Today we’d like to introduce you to Andreina Fuentes. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Andreina first moved to Miami from Venezuela in 2002. The relocation coincided with the establishment of Art Basel Miami Beach and the influx of galleries, artists, and advisors into the city. That same year she joined the Miami Emergent Art Leaders, a group assembled by Miami Dade Cultural Affairs and members of the non-profit Americans for the Arts.
It was a time she remembers quite fondly. Traveling around the United States accompanying Americans for the Arts in their annual conventions and representing Miami in the national cultural scene. In 2005, Fuentes founded Hardcore Art Contemporary Space , becoming one of the first Latinx female Art dealers in the Wynwood Art District together with Diana Lowestein.
The Arts Connection Foundation (ACF) was established in 2006 with the purpose of integrating the gallery and educational sectors. Its objective is to promote community engagement and educational initiatives through artistic projects. As founding director, Fuentes has performed a variety of activities. Exhibitions, festivals, artist sponsorship, mentoring, and donating artworks to essential institutions. Fuentes founded the Miami New Media Festival to host and platform underrepresented artist working with new technologies and alternative forms of representation.
The festival has had 18 editions, and 3 open calls in Miami, Rome, and Amsterdam, all under several themes of contextual importance. The festival presents international artists developing contemporary views through video, digital, performance, and interactive art practices. Having started in Venezuela in 2004 and moving to Miami in 2006, it will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, hosted at the notorious Venice Biennale, showcasing 20 video artists, plus the collective Food of War.
From 2024, ACF has developed a partnership with the NewArt Foundation sponsoring the BEEP Electronic Art Award at ARCO Madrid and partnering with the international art collective Food of War to manage and establish their United States foundation Food of War US. ACF has promoted personalities and institutions that have been essential in the development of art and culture in Venezuela and the United States. They sponsored the Venezuelan American Endowment for the Arts (VAEA).
Some of the recipients of VAEA’s Paez Medal of Art include director Robert Wilson (2013), cultural promoter Sofia Imber (New York, 2014), photographer Annie Liebovitz (2015), artist Marisol (2016), writer Bob Colacello (2017), music conductor Gustavo Dudamel (2018), photographer Margot Benacerraf (2019), architects Frank Gehry and James Alcock (2020), Fundación Empresas Polar (2021) and violinist Joshua Bell (2022). Fuentes participated as a board member between 2013 and 2017.
Additionally, ACF has promoted the acquisition of Latin American art in several institutions. In 2009, ACF supported the acquisition of artworks for the Blanton Museum of Art (Austin, Texas). As a CEO and founder of ACF, Fuentes is part of the Perez Art Museum (PAMM) collectors circle. She advocates for the diversifying of the museum’s acquisition practices to ensure innovative artworks by emerging and established artists are incorporated into it.
ACF has a creator incentive program, which aims to help artists based in South Florida to produce or exhibit their artworks. It is in the interest of ACF to develop platforms for social and cultural programs, such as Institutional Assets and Monuments (iamonuments.com), and IAMVENEZUELA (iamvenezuela.com). These initiatives have documented cultural heritage at risk from 2015 to the present day.
Moreover, ACF has promoted the creation of the Inclusive Way Museum presented at the Inclusive Museum Congress in Vancouver (2023) and sponsored (in collaboration with PAMM) the first Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA) in 2021. Fuentes is part of the Advisory Board of MACSI (Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Sofia Imber).
ACF has been an integral part of relevant art fairs such as Feria Iberoamericana de Arte (Caracas, 2013-2014), Pinta Art Fair (2018), Roma Art Week (with Miami New Media Festival), BARCU Art Fair Bogotá (2022), Doral International Art Fair (2023), and the European Cultural Center Venice (2017-2024).
