Official uVu Blog

Miami Today Profile - Christina DePaul

After receiving a scholarship at age 15 that allowed her to blossom as an artist, Christina DePaul now works to offer 150  young artists every year the opportunity to grow their talent in her role as president and CEO of YoungArts, a program of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.The Miami-based organization supports talented students around the country in nine disciplines, including dance, theater, visual arts, jazz and classic instrumental music, to benefit from programs and scholarships to help them pursue their artistic dreams. This year, the non-profit started a regional program known as YoungArts Miami. “It’s a program where not only we’ll be working with students, but we’ll also be working with teachers and parents of these creative kids,” Ms. DePaul explained. “And we’ll be holding workshops and lots of professional practices of how to become a professional artist because all the students that come to us that is ultimately their goal.”Ms. DePaul turned her career from artist to administrator to rescue struggling art programs, turning them around into well-endowed departments.“…I think my success as an administrator always had to do with the fact that I was an artist,” she said. “Also when you go to art school, people don’t realize this, when you go to arts school you are trained to be a creative thinker. You are a problem solver.”Today, Ms. DePaul’s focus is to increase the arts organization’s exposure and raise more funds to allow more of the 6,000 students who apply to the program each year get a shot at reaching their artistic potential.  “The arts are not supported enough in this country and I think the ones of us who are really believers have got to rally and keep it going,” she said.Ms. DePaul discussed her current efforts and long-term plans to take YoungArts to the next level in an interview with Miami Today reporter Yudislaidy Fernandez at the organization’s Brickell offices.

Who's your neighbor: Hunter

Did you know that there are over 200 different types of dwarfism, well if you didn’t you know now and we met one extraordinary little boy. Hunter’s dwarfism is known as achondroplasia and it is the most common among little people; 80% of little people have this type of dwarfism. Hunter was born into an average sized family and has an older sister Hannah. His parents expressed how outgoing he is and how he loves to be in front of the camera, but we experienced a different side of Hunter, a more shy and quiet side. Of course any eight year old boy is going to clam up when a crew full of females invades his house, but his mother expressed that he is quite the little ladies man. As you can imagine it was hard to get him to speak so his parents did most of the talking for him.

Read more of Liza Bruno's blog post.

Bail Out - uVuSouthFlorida Video

College student inquires about government bail out.

A Lincoln Town Hall: Lincoln, Miami and the American Dream

"Lincoln, Miami and The American Dream” is one of 11 “Lincoln Town Halls” presented throughout the United States, focused on the 200^th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday and sponsored by the Congressionally established Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, with national funding from the Fetzer Institute. The town hall took place on Sunday, November 1, 2009 in the Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.

University School presents "International Night"

To pay tribute to and celebrate their cultural, ethnic and racial diversity, students at University School of Nova Southeastern University (NSU) honored their heritage with a night of food and entertainment at the annual International Night: A Taste of Nations.
 
During the Tuesday, Nov. 17 celebration, more than 50 different cultures were represented by University School families with students in grades 9-12. The evening’s highlights included:

A Parade of Nations, With students presenting flags from the more than 50 countries represented by University School’s student body. 

Other presentations will included artistic expressions from all the different corners of the globe such as: 
Gillian and Raquelle Newman singing "Redemption Song", celebrating their Jamaican roots. 
Bijan Abae and his band The Baguettes performing Derniere Danse, the French version of Last Dance in celebration of his French heritage. 
Matt Seely performed Neil Diamond’s "America" with his band, Subzerow, in celebration of the United States.

Each family brought a dish from their cultural background to share during this smorgasbord of delicacies from around the world. The menu will include everything from Chicken Schnitzel, an entree from Germany, to Alfajori, a dessert from Peru, and Kaji Fu Burfi, an Indian dessert. 
 
The evening began at 7 p.m. in the Epstein Center for the Arts on the University School campus at 3375 SW 75 Avenue in Davie. 

The "International Night" festivities was hosted by the University School’s World Language Department, the French and Spanish Honor Societies, and the Student Diversity Leadership Association, with the help of a Parent Committee. 

International Night is truly a display of who the University School students are, and the pride they have in their cultural backgrounds. 

