‘A perfect location’: A new center for the arts poised to open in Broward
A new venue billed as the “perfect location” for musical performances, plays and presentations will be opening in Broward, county officials announced Thursday, while noting the importance of offering destinations that celebrate the arts and culture.
The West Broward Cultural Center will become a “hub of creativity,” opening as early as 2026 on State Road 84 east of Flamingo Road in Davie, said County Commissioner Steve Geller, who revealed the plans Thursday at the county’s inaugural State of the Arts Address.
“You can tell a lot about the soul of a county by how it funds its art and culture,” Geller said. “Arts and culture plays a pivotal role” in the county’s identity.
Thursday’s event at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts highlighted efforts to showcase public art, and support local artists in their genre ranging from jazz to fashion, and promote events such as the IGNITE Broward festival, a five-day event with light-based art. The next festival will be in January.
Meredith Clements, business development manager for the Broward Cultural Division, said the county is seeking local paid writers to be part of their new digital freelance writing staff to “tell the stories about arts and culture in Broward.” Their work would be submitted for consideration for publication to local media, including the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The new cultural center is expected to include a small catering kitchen, a multi-purpose performance arts center that could seat “a couple hundred people” to come watch a play or listen to local musicians. There is also expected to be classroom space and office space for local clubs to come meet, and have access to filing cabinets.
There could also be a dance rehearsal space, a gallery and exhibitions, and room for workshops. But in its planning, the county will “involve the arts community in its creation so it meets their needs,” said Phillip Dunlap, the county’s Cultural Division director.
The new center will replace the space of an art museum that closed years ago. Geller said the space easily could have been sold for housing or an office park and “many people” had approached the county to ask, but a cultural location was needed out west. “This was a perfect location,” he said. “It had to remain for cultural use.”
Plans have not yet been finalized for the new center, and the design is still being developed.
The new center will occupy the space inside a county building that was once leased to Young At Art, which offered festivals, art classes and continuing exhibits.
The county first agreed in 2006 to build the 55,000-square-foot Young At Art museum a home, which became a stand-alone museum and branch library that opened in 2012, south of Interstate 595 and east of Flamingo Road in Davie.
But the partnership was rife with tension, ongoing financial problems, and each side accused the other of misinformation. The county voted to evict the museum in September 2020 for not paying its bills. It had a debt of $776,061 of unpaid rent and expenses at the time, according to county records.
Young At Art is now located inside the Broward Mall, along West Broward Boulevard, in Plantation.
Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash
