Long before Art Deco was a movement and prior to the arrival of the youth culture of MTV and Miami Vice, South Beach was home to the largest cluster of Jewish retirees in the country.

Intrigued by the small apartments, low-cost of living, sunny weather, and thriving cultural life, they came in the thousands seeking refuge from the Northeast’s brutal winters. By the 1970’s, these former New Yorkers were turning from seasonal visitors to year-round residents, all the while making Miami Beach home to a population that was primarily over 70 and overwhelmingly Jewish.

In The Last Resort, viewers embark on a journey to the iconic Miami Beach of yesterday thru the lens of young photographers Andy Sweet and Gary Monroe. With camera in hand, they embarked upon an ambitious 10-year project to document the aging population living in the sunburned paradise of 1970’s Miami Beach and into the changing, turbulent 1980’s. Working in different styles and approaches they captured the end of an era through engrossing black and white images by Monroe juxtaposed with Sweet’s captivating candy-hued color photos. The result is one of the most fascinating photographic documentation’s of a community ever caught on film.

Featuring interviews with Pulitzer prize winner Edna Buchanan, filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, Jewish Museum of Florida Executive Director Susan Gladstone and photographer Gary Monroe, The Last Resort is a celebration of some of Miami’s greatest visual artists and a stunning testament to a community all but forgotten…until now.

Film presented with support from Catherine and John Farahi.

Jack Malotte’s artworks celebrates the landscapes of the Great Basin, with a unique focus on contemporary political issues faced by Native people seeking to protect and preserve access to their lands. Malotte infuses wry humor into his work, even as he delves into subject matter that is sometimes serious and sobering. Malotte’s most recent work reconsiders historical narratives and myths of the American West, refers to Western Shoshone and Washoe traditions and legends, and highlights longtime political, environmental, and legal struggles of Native communities. Join us for a conversation between Jack Malotte and Ann M. Wolfe, Andrea and John C. Deane Family Senior Curator and Deputy Director. 

Doors open at 10:30 am with book sales. Signing to follow the talk.

The OutWest Film Fest celebrates the best of LGBTQ international film making. Session II will feature international and regional shorts, documentaries and a local films. Films include, A Cohort of Guests, Mankind, Break In, The Last Supper, Hiding in Daylight, The One You Never Forget, Time and Again and Always Dani. 

Following the screening of the last film Session II, Always Dani will be a Q & A with the film’s director Rosa Carranza. Carranza is a young filmmaker from Mexico City who recently finished her filmmaking studies at SAE, Mexico. Along with Always Dani, she is the director of Mr. Turtle, a short documentary that has been awarded the diploma for the best student film in 2018’s Jaipur’s International Film Festival. This documentary has also been a part of the official selection of Hidalgo’s Film Festival and Monterrey’s Film Festival (KinoStart).

*NOTE: There are two sessions for the OutWest Film Festival. Tickets to each session are sold separately.

chez louie will be open between sessions with a small bites menu (for purchase) and cash bar.

The OutWest Film Fest celebrates the best of LGBTQ international film making and will feature the documentary film, Light in the Water, followed by a special Q&A session with Director, Lis Bartlett and Taj Paxton, Executive Producer and Head of Logo Documentary Films.

Light in the Water shares the empowering story of West Hollywood Aquatics, the first openly gay masters swim team, from their founding in 1982 for the first ever Gay Games in San Francisco, through the AIDS crisis, and up to the present day. A television version of the film premiered on Logo TV June 2018 and it has now screened in over 10 film festivals around the world, including Paris, Glasgow, Sydney, London and Palm Springs, where in January it was voted “Best of Fest” by audiences. 

*NOTE: There are two sessions for the OutWest Film Festival. Tickets to each session are sold separately.

chez louie will be open between sessions with a small bites menu (for purchase) and cash bar.

Lis Bartlett: Emmy nominated Director Lis Bartlett has long been captivated by true stories. While pursuing degrees in Media Studies and Performing Arts and Social Justice at USF, she spent her summers cultivating her passion through Project Moonshine, a Reno, Nevada non-profit, teaching filmmaking skills to high school students. Lis has developed her filmmaking skills in Los Angeles by working in the editorial department of numerous projects, including Kobe Bryant’s Showtime documentary MUSE; and most recently as editor for two episodes of “The Pitch” for Audience Network.

