Latino Art Beat’s President and Founder Don Rossi Nuccio received top honors from Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado and the Miami City Commissioners during a televised ceremony celebrating his accomplishments with a proclamation announcing October 27th as “Don Rossi Nuccio Day” in Miami. Hailed for his contributions in elevating Latino youth in the arts and education through Latino Art Beat, Nuccio’s work positively transformed the lives of students across the country, in particular Miami under the organization’s “Hispanic Heritage” annual art competition. In addition to the proclamation, all 2016 Latino Art Beat competition winners were recognized with this year’s theme as “Friendship between the Youth of the USA and Cuba,” in which high school students from Chicago, Miami, and the District of Columbia participated coinciding with the historic launch of the competition in Havana, Cuba. Latino Art Beat also offered a youth short film competition. Both art and film competition winners were presented with college scholarships in Miami City Hall.

To cap off the memorable night, a retrospective Latino Art Beat art exhibit was hosted and installed in the lobby of the prestigious Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Miami, which featured past and present art competition winners including many National winners native to Miami. The opening night ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Mandarin Oriental was performed by Mayor Regalado and officials from Miami-Dade County Public Schools accompanied by several students. The ten day exhibit was curated by Kandy Lopez, former Latino Art Beat student artist and 2006 Latino Art Beat National Winner, who now works as an art teacher in Miami. For more information on the 2017 art and film competitions, visit www.latinoartbeat.com. For inquiries, email latinoartbeat@hotmail.com.