The organization has supported many solo exhibitions, among which are:
-Impermanence by Andres Michelena (The Jacksonville Museum of Contemporary Art, 2007)
-Recycle by Consuelo Castañeda (Hardcore Contemporary Art Space, Wynwood, 2012)
-Tapestries by Raimundo Travieso (Hardcore Contemporary Art Space, Wynwood, 2014)
-Gladys Triana (The Chill Concept, 2014)
-The Rupture of the Drift by Isabela Muci (The Chill Concept, Wynwood, 2015)
-Take the Load Off and PMS Lounge by Andreina Fuentes Angarita AKA Nina Dotti (European Cultural Center, Venice 2017)
-Big Bang by Rolando Peña (Connect Now Room, 2017)
-Meta Fluxus curated by Felix Suazo in partnership with Id Art Lab (2022)
-Wonders by Manuel Angarita (Arts Connection Gallery Space, 2023)
-Sensitive Content by David Palacios (Arts Connection Gallery Space, 2023)
-Goddesses: Looking or Looked at by Fernando Calzadilla (Arts Connection Gallery Space, 2023)
-( Arts Connection Gallery Space , 2024) . Difficult Readings by Jesus Hernández Guero ( Arts Connection Gallery Space , 2024)
Plus, an array of collective exhibitions, such as:
-Loop@Now (Wynwood, 2006) which brought to Miami artists such as Natalia Benedetti, Jen Denike, Darlyne Chauve, Richard Garet, Ferran Martin, and Liliana Porter.
-Video Art (Rome, 2009), in collaboration with Instituto Italo – Latinoamericano presenting Aisen Chacin, Andres Michelena, Carlos Herrera, Gladys Triana, Lucia Pizzani, Nela Ochoa and Nina Dotti.
-Personal is Political (Wynwood, 2013) with artworks by Leslie Gabaldon, Milton Becerra, and Mariana Monteagudo.
-Trespassing Towards Tolerance (Miami Beach), at Joshua Bratter’s law office, presenting Adriana Barros, Pietro Da Prano, and Nina Dotti.
-The Forbidden Journey at Saatchi Gallery (London, 2022) in collaboration with Food of War.
-The Diaspora of the Hive (Bogotá, 2023), an immersive show in collaboration with Food of War.
-When water is safer than land (Mallorca, 2023) an investigation, action art experience focused on community work.
Üitmelken: Harvesting Money (Amsterdam, 2023) in collaboration with Food of War.
The Forbidden Fruit: Object of Desire (Miami, 2023) in collaboration with Food of War.
Moreover, ACF has held public art events with both national and international artists, such as:
-Gene Garden (Fairchild Botanical Garden, 2006)
-Gene Garden II (Miami Beach Botanical Garden, 2008)
-Gene Garden III (Frost Art Museum Garden, 2009) with Nela Ochoa’s outdoor sculptures bringing together art and science.
-Sleepless Night Public Intervention (Lincoln Road Miami Beach, 2007), with artists Chus Garcia, Ricardo Melchior, Eugenia Vargas Pereira & Odalis Valdivieso, Steven Gagnon, Muu Blanco and Nela Ochoa.
Lastly, some honorable mentions to multidisciplinary, collaborative events:
-Sound Connections (multiple editions), with artists exploring sounds, music, and art in its many forms.
-The Chill Concept (2015, 2016)
-The Art Fashion Week (multiple editions)
-Connect Now Room (2017)
ACF participated in events such as the American Alliance of Museums (St. Louis Missouri, 2017), and was also a sponsor of the Il Assembly of Art and Technology at the Catholic University of Valencia (Valencia, Spain, 2017). ACF has produced and supported the publication of several editorial projects, such as The Book of Satisfaction (Nina Dotti, 2017), POP Surrealism (Jeannete Mariani, 2017), The Chill Concept a Pop-Up Museum (The Chill Concept, 2014), WHOPA Congress (2021) and MACSI: A Different Museum (2023).
The heavy involvement in editorial has yielded ACF’s participation in the 2017 and 2018 Miami Book Fairs. ACF is registered at the Vasari Project in Miami-Dade’s public library system. The Vasari Project is a library collection dedicated to documenting, collecting, and preserving Miami‑Dade County’s art history from 1945 to the present.
