The rich, colorful heritage that is the Haitian Diaspora is in the spotlight in May during Haitian Heritage Month.

“It makes me happy to see the community bringing people together to celebrate our similarities and differences,” says artist Cavan Koebel.

Seeing the project as the perfect match, artist Alex Yanes feels it is "exactly the kind of response to food scarcity this city needs, merging creativity with humanity."

Despite the pandemic, the Arts & Business Council of Miami continues its long-running Miami Arts Marketing Project workshop series. The

Expecting to be up and running by the summer, the pandemic had other plans. When faced with a continued closure, they decided to build an outdoor theater.

“Everything in life during the pandemic – movies, television, music – is touched by artists. This is why the support of individual artists is so important.”

"... smaller ideas which will institute change of how artists live and practice and raise the question, 'What is black art?' Additionally, it will address how black artists shape the landscape that they live in,” said Guerrier.

“I’m grateful to have music in my life. I have to feel what I’m doing is making a difference and creating something beautiful,” she said.

Ultimately, the activation program at MOCA serves as a silver lining during all the trauma caused by the pandemic. It has allowed them to connect with the community and serve an area of the region “that doesn’t have much happening in the way of public art... filling that need.”

Navigating marketing expertise in regular times can be a challenge for arts groups. Throw in a pandemic and the cancelations of events and challenging becomes an understatement.