A duo of reggae-playing violinists. A dance-theater company that reimagines Balanchine through lived queer experience. An 11-piece Brazilian big band that celebrates Rio ballroom dance music. A theater troupe that recasts the Nativity story in an African-American motif.
These and other emerging voices of South Florida’s diverse performing arts scene have found a new champion in Amplify Arts, the recently launched Broward Center initiative.
The program’s inaugural lineup debuted Novembner 1 at the Fort Lauderdale performing arts center’s Amaturo Theater. Headlining the concert was Sons of Mystro, a South Florida-bred, fraternal violin duo that is the winner of the International Reggae and World Music Award for Emerging Artist Under 21. Brévo Theatre’s production of Black Nativity closes out the season December 18-21.
Made possible by support from Wayne and Lucretia Weiner, Baptist Health, and TD Charitable Foundation, Amplify Arts does more than offer artists a venue, says Jan Goodheart, the center’s vice president of external affairs.
“We are in a unique position to provide support in terms of developing skills in the areas that might benefit each specific organization,” she says. “We also offer opportunities for them to perform on one of the stages of our beautiful venues.”
Beyond offering a venue subsidy, the center’s network of support could include technical production, marketing, ticketing, community engagement or a combination — all based on the organization’s needs.
“One performer might need great production shots while another might benefit from guidance with lighting design or a polished press release,” Goodheart says. “We recognize that the needs of each group will vary — and with it our support. We do not envision a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.”
The productions emerged from the center’s years of relationships within the region’s cultural community, says Goodheart, now in her 20th year with the Broward Center.
“The program has been built on a growing network of connections. For example, we worked with Black Violin for many years, and their proteges are Sons of Mystro, who performed at the inaugural concert. We met Brévo Theatre at an Art Prevails Project event in the Abdo New River Room, and now Brévo Theatre is bringing Black Nativity here to that same space.”
That production, an adaptation of a two-act gospel musical by Harlem Renaissance playwright Langston Hughes, transposes the Nativity story to a modern-day African-American milieu. Brévo Theatre is reprising the production from its premiere last year at Miami’s Sandrell Rivers Theatre.
“Our goal is to really turn it into an annual tradition,” says Zaylin Yates, the company’s
founding managing director and CEO. “It’s grown more than we can imagine. Our first year was only for one weekend. But Sandrell had such a great experience with us that they invited us back this year. And coupled now with a concert version at Pompano Beach Cultural Affairs and then the Broward Center, I feel like it is growing into a true tradition in South Florida.”
This year’s production, which features a cast of 20 including a four-piece band and six dancers, features a new song.
“We also added a different focus for the second act,” Yates says. “Last year, we really focused on how the Nativity story affected other cultures around the world. But this year, we’re focusing more on the traditional Christmas tree serving as that central focus for Jesus. The stems or the roots of the tree serve as the bloodline or the cultures that came together and provided structure to this tree. The gift-giving is the representation of the love that is shown for Jesus.”
Yates, who founded the company in 2022 with Terrence “TM” Pride, its producing artistic director, explains it was the African dynamic of the play that drew him to it.
“I feel like that’s one of the things that we don’t see a lot in Christmas,” he says. “So to take a Nativity story and add gospel plus African music, it just takes it to a whole other level. Just having so many different cultures here in South Florida, I just felt like it was a diverse enough story that multiple cultures would be interested in seeing.”
As it did in 2024 and also will next year, Black Nativity closes out the 2025 season for Brévo Theatre. (Incidentally, The name stems from Yate’s childhood memory of a cartoon in which the word “bravo” was mispronounced as “brévo.”)
“The costumes are about 85 percent handmade,” says Yates, also manager of community engagement at Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center. “So it’s definitely a labor of love all around. You add in live music coupled with African clothes, singing, dancing — it’s just overall a great time.”
Yates describes the Amplify Arts experience as “a collaborative effort.”
“Whether it be marketing, production support, financial support, they have, in a sense, opened their doors to the Abdo New River Room to us and are working with us on what makes sense in their space to put this together — versus us coming in, renting the space, and then putting on a show and trying to sell tickets.”
But it’s more than collaboration that Yates finds commendable about Amplify Arts.
“I appreciate the emphasis they put on black and brown artists, as well as on artists with impairments,” Yates says. “It seems like a program that is bringing those communities to the forefront. Amplify Arts is amplifying diversity in arts and culture in general.”
Another high-profile way the initiative is doing that is through Rhythm by the River on February 22 at Esplanade Park in downtown Fort Lauderdale. The Celebration of Local Voices will feature a Nina Simone tribute, The Ladies of Simone, as well as the Bad Boys of Reggae, Inner Circle, and other artists. Presented by Baptist Health and JM Family Enterprises, the free outdoor event also includes arts and crafts, food trucks and interactive games as well as and a variety of free community workshops in the Broward Center’s Mary N. Porter Riverview Ballroom.
Goodheart asks those interested in presenting an educational workshop at that event or to be considered for future Amplify Arts initiatives, to email: amplifyarts@browardcenter.org.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Brévo Theatre Presents: Black Nativity
WHEN: December 18-19, 7:30 p.m.; December 20, 1:30 p.m., 7 p.m.; December 21, 5 p.m.
COST: $53.10
WHERE: Abdo New River Room, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale
INFORMATION: browardcenter.org/events
ALSO: December 6, Pompano Beach Cultural Center (concert version); December 11-14, Sandrell Rivers Theatre, Miami.
