The City of Aventura Arts & Cultural Center is celebrating their 15th anniversary with a lot to look forward to in its 2025/2026 season.
The Arts & Cultural Center was created by the City of Aventura 15 years ago to be the cultural hub for a city – a place to celebrate the arts. The venue is an intimate space with only 330 seats, so audiences are treated to an up-close and personal show no matter where they are seated. Since its opening, there have been 2,000 performances and more than 357,000 people have walked through the doors to see shows and performances.
“I think it’s really what distinguishes cities from one another is having that dedication to the arts and the performing arts especially and having that available to the residents and community,” said Brian Pegues, Aventura city manager, “where they can either walk down the street and go catch a show or hop in an Uber and be there within a couple of minutes. It’s really an added value to residents of this city.”
Aventura Arts & Cultural Center opened October 23, 2010 and held some previews before its official opening. For the grand opening festivities, Patti Lupone was their featured performer along with a red carpet and banquet event.
David I. Muir
Jeff Kiltie, general manager of Aventura Arts & Cultural Center
Jeff Kiltie, who has been general manager of Aventura Arts & Cultural Center since 2016, said they are making a bigger deal for its 15th anniversary due to the fact that their 10th happened during COVID pandemic, when everything had shut down. Ushers will wear special ribbons to commemorate the anniversary. Special recognition moments are planned for those who have been very impactful over the years. There will also be some fun selfie stations with props for everyone to share their fun moments at the theatre.
“We’re basically celebrating the whole season as our anniversary season,” said Kiltie. “We are not doing any specific anniversary event or a concert.”
It happens to also be the City of Aventura’s 30th anniversary, so in a sense, they are both celebrating a milestone anniversary.
ANTHONYMATULA
Broadway star Megan Hilty
Pegues said he’s looking forward the new season, which includes Megan Hilty, who is currently starring in “Death Becomes Her” on Broadway; Tony Award winner Stephanie J. Block; and Bee Gees Now! - A Tribute.
“I just keep looking forward to us continuing to grow and serve as many of the residents of Aventura and our surrounding communities,” said Kiltie. “We work really hard to create a balance of programming so that there’s something for everybody. The people who come to the center really do reflect the population of Aventura. Our demographics of who shows up at the theatre closely resembles our community. That’s one of the things we really love. I want us to keep providing amazing performances and experiences to the city of excellence.”
Tony Award winner Stephanie J. Block
Aventura Arts & Cultural Center’s mission is to serve the entire community, so they strive for diverse and accessible programming.
They have had great success with their summer theatre camp, which sells out each year. Pegues said some of the big points for community involvement is that they’ve grown recently with their high school and k-12 schools, which have robust dance programs and the high school has a theatre program. They’ve used the facilities many times throughout the year to hold their productions and dance recitals.
“In the last year we had close to seven events over there from both the schools and performances which really bring all the children, their families that come out there to the arts and cultural center,” Pegues said.
Aventura Arts & Cultural Center also supports local talent with their Young Stars Showcase, in which local teens perform rock and roll and showtunes.
Citing the diversity of Aventura, South Florida, and Miami, Aventura Arts & Cultural Center programs are designed to appeal to many tastes and communities. In addition to their Broadway-style fare there’s Motown, a variety of Latin performances, and Israeli performers.
“Our mission is to enhance the cultural environment and the lives of the residents of Aventura and surrounding communities,” said Kiltie. “We do fulfill our mission on a regular basis. We have so many community partners and organizations that use the center as their homebase. It’s also a big part of our mission to support the other departments of the city, including the Aventura City of Excellence School. It’s really about serving the entire community as much as possible.”
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Second City: Laugh Harder Not Smarter is part of the upcoming season at Aventura Arts & Cultural Center
Pegues said that Aventura Arts & Cultural Center programming has changed over the years.
“When the arts and cultural center first started out, we did a lot of international film events,” he said. “It brought in a lot of people. We had a lot of Broadway performers. We have a lot of younger families here. The team does a great job keeping up to date with what the relevant needs of the community are and to find that programming that’s going to bring in people and keep the theater full. They’ve been very successful in doing that. Throughout the year, they go to conferences in New York and different places to attract artists to get them down here.”
According to Kiltie, the biggest way the community can support Aventura Arts & Cultural Center is to buy tickets to show. But people can also support by volunteering their time and serve as ushers, greeters and ambassadors. Over the past 15 years, they’ve had more than 250 volunteers who have donated more than 55,000 hours of their time to support the center.
Kilte said he’s proud of the accomplishments of Aventura Arts & Cultural Center and the team over the past 15 years.
“Everything runs very smoothly and it’s great to be part of such a supportive community, city, advisory board and commission.”