Free Movies Outdoors in Miami Beach's 'New Living Room'

By Shayne Benowitz
Published: December 13, 2011
Last Updated On: February 1, 2012

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The free SoundScape Cinema Series and WallCast Concerts turn the New World Center's park into a grassy mecca for culture lovers.

Miami Beach – Just before 8 p.m. on a Wednesday night in South Beach, hundreds of friends, couples and families gather in a grassy park just north of Lincoln Road. Some come with dogs, others with strollers, all navigating the curvilinear sidewalks that slice into the lawn to claim their plot of grass with beach blankets and picnics. The gently undulating topography mimics the Atlantic Ocean, only a few blocks east.

In moments Capt. Jack Sparrow, one of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, will appear on a wall six stories tall. The scene seemingly melts into the Miami night sky. Palm trees lining the park cast subtle shadows on the wall and the actual ocean breeze appears to fill the sail of Capt. Jack's pathetic dinghy.

This is the weekly SoundScape Cinema Series, a free, open-air event where movies are projected onto the New World Center's 7,000-square-foot wall. The series is produced in conjunction with the Arts in the Parks initiative, a response to a city-wide survey of Miami Beach residents requesting more free family activities and cultural programming.

"There's a shared social experience that takes place. And Miami knows a lot about social experiences." – Craig Hall, New World Center

"We select movies with critical and popular acclaim that will look good on the giant screen," says Gary Farmer, the city's cultural affairs program manager. The season runs October through May. Still to come are True Grit, Gone With The Wind and E.T.

There's free music, too. The New World Center, which opened this January, is home to the New World Symphony, America's orchestral academy. Throughout the season, symphony concerts within the center's performance hall are simulcast on the wall outside.

"It's brought classical music into a completely new realm," says Farmer. "By incorporating technology both inside and outside the hall, it speaks to a younger generation."

While the performance hall seats about 750 people, the WallCast Concerts at SoundScape Park are free and can play to an additional 1,000 patrons. Oftentimes, people will spill out into the surrounding park, doubling and tripling that number.

The New World Center was designed by star architect Frank Gehry, best known for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Here, a sweeping 80-foot glass curtain wall exposes the white atrium and Gehry's tumbling geometric forms, which resemble playful abstractions of performers on stage.

As Florida's first Gehry commission, the project was envisioned to reinvigorate Miami Beach's downtown district. The space, occupying two city blocks, was previously a surface parking lot. In an agreement with the city, the public park and the center's projection wall will be utilized only for cultural programming – never advertising or commercial use. Art Basel Miami Beach collaborated with the center to project video art on the wall during its December fair.

At the Pirates of the Caribbean screening, a half-moon hung in the twilight and a steady ocean breeze rustled the palm trees. The Bank of America tower on Lincoln Road displayed the temperature at 77 degrees. Groups stretched out on yoga mats and sleeping bags, their bicycles and skateboards strewn nearby.

"There's a shared social experience that takes place," says Craig Hall, the New World Center's Vice President of Communications. "And Miami knows a lot about social experiences."

Sean Brown, a Miami Beach resident and yacht designer, organizes a picnic every week for the cinema series. He brought homemade barbecue chicken and potato salad to the potluck and his party sat around a makeshift picnic table. "It's an excuse to hang out," he said. "You can walk in late, bring your dog, no one hushes you, and it's free."

As Farmer puts it, the New World Center's SoundScape Park "has become the new living room of Miami Beach."

Shayne Benowitz is a freelance travel writer based in Miami Beach. Follow her on Twitter @ShayneBenowitz.