Beth Boone, A Boon To The Miami Arts Scene, Wins The 2024 Berresford Prize

United States Artists has announced Beth Boone as the recipient of the 2024 Berresford Prize, the organization's annual award honoring cultural practitioners for their significant contributions to the advancement, wellbeing, and care of artists in society. As an artist, community leader, and Artistic and Executive Director of Miami Light Project, Boone's dynamic career is one of force, having catalyzed systems of cultural support not only locally, but nationally and internationally.

Across theater direction, program development, and cultural leadership, Boone's practice is grounded in nurturing artistic exchange at every scale. The selection process for this year's Berresford Prize was especially attentive to candidates who demonstrated persistence and iteration throughout the course of their careers. To that end, Boone's tenacious and enduring work to build community for artists and provide resources for them to make and share their work stood out as a hallmark example of committing to one's community.

Since 1998, in Boone's role as Artistic and Executive Director of Miami Light Project, she has distinguished herself as a leader in Miami's cultural community, developing critical artistic programs and asserting the organization as one of the leading cultural institutions in South Florida.

Boone's tremendous accomplishments in her role at Miami Light Project have brought her national recognition for her work in the field. These achievements include the establishment of Here and Now, South Florida's most respected commission and presenting program for community-based artists; premiere presentations of internationally acclaimed artists; pioneering historic international cultural exchange with Cuba; and the creation of The Light Box at Goldman Warehouse, a multi-use performance and visual art space in Miami's Wynwood Arts District. Boone previously served as Associate Director of Development for Florida Grand Opera, Deputy Director for the Department of Cultural Affairs at Miami Dade Community College, Wolfson Campus, co-founded an Off Broadway theater company (New York Rep), and served for six years as a Program Associate in the Arts & Culture Program of the AT&T Foundation.

Upon moving to Miami in 1994, Boone began building deep, multi-faceted relationships with Cuban artists, navigating the politically fraught relationship between the U.S. and Cuba to fortify the culturally vital link to a country central to Miami's identity. She diversified programming to include more artists of color from the U.S., as well as Africa and Asia, and facilitated the organization's ongoing presentation of cutting-edge performers of all kinds, both nationally and internationally known. The evolution of deeper programmatic shifts in the new millennium – focusing on Miami-based artists, cultural exchange, artists of color, and hip-hop culture – made Miami Light Project an integral part of the region's cultural shift in the past two decades. The city revealed a unique identity, arising from its mix of immigrants and communities, as a place with its own distinctive voice.

“I am overwhelmed by this recognition and deeply honored to be the recipient of the 2024 Berresford Prize. I am grateful to be part of a community of artists and cultural practitioners who are building community through art and culture,” said Beth Boone, 2024 Berresford Prize Awardee. “In Miami, we do this by supporting artists in their creative process, developing new artistic work, and creating space for people to gather in shared experiences of this work. It is so rewarding to have our work be seen and acknowledged on a national level.”

"As an esteemed colleague, there is something so remarkable about how she has continuously evolved and adapted to waves of cultural change to ensure artists and communities thrive together,” said Kristy Edmunds, 2019 Berresford Prize Awardee. “Her leadership contains multitudes, but there are two characteristics that encapsulate how she navigates what is evolving while sustaining deep roots: no matter the challenge she will innovate at the speed of creative culture to ensure its integrity, and she will unlock new superpowers in the process (not only hers, but everyone's). I am elated that the Berresford Prize has acknowledged her contributions, and by extension, the visibility of her work in Miami and beyond.”

“We're thrilled to honor Beth Boone, whose enduring commitment to building community among artists and cultivating platforms for cultural expression profoundly reflects the ethos of the Berresford Prize,” said Judilee Reed, President and CEO of United States Artists. “Her reverberating impacts across local, national, and global artistic spheres—including her efforts to build bridges between international creative communities—have enshrined valuable opportunities for multiple generations of artists to thrive.”

