The Miami Beach Art Deco District: Using Buildings to Tell Stories

FAIN: BH-50103-06

Florida International University Board of Trustees (Miami, FL 33199-2516)
Kate Rawlinson (Project Director: August 2005 to November 2007)

Two one-week workshops for 100 art and history teachers to explore the Miami Beach Art Deco District and its significance to the history of 20th-century art and design.

Located in Miami Beach, The Wolfsonian-Florida International University (a museum of art and design) and the Miami Design Preservation League, have created a workshop designed to immerse teachers in the surrounding Miami Beach Architectural District, and utilize the both organization's collections, facilities and expertise. This living cultural and architectural environment will serve not only as an historical resource for the workshop, but also as a pedagogical laboratory, a kind of "reader" to anchor the teaching of specific topics in American history, design history, and civic responsibility. The workshop's content will reinforce the connection between public history and effective teaching, as it also addresses two social science content areas : the history of the people and events of the United States during the Great Depression and World War II, and how art and design shaped and reflected the technological, social, political, and economic changes of the time.