070: Olga Granda (Miami New Drama)

Olga Granda on Innovation City

Art doesn’t change lives, but great art does. — Olga Granda

Welcome to Innovation City—powered by Venture Cafe—where Tyler Kelley and Michael Johnson, Co-Founders of SLAM! Agency, interview innovators, creators, and disruptors to discover how business is changing in the modern world.

Created and produced by SLAM! Agency in cooperation with Venture Cafe St. Louis and Venture Cafe Miami, Innovation City gives you an inside look at how rapidly business and culture are changing thanks to increasing diversity and inclusion, heightened creativity, and a stronger and better-connected business community. Venture Cafe is the largest combined gathering of entrepreneurs and innovators anywhere in the world. Events are held every Thursday in St. Louis, Miami, and other leading innovation cities around the globe.

Today’s guest is Olga Granda, Executive Director at Colony Theatre | Miami New Drama. Olga a is a multi-disciplinary cultural entrepreneur with deep roots to Miami and the art community. Miami New Drama is a non-profit organization that focuses on theatrical excellence and theater-making as a means of social engagement, cultural conversation and human interaction. Olga sits down with us to discuss Miami New Drama and their mission, the use of theater as a tool for storytelling about Miami’s history, working within the community to tell stories of local and national relevance, upcoming shows, and much more. Connect with Olga on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Linkedin.

They discuss:

• What is Miami New Drama
  • Theater company that focuses on new work (primarily)
  • Produces 4-5 plays a year at the Colony Theatre
• The 4 pillars of the organization
  • Art doesn’t change lives, but great art does
  • Local relevance
  • National relevance
  • Diversity
• How to distinguish between art and great art
• Miami’s rich history that is still relevant to the city today
• Studying religion in college to help her learn about different cultures
• How Olga got started in the theater world
• Theater was one of the most neglected art forms in Miami previously
• Having a joint vision with the founder of the theatre to help fill in the gap of theater in Miami
• Theater being the epitome of storytelling
• Starting the Miami New Drama at a time when Miami was starting to realize they were missing theater from the art scene
• Getting funding for the theatre
  • Knight Foundation helping to fund
  • City of Miami Beach helping and supporting
• Excitement for the theatre’s new play, Fake, which is showing now
• Excitement for upcoming shows at the theatre such as Cocaine Cowboys
• Working on a project about the Elián González story
• Many of the plays are conceptualized internally, along with some external productions
• Working within the communities to help tell stories that need to be heard
• Taking the theatre to areas that need to hear the stories being told rather than making everyone come to them
• Reach out to the theatre on their website and on Facebook and Instagram