The Olympia Theater is about to be given away by the Miami city commission this Thursday — quietly, with no input from cultural or downtown stakeholders, no public discussion of the options and certainly no transparent, charter-mandated procurement process.
Instead of restoring one of Miami’s most iconic historic landmarks, the city is preparing to hand it over to a charter school company. This isn’t a cultural plan. It’s a shortcut. And it risks permanently losing a civic treasure that generations have fought to preserve.
I’m a Miami-based Cuban American who has spent my career building ambitious, sustainable arts institutions. I’m a Juilliard-trained pianist and co-founder of Le Poisson Rouge in New York, a venue that helped redefine what a performance space can be…