Miami Today Profile - Tomás Regalado

After almost 14 years serving as commissioner for Miami’s District 4, Tomás Regalado is moving on up to the second floor of Miami City Hall to occupy the mayor seat.

Though no longer having a vote in his new role, Mr. Regalado plans to use his power as mayor to bring big changes to city hall. Making the decision-making process more transparent, he says, and making the administration more accountable is a big priority.

As of this week, Mayor Regalado said, he is to open under the mayor’s office the “Office of the Residents,” where residents will get to meet with his staff to discuss issues and concerns. To further engage the public, he plans to restructure the city’s Channel 77, a government access cable channel, to begin holding homeowner association and community meetings at the chambers and televise them for the public.

Education Committee Forum

The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce organized the Education Committee Forum on Nov. 2nd, 2009 at the Hilton Hotel in Downtown Miami.

Roberta Kressel, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Education Committee Chair started the event with opening remarks and introduced the moderator for the forum, Juan del Busto, Regional Executive, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Miami Branch.

The forum focused on one general question.

What is our community's investment in education?

Featuring:

Alberto Carvalho, Superintendent, Miami-Dade County Public Schools

Eduardo Padron, President, Miami Dade College

Mark Rosenberg, president, Florida International University

Watch the forum here on uvu

The Voysey Inheritance

The Caldwell Theatre company begins their 35th season with "The Voysey Inheritance." The play was written by Harley Granville-Barker over a century ago and recently adapted by David Mamet.  The story is especially relevant given the current economic climate.

uVu had a chance to sit with some of the cast and creative team as they prepared for the opening this week.

You can watch the video clips here.

Florida's Waterways

Waterways is a series of mini-documentaries that explore the natural and cultural heritage of South Florida's public lands. Waterways is a cooperative effort between the National Park Service and the following partners: South Florida National Parks Trust, Environmental Protection Agency and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

This episode: Tortugas Research Natural Area.

Forty-six percent of Dry Tortugas National Park is designated as a “Research Natural Area (RNA)”—closed to fishing and anchoring. Resulting from documented declines in fish catches and the health of the coral reef, and intended to complement the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary’s Tortugas Ecological Reserve, the RNA will help protect the park in a more pristine state.

You can watch more episodes on uVu

Miami Today Newsmaker Profile - Ed Joyce

After 25 years with Chicago-based Northern Trust Bank, longtime Miamian Edward J. Joyce was chosen to succeed the bank’s longtime Miami-Dade Region President Sheldon T. Anderson.  Mr. Anderson, meanwhile, will stay in Miami and assume leadership of the bank’s Personal Financial Services business in the Southeast US.

As he transitions into his new role, Mr. Joyce said he’ll be drawing on a wealth of experience in different areas of Northern Trust’s business to lead its day-to-day operations in Miami. “For the last four or 4½ years, I’ve been much more exposed to the banking side of our business in a management role than I had been in the past,” Mr. Joyce said. “And I think that experience of the multi-discipline approach gave me a really good background for doing this job.”

The bank continues to see opportunities to attract high-net-worth clients despite a slowdown in population growth in Florida, lagging economic factors and increased competition from new and existing banks targeting the same clients. “There have always been a lot of competitors in that market both nationally and here in Miami and the ones… mentioned will continue to be strong competitors. We welcome the competition,” he said. “We think that our strengths, our safety, our soundness, our customization, our expertise in trust, investment and banking play very, very well to what clients are looking for.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Joyce pointed to the dramatic rebounding of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which recently topped the 10,000 mark for the first time this year, as a leading indicator for the recovery, though there’s still a ways to go. And while that recovery is predicted to move along slowly, Mr. Joyce said the bank will begin to target smaller businesses for lending as a way to bring in individual clients for its personalized wealth-management services. “We’ve seen some opportunities in the foundation and endowment area as well as with some local businesses,” he pointed out. “We think Miami has a lot of small, as Florida does, a lot of small businesses, and we see that as an opportunity for us.”

Mr. Joyce was interviewed in Northern Trust’s Brickell Avenue office by Miami Today Staff Writer Zachary S. Fagenson.

Watch the profile here