Our eco-friendly Christmas décor, speaker series and art exhibition
It’s been a while. Here’s what we’ve been up to.
Here come the holidays. At EAST, it’s been a busy year and we’re looking forward to celebrating with friends and family. In Hong Kong, we’re already prepped and ready to go with our sustainable Christmas installation featuring upcycled materials while in Miami, we’ve just wrapped up an inspiring session of Ideas To Wake Up To and are joining in the Art Week festivities with an exclusive graffiti exhibition. Let’s dive in for more.
Moderated by Kelly Blanco of NBC 6, “Changemakers of Inclusion” features a father and son who have dedicated themselves to smashing misconceptions about people with intellectual (ID) and developmental disabilities. Chris Nikic and his father, Nik, are on a mission to show the world that people with Down syndrome and other IDs will accomplish amazing things – if they are only given a chance.
From a self-described “couch potato” to an elite endurance athlete, Special Olympics Florida triathlete Chris Nikic’s journey is captivating. In advance of the Miami Race for Inclusion, we hosted a special session of our speaker series Ideas To Wake Up To at EAST Miami where Chris shared his story to becoming the first person with Down syndrome to complete an IRONMAN® competition.
Chris became an international sensation in November 2020, when he finished the IRONMAN® Florida race, becoming the first person with Down syndrome to do so. Since then, he’s competed in the IRONMAN® World Championships in Hawaii and earned two gold medals at the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games.
During the session, moderated by South Florida television journalist Kelly Blanco, Chris and his father Nik spoke about how they are working with Special Olympics Florida to ensure that people with intellectual disabilities are treated with respect and given the opportunities they deserve.
As Miami Art Week and Art Basel take over the city, we’re partnering with the Museum of Graffiti for an exclusive collection of historic graffiti featuring works by 1980s street legends and exclusively BIPOC artists.
Exhibited in our lobby until December 31, the collection transports visitors to the era when Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat ruled the streets of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The featured artists – including Fab 5 Freddy, Delta 2, Blade, Quik and Kel – were at the forefront of shaping the street art movement that continues to heavily impact art and culture today.
Fab 5 Freddy’s sprawling paintings, including “Cajun Lady” and “Multiple Tasks”, were created when the graffiti artist was truly emerging as a world-renowned rapper, MTV television personality and general multi-hyphenate. One of OG Slick’s larger-than-life sculptures, “Love Gloves” is also on display at the exhibit. He became a defining force in the West Coast’s contribution to graffiti worldwide as he merged American and Japanese popular culture with lettering and street art. Known as the “King of Graffiti” and a pioneer of the genre, Blade painted over 5,000 New York City subway cars during the 1970s. He’s represented in the exhibition by his iconic art piece “Superstarz”.
The show opened on November 29 with an exclusive Artist Dinner by the Museum of Graffiti in our Tea Room at EAST Miami, with today’s leading graffiti and street artists coming together to view these rare works.
