WHO IS TIGERTAIL?

Tigertail Productions
842 NW 9th Court
Miami, FL 33136
305.324.4337
email@tigertail.org

Organizational Profile

Mission

Tigertail, Florida's pioneer of new and innovative art, develops and presents bold, adventuresome, provocative work in the performing, literary and visual arts—art of our time by and for Greater Miami.

Years in Existence

Founded in Miami-Dade, November, 1979, Tigertail will be celebrating its 25th anniversary in the fall of 2004.

Current Programming — What is the artistic "cloth" of Tigertail?

  • international exchange—Tigertail FLA/BRA (Florida/Brazil) Festival is an annual international exchange project of 30 events and 60 artists that commissions new work by Miami artists, brings performing and visual artists to Miami for performances, residencies and collaborations and sends our Miami artists to exhibit and work in Brazil. Since 1986, Tigertail has produced over 70 international projects here and abroad with Miami, Brazil, Peru and Mexico. The March 2004 FLA/BRA focused on the Asian Diaspora of the Americas. FLA/BRA is Tigertail's primary project.
  • connecting to neighborhoods—East Little Havana Initiative. This dynamic, engaging project addresses the pressing need for cultural and community activities in East Little Havana, an impoverished, under-served, underdeveloped Miami-Dade neighborhood bordering the Miami River. East Little Havana is comprised of landed immigrants from the Caribbean, Central and South America. Our proposed project is designed to be a catalyst in the re-vitalization of this community.
  • access—danceAble is a dance project by Tigertail and Florida Dance Association for the able and the physically challenged. danceAble seeks to change how we view what is possible in dance, questions what is a normal body and who has access. Performances by internationally renowned mixed-ability companies and area choreographers and events for our own able and physically challenged dancers take place throughout the year and within the Florida Dance Festival.
  • grants to artists—Artist Access, a professional development program begun in 1997 by Tigertail and Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs that provides mini-grants to artists to advance their work and careers. Tigertail has given out 78 awards to Miami-Dade artists in all media.
  • publication— Tigertail, A South Florida Poetry Annual, an annual book of new poetry by South Florida poets. Volume II was released in April, 2004. It was edited by Michael Hettich, with cover art by Wendy Wischer. Each year a different editor selects the poets for the book. Volume I was edited by Miami's MacArthur recipient Campbell McGrath, with a cover by Carlos Betancourt.   Read more about Tigertail, a South Florida Poetry Annual
  • art and the environment—a new project launched in October, 2002, with Bird Brain—a navigational dance project. Art and the Environment re-tools ideas on how art is conceived and delivered.

    • New Works Development

    All Tigertail projects are curated and are a part of our "Made in Miami" approach. Projects are conceived of as a whole. Within our FLA/BRA Festival and East Little Havana Initiative, Tigertail commissions Miami choreographers and visual artists.

    Educational Programs

    Three to four, one to two-week artist residencies in area colleges and universities, summer programming for 200 youth in East Little Havana and 6-8 multi-week, year-round educational projects in the public schools are a part of our East Little Havana Initiative and FLA/BRA. Youth projects often culminate in public exhibitions, performances and permanent site-specific art installations. We like the idea of projects that "leave a residue" and "live on" after their formal conclusion.

    Staff

  • Director/Curator, Mary Luft, a Fulbright Scholar, 4-time NEA Choreography and Administrative Fellowship recipient, Tigertail founder
  • Project Manager, Vivian Marthell, conceptual artist with a background in installation art, photography and science.
  • Administrative Assistant, Walkiria Jacomini, Brazilian, fluent in Portuguese and Spanish

    • Other assistants are brought on for special project work and for the FLA/BRA Festival.

    Tigertail Overview

    In 1979, when Tigertail was founded, Miami was a very different place from the city that it is today. Since 1979, Miami has more than doubled in size and the demographics have taken wild swings. Recent changes have roared through Miami like a hurricane. This "season only" sleepy "sun and fun" town is now an upbeat, highly social, round the clock, Latin-dominated "city in the news" and a major player in U.S. trade and tourism. Physically, we are a peninsula, located in the sub-tropics—linguistically Spanish, Portuguese, Creole and English speaking.

    For over 24 years, our image as a risk-taker and a forward-thinking organization that "leads the pack" has remained intact. Tigertail came out of the alternative space movement in the U.S. and is one of the founders of N.A.A.O. (the National Association of Artists Organizations). Tigertail gained a national and international presence through our 1988 "New Music America Miami Festival" and our events for the 1991 Bienal in São Paulo, Brazil. In 1992, after the upheaval of Hurricane Andrew, Tigertail began moving in a different direction. We moved out of the business of "importing art" just to "bring the new" to our community. Our focus is still on the new—work that reflects current directions and thinking in art. We bring in artists from outside of Miami, but they are woven into our "made in Miami" approach. We support Miami artists through substantial programs and provide our artists opportunities to grow and develop. Our projects reflect the dynamics and profile of our city. Tigertail creates its own projects influenced by Miami, not New York, Los Angeles or Seattle. We are weaving our own cloth.


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