New World Center

Overview and History

The New World Center: A Cultural Landmark in Miami Beach’s City Center 

Welcome to the New World Center, home of the New World Symphony—a post-graduate fellowship program co-founded by Ted and Lin Arison, and artistic director Michael Tilson Thomas. The New World Center is a pioneering laboratory at the intersection of music, education, technology and architecture, generating new ideas about the way music is taught, experienced and presented. Located in the cultural and civic heart of Miami Beach, the New World Center is the first Florida commission of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry.  

“The best thing an architect can do is help realize someone’s dream and then take them somewhere else. Somewhere they have never been or thought of going. I think that this building will last beyond all of us as a place to inspire young musicians, including future ones, to find new ways to explore the relationship between themselves, their audience and their community.”

– Frank Gehry on the New World Center

Since its opening in 2011, the New World Center continues to be an innovative campus for music education and performance. The New World Center offers Fellows flexible and innovative performance facilities. With state-of-the-art technical capabilities, it has inspired numerous institutions around the globe in planning their new or improved venues. NWS has welcomed to the New World Center over 1,000 cultural and educational leaders from hundreds of organizations around the world who come to witness the building’s transformative power.  

In keeping with the New World Symphony’s community commitment, the New World Center is a private/public partnership with Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami Beach. This facility exists at the heart of the City Center Redevelopment Project, a joint venture to inject new vitality into the downtown neighborhood of Miami Beach’s 17th Street Corridor, located just two blocks from the ocean on Lincoln Road, behind the Lincoln Road Mall. The City of Miami Beach operates a parking garage and SoundScape Park—a two-acre public green space adjacent to the campus.  

Designed by the Dutch urban design and landscape architecture firm West 8, SoundScape Park captures the spirit and vitality of Miami Beach. Its flexible, multi-use space serves as both an urban oasis and a gathering place for cultural and special events, including the New World Symphony’s WALLCAST® concert series. 

More Resources:

About the Partners 
New World Center: By the Numbers 
New World Center Timeline
Virtual Tour