staged readings of some iconic fragments of fiction/poetry/nonfiction writing about Miami! This isn’t your “same old, same old” literary reading. Join some of Miami’s local writers as they “perform” short snippets from our literary past, against a visual backdrop including rare engravings, woodcuts and illustrations from the University of Miami’s Special Collections department.…
Iconic Miami
Wild Culture with AIRIE
Artists in Residence in the Everglades (AIRIE) is pleased to launch its Wild Billboards campaign with a cultural sampling of performers nesting among select mini billboards atThe Swamp. Deborah Mitchell will moderate a discussion with biologists and artists, including multi-disciplinary artist Franky Cruz, about ecological concerns and experiences in the wild.…
Reading Queer @ MBF: A Queer Quinceañera
Cruising the boundary between poetry and performance art, Queer Quinceañera is a celebration of Miami’s coming of age, hosted by local drag performers Juleysi and Karla. True to its queer spirit, it will include all the necessary ingredients for a proper coming of age party: a palanquin, a poetry reading, a Gloria Estefan song (or two), and a big ‘ole birthday cake. There will be music and dancing and glitter for all. Some drinks, too, provided by our local partners.…
Dance Band Night @ The Swamp! Soukous!
Come close out The Swamp in style, and dance with the ‘real’ stars! Join The Rhythm Foundation as they bring a special edition of their new signature series, Dance Band Night (2nd Thursdays at the North Beach Bandshell). Come toThe Swamp for a dance lesson by Delou African Company followed by a live music set by NYC-based Congolese soukous group Nkumu Katalay & Life Long Project Band to show off your dance moves!…