Taj Paxton: Taj is an award-winning writer, director and producer who has won three consecutive Emmy Awards in the Documentary category. Taj was awarded the Humanitas Prize, given to works that inspire human freedom, for producing the independent feature film, Green Dragon. Her short film, A Fat Girl’s Guide to Yoga, won NBC’s Comedy Short Cuts Film Festival, as well as its Audience Award. Her most recent work as a filmmaker, the music-inspired short My Brothers Keeper, is a moving meditation of love and loss that asks the audience to expand their understanding of Black masculinity and Black fatherhood.  Taj’s entire career has been lived at the intersection of race, gender & sexual orientation and, equally important, at the intersection of art and social change. She believes a story well told is our best tool in the fight against bigotry and hatred. Her new company Tajsworld Productions is based at MTV Studios.

Join author, photographer and co-founder of Burning Man, Will Roger as he reveals his newest book which includes a substantial collection of Roger’s aerial photos chronicling the ever-changing cityscape and transformation of the temporary Black Rock City. This program will feature a panel discussion between Will Roger, Crimson Rose, Tony Coyote Perez-Banuet and William L. Fox, Director of the Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art, moderated by James Stanford.

Doors open at 5 pm with bar. Book signing to follow.

Join chez louie for a night of creative local cuisine paired with a selection of fine wines from Crystal Basin Cellars. 

Preregistration is required and can be made by calling 775.284.2921.

$65 | $55 Members

Textile artist Toni Lowden uses fibers to explore color, texture and pattern in her large-scale weavings. Join us for a discussion about the use of textiles to communicate a narrative. 

The Art Bite lecture series is sponsors by Nevada Arts Council and Nevada Humanities 

“The center of the Wašiw (Washoe) world is Da’aw (Lake Tahoe) both geographically and spiritually. Like most native peoples our lifestyles revolved around the environment; the people were part of the environment, and everything was provided by the environment.” 

Join Washoe Tribal Council member, Helen Fillmore as she explores the history and geology of the West Shore through the Washoe oral history combined with modern geological discoveries.

About Helen Fillmore

Helen Fillmore is a research assistant in cooperative extension as she works towards her masters in Hydrology at the University of Nevada, Reno. Helen received her bachelor’s in environmental science and terrestrial resource management at the University of Washington. Helen was a wildland firefighter with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and with the Bureau of Land Management.

Helen currently sits on the tribal council for the Washoe Tribe as an off-reservation representative and is one of just a handful of remaining speakers of the Washu language. In 2017 Helen published an article titled “Using the Washoe Language to Inform Hydrologic and Environmental Models.” Today Helen joins us to share information about West Shore of Lake Tahoe combining Washoe oral history with modern geological discoveries.

Kenneth Carbone is the Artist-in-Residence and Founder of NYC based design company the Carbone Smolan Agency whose award-winning work for corporate and cultural clients is internationally recognized. He has kept a journal for over 25 years and considers it the key engine to his art.

This one-day workshop offers a historical perspective on why keeping a journal has been central to many in the arts for centuries. The course includes practical and technical advice, demonstrations and a field assignment to help start keeping a journal as a vital routine to enhance your creativity every day.

Kenneth Carbone is a designer, artist, musician, author and teacher. As the Co-Founder and Artist-in-Residence of the Carbone Smolan Agency, he is among America’s most respected graphic designers, whose work is renowned for its balance of substance and style. Under his design ethos “unify, simplify, amplify,” Ken has built a reputation for creating outstanding design programs for a world-class clientele for over forty years.

Ken Carbone will share the joys, challenges, and rewards of a career in the arts. He’ll speak about his early love of drawing, how he turned that passion into a very successful 40-year career in design and his most recent pursuits in fine art. This presentation will offer encouraging examples and practices that will inspire anyone involved in the creative profession.

Following a presentation, there will time allocated for a Q & A session moderated by Jeff Pickett.

Ken Carbone is a professor at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and is a featured blogger for Fast Company magazine as well as Huffington Post. He is a recipient of the 2014 AIGA Medal, awarded to individuals in recognition of their exceptional achievements, services or other contributions to the field of design and visual communication.