CANDO Marketing
Marketing Campaign Already Being Devised for Future Arts District

The map is part of a “collective effort to brand the place as an arts-related area.”

The Miami City Ballet maintains a base within CANDO.

By Ryan Brown

A blue-ribbon mayoral committee is laying the groundwork for a flourishing art community to be established in South Beach.

Among the essential ingredients, according to committee members, is good marketing.

The Cultural Arts Neighborhood District Overlay will run from Lincoln Road to Collins Park and from 23rd Street to the ocean, and will provide affordable housing and workspace for local artists.

“Lots of artists are moving because they can’t afford to live here,” says Nancy Liebman, chair of the CANDO committee and former Miami Beach commissioner. “We don’t want it to be like Lincoln Road, where all the artists had to bail out because they couldn’t afford to live there anymore.… We want this area [of the proposed CANDO] to be designated as an arts-related district.”

The details on how CANDO will be established are still being worked out. However, many committee members agree CANDO’s success hinges on how it is marketed.

According to publicist Laura Jamieson, who chairs CANDO’s marketing committee, the first step toward promoting the district is the production of a map.

“The map of the CANDO, which will be created by the city of Miami Beach’s Graphics Department, will include the museums, galleries and film festivals in the area. It will also include an index of art in public places. I don’t know of any other map that has something like that,” Jamieson says.

According to Liebman, the map is part of a “collective effort to brand the place as an arts- related area.”

This branding, Liebman explains, will attract art buyers, galleries and other cultural venues like museums and performance centers.

“It’s also to keep artists and cultural venues already in the area, and to bring back the arts that we are losing,” says Liebman.

But the artists and art establishments aren’t the only ones CANDO’s marketing campaign aims to attract.

According to Liebman, the map and the “branding” are also intended “to attract developers. The marketing is a carrot that will hopefully attract developers interested in incentives for building arts-related housing.”

“Promoting those incentives is our job,” Jamieson adds.

Both Jamieson and Liebman stress that the more the public is aware of the CANDO, and the more effectively it is marketed, the better its chance of success.

“We are planning a launch party for March 1st, of course there will be lots of art and performances, and it will be open to the public,” says Jamieson.

Comments? E-mail ryan@miamisunpost.com.