Michael Spring is Director of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs with an annual budget of $24 million and a staff of 26. He also serves as the chairman of the 5-county regional arts alliance, the South Florida Cultural Consortium, and as the director of the Miami-Dade County Tourist Development Council. In 2007, he assumed the additional responsibility of leading Miami-Dade County’s Art in Public Places program. He represents the Department on numerous cultural and civic committees including service as Secretary of the board of directors of Americans for the Arts, a founding board member and officer of Americans for the Arts Action Fund, Vice Chairman of the Florida Cultural Alliance, a member and past President of the United States Urban Arts Federation, a past President of the Florida Association of Local Arts Agencies, and a member of the Board of Governors of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. Michael Spring has helped build Miami-Dade County’s cultural community into a more than a $922 million annual industry comprised of more than 1,000 non-profit cultural groups and thousands of artists. He has been responsible for securing more than $80 million of public funds used to improve existing and build new theaters county-wide. In 2004, he helped lead the work to pass a referendum for the Building Better Communities bond program, dedicating more than $450 million for building the next generation of Miami-Dade’s cultural facilities, ranging from major new art and science museums to theaters and neighborhood arts centers. He has a B.A. degree from the University of Miami and earned an M.A. in painting from New York University, involving studies in Venice, Italy. He continues to paint and develop his interests as a visual artist.