For many University of Miami students, May is a month in which preparations are made to leave Coral Gables and return home. However, the Lowe Art Museum and its participation in Miami Museum Month make May a good time to stick around and explore Miami-Dade county’s many cultural offerings.
During Miami Museum Month, the purchase of a membership to any one museum allows free access to all other participating museums. Including the Lowe, there are 15 participating museums involved in Miami Museum Month. Others include Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, the Haitian Heritage Museum, the Miami Museum of Science and the Jewish Museum of Florida.
According to Gita Shonek, who works with communications and marketing for Lowe, this museum-hopping aspect is made possible by backing from the Greater Miami Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (GMCBV). This is the Lowe’s third year participating in Miami Museum Month, but the first year the event has been supported by the GMCBV.
Both Shonek and Yina Balarezo, a membership coordinator for Lowe, agreed that the support from the GMCBV is a positive development.
“Our participation in Miami Museum Month has been successful for us,” Balarezo said. “Our membership increases. Our current members want to renew. Now that it’s at this level, with the GMCVB, it’s going to be even bigger.”
Balarezo and Shonek said that they encourage university students to participate in Miami Museum Month. According to Shonek, most participating museums hold some kind of happy hour event and, therefore, provide networking opportunities for UM students.
“For students, networking is really important,” Shonek said. “It’s the only way to get your foot in the door, especially if you are doing something with art. This is a way to enrich yourself, it gives you something different to do. It’s good for exposing yourself to the Miami cultural scene.”
Extra Info:
For lists participating museums and events, visit www.joinoneseethemall.com.
Lowe membership costs $30 for a full time student/educator at UM.