Miami, Sunday, July, 12th, 2015 (By Ejecutiva Magazine). Prominent cultural leader Nat Chediak, a Grammy and Latin Grammy-winning music producer, historian, and an authority on world cinema, will receive the prestigious ArtesMiami Lydia Cabrera Award on Friday, July 24, 2015, at a luncheon co-presented by Biltmore Parc, a luxury condominium development, and U.S. Century Bank, one of the top ten Hispanic-owned community banks in the U.S. The award, named in memory of Lydia Cabrera, world-renowned writer and expert in Afro-Cuban culture, honors individuals who have made a significant contribution to the cultural development of South Florida. It includes a $500 cash prize and a work of art. The luncheon will be held at Fleming’s, 2525 Ponce de Leon in Coral Gables.
Dr. Aida Levitan, ArtesMiami president; Alirio Torrealba, Biltmore Parc developer; U.S. Century Bank Chairman Alex Acosta and CEO Carlos J. Davila will present the award to Chediak at the luncheon. Directors and members of ArtesMiami as well as 100 local leaders are expected to attend. Previous winners of the Lydia Cabrera Award, including Gloria Leal, Luis de la Paz, Carlos Alberto Montaner and Olga Connor, are also expected to attend.
Dr. Levitan said, “Nat Chediak is an exceptional example of what Cuban Americans have contributed to Miami’s cultural development.” She added, “Now that Miami is one of the leading cultural centers of the Americas, it is easy to forget the uphill battles fought by the pioneers between the 1970s and 1990s. Nat was definitely one of these pioneers, and ArtesMiami is proud to inform the community about his many accomplishments.”
U.S. Century Bank
“It is an honor for U.S. Century Bank to host such an important event and award, and to recognize Nat Chediak, who has had a positive impact on the film and music industries,” said Carlos J. Davila, President and CEO of U.S. Century Bank. “As a true community bank headquartered in South Florida, we support a number of important causes, and we appreciate how art and culture enrich our region,” he added.
Alirio Torrealba, the developer of Biltmore Parc, a European-style luxury condo building at 718 Valencia Avenue in Coral Gables, said, “We support ArtesMiami because this organization recognizes outstanding cultural leaders like Chediak and promotes exceptional cultural and lifestyle experiences, just like the ones Biltmore Parc will offer.”
Chediak Biography
In 1973 Chediak opened his first art cinema in Coral Gables, Florida, the Cinematheque, adding two others – Arcadia and Grove Harbor – over the course of fifteen years. It was there that the films of Wim Wenders, Bertrand Tavernier and Fernando Trueba, among others, played theatrically in America for the first time. Ten years later he founded what became the city’s leading international cultural event, the Miami Film Festival, where, under his stewardship throughout eighteen years, major filmmakers like France’s Regis Wargnier, Sweden’s Lasse Hallstrom, Canada’s Atom Egoyan and Spain’s Pedro Almodovar received their first American exposure.
At the age of 50, in the year 2000, Chediak produced his first album, El arte del sabor, and won both the Grammy and Latin Grammy in the Traditional Tropical category. Two years later, Chediak and Trueba founded Calle 54 Records. Their first release, Lágrimas Negras, has sold in excess of one million copies to date and was chosen by Ben Ratliff of The New York Times as Best Album of 2003. He is also the co-author of the lyrics to the theme song of Chico & Rita, a 2012 Oscar nominee for Best Animated Film. For more information on his many accomplishments, please see his biography (p. 3).
To participate in the ArtesMiami Lydia Cabrera Award Luncheon, please contact alevitan@artesmiami.org. Space is very limited.
ArtesMiami, Inc. is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to supporting and promoting Hispanic artists and cultural organizations. For more information: http://www.artesmiami.org.
Source: ArtesMiami, Internet, and Ejecutiva Magazine.
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