By Steve Plunkett
Ten months after walking away from its proposal to build a world-class performing arts center in Mizner Park, The Center for Arts and Innovation has resurrected itself with a new mission: promoting creativity.
It planned to hold its first “What If?” Days Nov. 1 in Boca Raton and Miami Beach, and Nov. 2 in Fort Lauderdale. The 2-hour pop-up events promised to let young people explore their creativity with hands-on fun, live music, dancing, food, raffles and interactive stations.
Children ages 6 to 18 were also invited to enter the center’s “What If?” Challenge and dream up their very own “Center for Creativity” via a drawing and words, with the winner earning a spot on TCAI’s advisory Junior Creative Directors Board.
Andrea Virgin, chair and CEO of the organization, gave commissioners of the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District a peek at the thinking behind the new endeavors on Oct. 20.
“For generations creativity has been in decline,” she said. “It starts at near universal levels for all of us as children, but around the ages of 8 to 14, that creativity capability (score) starts to really drop off, to about 30% around the age of 12, by the age of 15 to 12%.
“And then we get to the adults where we start to not really connect as much with our creative selves as much as we did when we were children. And then we pick it back up (going) into retirement.”
To combat the decline, the center is developing programming, like the What If? Challenge, to nurture creativity.
“We believe that creativity is for everyone. It is not just for artists, although we obviously work a lot with artists,” Virgin said. “But we believe creativity is for everyone from all ages, all industries, from any background; the world needs more imagination, not less.”
Coming in February will be a program called “What Do You See?”
“It’s a short film competition for our teenagers,” said Apryl Freeman, TCAI’s director of program development. “So, they are going to be with filmmakers to create their own short films and they’ll have their own screening and they will select the winner from there as well.”
The center also plans to offer intergenerational programming, or “creative kinship,” in which young and older generations come together for creative engagement; “creative reset” for adults in any industry who have lost touch with their creative selves; and “the gardens,” or programming that connects nature with creativity.
“We heard in a lot of our research that people feel they’re ... reset for their most creative work when they go out in nature,” Virgin said.
Virgin led a consortium of Boca Raton-based cultural organizations that in 2018 proposed a performing arts center at the north end of Mizner Park.
The project became The Center for Arts and Innovation, and its officials negotiated with the city for two years to hammer out a development agreement and the lease of city-owned land. The City Council approved the deals in 2022.
The next year the renowned Renzo Piano Building Workshop, which accepts only two or three commissions a year, agreed to design the center. The new design was unveiled in May 2024 with an estimated cost exceeding $100 million.
But over the last three months of last year, it all came crashing down. Facing a shortfall in donations, TCAI asked city officials to amend the development agreement to give the group more time to raise money. Unable to persuade them to do so, TCAI terminated the agreement on Jan. 8.
‘What If?’ Days
The Center for Arts and Innovation is holding a weekend of activities for children. Although all spots for its creativity pop-ups are gone, children can join a waitlist at thecenterforartsand innovation.org or simply show up and take part in the fun. They can also drop off their entries for the ‘What If?’ Challenge or submit them online.
Sugar Sand Park,
Boca Raton
9-11 a.m. Nov. 1
Normandy Fountain, Miami Beach
3-5 p.m. Nov. 1
Museum of Discovery and Science,
Fort Lauderdale
4-6 p.m. Nov. 2
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