Last year, the Arts Connection Foundation opened its doors as a gallery space in Allapattah (676 NW 23 St Miami Fl 33127), hosting an array of artistic experiences and avant-garde programming. Sales directly feed into the foundation’s charitable work, creating a stable stream of opportunities for emerging artists.
Fuentes is gathering her years of experience to form what she considers the future model of commercial art with social purposes. Although it’s a learning experience, she’s more motivated than ever to promote all sorts of creatives and strengthen the art community, breaking barriers, and preconceptions of what it means to create and present art. Incredible art is yet to be shown.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It was not a smooth road. Probably the most difficult moment was during the pandemic when the Miami New Media Festival was held online and with a street projection instead of the traditional video art exhibition. The audiences were hyper-fixated on the various aspects of COVID-19, and engaging them, with the added difficulty of online interfaces was certainly complicated.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Andreina Fuentes is the founder of the Arts Connection Foundation (2006). She is an artist, collector, writer, and an international creative advisor with an established creative mindset practice. She was also the creator and founder of Hardcore Art Contemporary Space (2003-2013), The Inclusive Way (2016-present), online newspaper The Wynwood Times (2014-present ), The Chill Concept Pop-Up Museum ( 2013-present), Inclusive Way Museum (2023-present), Identity Adequacy Movement Inc (2021-present), Fuentes Angarita Collection (1996-present), Food of War US, podcast Las Lupitas (2022-present) and Esto se Pone Mejor together with the platforms Menos Pausa Life and Solo Pidemelo (2024).
Carlos A. Giménez , MAYOR OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, CHAIRMAN JEAN MONESTIME Board of County ,Commissioners county and Miami art community proclaim Monday, February 16, 2015, as Nina Fuentes Day , because her impressive record of professional achievements as an ambassador for the arts in Miami-Dade County and several roles including that of muscologist, arts activist,curator, art dealer, cultural producer and philanthropist that have left an indelible mark in the region’s and international cultural and social landscape.
Due to Andreina’s professional background in Law, Business, and Museology, she embraces several methods of contemporary art practices, including new media and technology. As a gallerist and museum specialist, she has participated since 2004 in over 90 international art fairs, such as Art Miami, Arte Americas Miami, Scope (New York, Miami, and Basel), Context Miami, Bridge London, Pinta Art Fair (New York, London, and Miami), Art Shanghai, LINK Hong Kong, Platform LA, Art Wynwood, FIA Caracas, BARCU, among many others.
Curator since 1999, Nina has managed more than 100 exhibits. She focuses her curating contemporary art on creating exhibitions as a platform for social activism and education in human rights, citizenship, identity, environmental issues, creative thinking, and community engagement. Fuentes began collecting Contemporary Art in 1996.
The Fuentes Angarita Collection has more than 1.000 works of conceptual art in different formats such as video, performances, installations, and photography among others. Her newest platform Menos Pausa Life will aid women in their experience of menopause and how to transition it with satisfaction. Lastly, Fuentes is a documentary photographer who focuses on identity issues, well-being, and activism.
Networking and finding a mentor can have a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Fuentes considers that being an inquisitive artist and entrepreneur always open to new proposals and curatorial thesis’ has aided in her success. She has worked since 2002 with Miami Dade Cultural Affairs under the mentorship of Michael Spring, director during 40 years of the Miami Dade Cultural Affairs together with Maria Laura Leslie, current director. She’s also found a mentor in Robert Lynch, President and CEO of Americans for The Arts. Lastly, she’s learned valuable lessons from art dealer Bernice Steinbaum since the day she arrived in Wynwood and Pearl Lam international Chinese Art Dealer.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @artsconnectionfoundation
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artsconnectionf
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@miaminewmediafestival
- Other: https://www.miaminewmediafestival.com
Image Credits
Jorge Andres Castillo
