Letter From Jack D. Johnson MDPL Chair

WELCOME TO THE 2023 EDITION OF ART DECO WEEKEND!

Our theme this year is “Art Deco Worldwide.” We are celebrating how Art Deco connects us all, in anticipation of the 16th World Congress on Art Deco, which will be taking place April 18-30.

Our lecture series will reflect this theme, including Michael Lassers’s ondemand virtual talk on “Astaire, Rogers, and the Art Deco Dream,” Jennifer Wong’s lecture on The Father of Chinese Art Deco Architecture and Walter Nelson’s lecture on Dancing in the Age of Deco at the Wolfsonian-FIU.

Spend the weekend with us, taking in the beautifully preserved hotels along Ocean Drive, the commercial buildings on Collins Avenue and Washington Avenue, the apartment buildings in the Flamingo Park neighborhood and the single family homes west of the Park. You can explore all of this yourself or you can take tours led by our trained tour guides.

The MDPL staff, volunteers, and Board have more activities for you than you can possibly fit into your ADW schedule - music, food, shopping, guided tours, films, lectures and more. I personally recommend the Jazz Age Art Deco VIP Lounge, the Ocean Drive walking tour, the Flamingo Park neighborhood Tour, the Artisan Market along Ocean Drive, and our series of Art Deco films at O Cinema South Beach. You can find the details for all these events in this Program Guide. And there’s lots more to choose from.

And don’t forget to visit the official MDPL Gift Shop in the Welcome Center. It has been completely reimagined and reorganized and is now the best shopping experience to be found anywhere on Miami Beach!

HAVE A GREAT ART DECO WEEKEND!

Jack Johnson, Chair of the Board Miami Design Preservation League