Upcoming “Zoom In” Series

Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts & Culture, the Florida Council on Arts & Culture,  and the National Endowment for the Arts.  

Gary McKechnie

October 10th at @ 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Topic: “What in the World? How Walt Created Disney World“

When Walt Disney realized cheap tourist traps were enveloping Disneyland, he began a nationwide search for enough land to hold every dream he could imagine. What happened next would require a heightened degree of CIA-level secrecy for Disney’s undercover team, who launched a misinformation campaign that included dummy corporations and secret transactions.  You will be amazed to learn of not only subterfuge but also the monumental innovations and engineering feats required to create a whole new world.

Native Floridian Gary McKechnie is a two-time National Geographic author, author of America’s best-selling motorcycle guidebook, and two-time winner of the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award.  His travel features on Florida have appeared in newspapers, magazines, and through VisitFlorida.

Click Here to Register

Cori Convertito

November 1, 2022 at @ 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Topic:  ‘Key West Hand Print Fabrics: An Island Industry’

In 1961, two friends from Broadway visited Key West. Peter Pell and Jim Russell fell in love with their surroundings: brightly-colored flowers, exotic fruits, and resplendent birds. Residents urged them to open a silk-screening factory, which became Key West Hand Print Fabrics. The company began printing and selling textiles to visitors and hired an artists name Suzie dePoo who produced a marvelous array of tropical imagery on fabrics. One of the company’s principal customers was Lilly Pulitzer. This presentation tells the story of how Key West Hand Print Fabrics became the backbone of the industry on the island.

Cori Convertito, the Lead Historian at the Florida Keys History Center, received her doctorate in maritime history from the U.K.’s University of Exeter. Today, Convertito heads a center for stewardship, knowledge, and understanding of the historic, cultural, and ecological diversity of the Florida Keys. The center serves as a national focal point for the study, advancement, and preservation of the Keys’ cultural heritage.

Click Here to Register

David Powell

January 11, 2023 at @ 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Topic:  ‘Early Cuban Exiles:  Memories of Loss, Struggle and Rebirth’

From 1959 to 1973, more than 600,000 Cuban exiles came to the US in two  waves and laid the foundation for the modern Cuban American community. Almost all arrived with only a few clothes and pocket money. Based on interviews with 54 persons about early Cuban exiles, this presentation tells how and why they left Cuba, what they found when they arrived here, and how they built new lives.

A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the Columbia Journalism School, David Powell worked as a reporter for the Associated Press in New York, Miami, and Tallahassee. After earning a law degree from Florida State University, he practiced law for thirty years. Moved by the stories of Cuban Americans he met through his work, he began interviewing them for his oral history book about Cuban exiles who came to the US from 1959 to 1973.

Click Here to Register

Magdalena Lamarre

February 20, 2023 at @ 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Topic: ‘Southern Road to Freedom: Florida’s Underground Railroad’

The nation’s first Underground Railroad was established in Florida in the late 17th century, servings as a beacon of freedom for runaway slaves from the American south. Existing before the better-known Northern Underground Railroad, enslaved Africans gained their freedom by escaping and earning asylum in Spanish Florida. This presentation focuses on Florida’s early history as a Spanish territory, the escape routes used by runaway slaves, and the black communities they established before the abolition of slavery in the United States.

Magdalena Lamarre was a Full Professor of History and Sociology at Miami-Dade College. Since her retirement in 2016, she has conducted lectures on Florida’s history, culture, diversity, and social justice. 

Click Here to Register

Carrie Sue Ayvar

March 29, 2023 at @ 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Topic: ‘More than Orange Blossoms: Feisty, Fabulous Women of Florida’

Though not always in the history books, the women who helped build, form, shape and develop this state of Florida certainly have inspired hope & possibility! A selection of stories about some of the strong, courageous women whose paths we follow will be shared with time for a Q & A and discussion.

An internationally celebrated storyteller, teaching artist, and Chautauqua scholar, Carrie Sue Ayvar is the recipient of multiple awards for service, leadership, and her dedication to the art of storytelling and education. Her bilingual blend of traditional, historical, and personal tales connects the people, languages, and cultures of Florida.

Click Here to Register

David Head

April 17, 2023 at @ 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Topic: ‘Pirates, Privateers and the Fall of Spain’s Empire: How Spanish American Independence Brought Florida to the United States’

Over two hundred years ago, in the summer of 1817, a group of pirates and privateers invaded Amelia Island, Florida, a Spanish colony, in hopes of striking a blow for the Spanish American Revolutions. This presentation tells the stories of these revolutionary rogues and their leaders, how they planned to free Florida from Spanish rule, and how the United States intervened to stop them.

David Head is an associate lecturer of history at the University of Central Florida. He has published four books, including Privateers of the Americas: Spanish American Privateering from the United States in the Early Republic, The Golden Age of Piracy: The Rise, Fall, and Enduring Popularity of Pirates, and A Crisis of Peace: George Washington, the Newburgh Conspiracy, and the Fate of the American Revolution, which was a finalist for the 2020 George Washington Book Prize.

Click Here to Register