Mike Eidson Begins 3 Years At Helm Of Arsht Center Board With Aims To Grow Endowment Add Offsite Dramatic Theater

On the cusp of the its fifth anniversary, longtime Miamian Lewis "Mike" Eidson took the helm of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts’ private-sector board, which he said in recent years has gone from being perceived as a liability to an asset.

For the past three years he’s served as chair-elect under past chair J. Ricky Arriola.

During that time, the center brought in a new CEO, opened Barton G.’s Prelude restaurant and revamped its culinary offerings. It’s paid off chunks of debt thanks to Adrienne Arsht’s $30 million gift and started programs like Rock Odyssey, bringing 25,000 Miami-Dade fifth graders to performances.

Mr. Eidson’s goals for his three-year tenure are to grow the center’s endowment, which now sits at $10 million, see the center export home-grown talent and bring dramatic theater to an offsite facility run by the Arsht Center.

"The center should do theater. I mean non-musicals, classical theater, Shakespeare, A Streetcar Name Desire," he said. "If you look at all the great performing arts centers, they have a drama capacity."

Like other great performing arts centers around the country Mr. Eidson said he’d like the community to buy into the center’s long-term success and potential economic impact on downtown Miami.

He was interviewed in the Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House by Miami Today staff writer Zachary S. Fagenson.

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