“As we celebrate the fifth year of the Berresford Prize, we're excited to name Beth Boone as this year's recipient for her integral contributions, especially towards Miami's vibrant and ever-evolving arts landscape,” said USA Board Chair, Ed Henry. “Boone's work has steered and cultivated Miami's cultural sector throughout decades of growth and change, and her commitment to the artistic community within the Miami region and beyond has had immense impact.”

Introduced in 2019, the Berresford Prize is named for Susan V. Berresford, former president of the Ford Foundation, co-founder of USA, and former member of the USA Board of Trustees. The unrestricted $50,000 prize extends the organization's commitment to artists by honoring the influential administrators, curators, scholars, and producers who are building platforms and creating conditions for artists to thrive. The award was initially proposed by several USA Fellows in response to the widespread lack of recognition for those who have dedicated their careers to the betterment of artists.

Previous recipients of the Berresford Prize have included Maori Karmael Holmes, founder and Chief Executive & Artistic Officer of Blackstar Projects; Kristy Edmunds, Executive and Artistic Director of UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance at the time of the award; Linda Goode Bryant, social activist, gallerist, filmmaker, and Founder and President of Active Citizen Project and Project EATS; Lulani Arquette, President and CEO of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) and Roberto Bedoya, Cultural Affairs Manager for the City of Oakland (jointly awarded the Prize in 2021); and author, bookseller, artist, and Native Arts advocate Louise Erdrich.

About Beth Boone

Beth Boone is the Artistic & Executive Director of Miami Light Project. Her thirty-five-year career in the arts includes extensive experience & accomplishment in programming, curating, fundraising, organizational development, and public advocacy and encompasses positions in the corporate, higher education, and nonprofit sectors.

During her 26-year tenure at Miami Light Project, Beth has distinguished herself as a visionary leader in the Miami community. Her work nurturing emerging artists and cultivating new artistic work is unparalleled in Miami and has asserted Miami Light Project as a leading independent cultural institution in South Florida. Highlights of her work include establishing a singular commissioning, residency and presenting program for Miami-based artists, launching dozens of Miami-based artists onto the national stage; partnering with the ACLU to strike down a county ordinance that prohibited cultural exchange with Cuba, thereafter launching unprecedented international cultural exchange with the island; founding the Light Box at Goldman Warehouse, a celebrated multidisciplinary performance space in Miami's Wynwood Arts District, which operated from 2009 through 2022.

Beth holds a B.A. in Fine Arts from the College of Charleston in South Carolina and an MFA in Theater Arts from Brandeis University in Massachusetts. While pursuing a career in theater in New York, Beth became a founding member of two Off Broadway theater companies and served for seven years as a Program Associate in the Arts & Culture Program of the AT&T Foundation. Prior to Miami Light Project, Beth was the Associate Director of Development for Florida Grand Opera, Deputy Director, then Interim Director, for the Department of Cultural Affairs at Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus.

Recognition for Beth's work includes Best Promoter of Cultural Diversity (Miami New Times), 40 to Watch in the Arts (Miami Herald), Women Ruling the Arts (Miami Herald), and the Howard Kleinberg Carbonell Award for Contributions in Art & Activism, from the Theater League of South Florida.

As an advocate and change-maker in the field, Beth has facilitated the establishment of many Miami-based cultural organizations including Teo Castellanos D-Projects, Nu Deco Ensemble, and Rosie Herrera Dance Theater. She has served as panelist, speaker, and evaluator for the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, Japan Foundation, Ford Foundation, Association of Performing Arts Professionals, MAP Fund, Knight Foundation, Australia Council, and Goethe-Institut, among others. Beth is the recipient of the United States Artists 2024 Berresford Prize.

About United States Artists

United States Artists plays a pivotal role in America's cultural ecosystem, advancing the well-being of artists through unrestricted funding and tailored professional services, amplifying artists' work, and improving conditions that support their essential roles in society. Founded in 2005 and based in Chicago, IL, United States Artists has awarded over 1000 individuals with over $49 million of direct support across its flagship Fellowship program and its special initiatives.

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