A $30 Million Gift Gives Miami’s Arts Center a New Name

Miami’s Carnival Center for the Performing Arts is being renamed for Adrienne Arsht following her $30 million donation. The announcement gives the young institution a new public identity and an important source of financial support less than two years after its opening.

A naming gift can be discussed as a change to a sign, but its practical significance lies in what an institution can sustain. Performance spaces require continuing resources for programming, operations and the work that takes place outside the audience’s view. A major contribution can affect those conditions long after the announcement ceremony.

The Adrienne Arsht Center now carries the name of a local philanthropist closely associated with its next chapter. For audiences, the buildings on Biscayne Boulevard remain the familiar destination. The change is in the support behind them and the name under which future performances will be presented. Miami’s performing-arts project has acquired a prominent new backer at an important stage of its development.