The South Florida region is a community that struggles to preserve what has come before versus what can be made shiny, inviting, and new. Where other cities have deep and established roots, ours are often fragile, exposed, and transient, like those of the red mangrove. Mangrove Creative Collective began as the dream of four local theater professionals and educators. Long time Florida residents Matt Stabile, Margaret Ledford, Niki Fridh and David Radunsky were inspired by the concept of a new voice in indigenous theater. Together they envisioned an entire theater company built around the concept of nurturing and preserving art that is distinctively South Florida. A group of artists working to showcase and highlight the history and culture that makes South Florida unique and bringing those homegrown stories, thoughts, and ideas to the world. In 2013 they assembled a clutch of passionate local artists to share in the pursuit of this vision. Each with highly developed and specific talents, all artistically compatible, all dedicated to the idea that the South Florida artistic community is vibrant, filled with possibility, and ready to be shared with the world. Together these artists established and founded Mangrove Creative Collective.

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In 2018 members of Mangrove began offering mentorship and guidance to local artists creating new work. This spawned the evolution to include incubation as part of the work we do.

 

The work of Mangrove Creative Collective is based upon three primary directives.

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1. Mangrove finds Florida stories that have yet to be told, with universal themes that will appeal to a broad audience.

 

2. Mangrove seeks to create unique art through innovative storytelling.

 

3. Mangrove collaborates with local artists of vastly different backgrounds and varying specialties.