As part of Globe Miami Times’ ongoing coverage of businesses affected by the September and October storms, this story highlights two local institutions — the Miami Art Works corridor and Power Elite Dance Academy. These stories detail the toll of the damage and their stories of recovery despite the challenges faced. From Miami to Globe, the people who make up these cultural anchors are working to bring the arts back to the historic downtown districts.
Since its founding in the 2010s by the late artist Michael TwentyThree and his wife, Joanna Lee TwentyThree, Miami Art Works has been the creative heart of Sullivan Street in downtown Miami. Home to an artists’ collective, gallery, and studios, it has fueled downtown Miami’s arts revival, in recent years developing neighboring businesses such as the Lyric Soda Fountain, a historic ice cream parlor and eatery, and Thee 23 Skidoo, a new music and event venue.
When three powerful storms swept through the Globe-Miami region in late September and early October in a matter of weeks, all three businesses were in the line of fire.
On Sept. 25, a microburst wreaked havoc in downtown Miami, bringing wind, rain and dime-sized hail. The wind tore the roof off the Lyric and hurled objects into the windows of Miami Art Works and parking lots.
That following evening, torrential rains caused flooding downtown, carrying logs through Sullivan Street and bringing more than two feet of mud and water into Miami Art Works. It destroyed the gallery and the ground floor of the building.
“The wash came up fast. Within 15 minutes, the wash was full and flowing over the bridge,” recalls resident artist and musician Lob Instagon. “It breached the back door and came through this whole building.”
When storms returned again on Oct. 12, the damage deepened. The roofs leaked, soaking the buildings below once more.
The Lyric suffered extensive interior damage. Decor fell from the walls, and a custom-built clock and costly vintage neon signs were all lost.
Above the Lyric, Joanna and Michael’s 30-year-old art collection sustained severe water damage.
“I would say 35 to 40 percent of it was damaged and destroyed,” Instagon estimates.
Miami Art Works fared even worse.
The back of the gallery — used for art storage and studio work — was unrecognizable. Equipment such as a Xerox copier, laser cutter, art supplies, and retail materials were gone, along with art materials that were packed for an event.
The basement was completely flooded, ruining electrical and plumbing equipment, packing and store supplies, lighting, more art, and dozens of personal mementos of Michael that Joanna kept.
In just artwork alone, Joanna estimates nearly a thousand pieces were lost to storms and flooding between the buildings.
Building repairs will easily cost at least $60,000, she says. Both Miami Art Works and the Lyric need new roofs, paint jobs and mold remediation.
Miami Art Works also needs new flooring, walls, paint, shelving, and equipment. Fixtures, lighting and electrical work will have to be replaced.
Meanwhile, The Lyric will need a new ice cream freezer, in addition to the roof and new paint. It had just been painted in March, but will have to be painted again. The roof alone will be at least $18,000, Joanna estimates.
Following the 2021 Telegraph Fire and flood, Joanna was dropped from her property insurance and has been unable to find affordable coverage since.
“Anyone trying to buy insurance after that had a really hard time finding it,” she says. “And if they did, it was cost-prohibitive.”
She applied for four Local First Arizona grants through the United Fund’s flood relief effort and has received $5,000 each for Miami Art Works and the Lyric. She’s awaiting responses on two others for her additional properties.
In the days following the storms, volunteers flooded Miami to help clear mud and debris around Sullivan Street.
“The first day, there were so many people,” Joanna says. “There were probably hundreds of people that came and shoveled mud for days.”
Surprise Thrift & Gift, which Joanna also owns, has a section of items recovered from Miami Art Works, and the proceeds from those sales will be dedicated to the art space.
Events have begun to return at Thee 23 Skidoo, which sustained less damage. Belly dancing lessons, live music, and community gatherings are helping restore some normalcy.
“We're trying to make the live music venue and the bar come to life in some way,” Instagon says.
The nonprofit Miami Arts Commission is already planning for Miami Art Works’ annual flagship event, Miami Loco Art Festival, next year.
Joanna hopes to reopen the Lyric early next year, though Miami Art Works’ timeline remains uncertain.
“It’s going to need a lot of love and a total remodel,” Instagon says.
Despite the long road ahead, Joanna remains optimistic.
“I think we're going to make it work. This is how we’ve always done things,” she says. “We’ll rebuild — we’ll be here.”
Across town in Globe, another long-established institution is working to recover.
Founded as Lynn’s School of Dance in 1970, Power Elite Dance Academy has grown from one small studio into a seven-building complex serving around 140 students. Now owned by founder Lynn Cluff’s daughter, Tina McCarey, the academy has helped thousands of young dancers gain confidence, discipline, and life skills over the years.
“I want this to be a haven for children where they’re safe and can find joy in learning and exercise at the same time,” McCarey says.
The evening of Sept. 26, McCarey had been sorting costumes for the studio’s annual Christmas performances.
“I had just taken them down and set them on the floor to go through,” she recalls. “The thought came to me to just do this tomorrow and leave it there. I looked outside at the rain and thought, ‘I think I'll go home now.’”
Little did she know that within hours, water would sweep through the building, infiltrating everything in its path.
The floodwaters ripped through the studio’s buildings, collapsing walls and bricks, shattering windows, and damaging electrical, plumbing, and sewer systems. A water tank came through the back door and was found shoved beneath the floor. An antifreeze tank washed through and was found in the hallway.
Multiple contractors estimated the damage at $250,000, McCarey says.
That doesn’t include a quote of $100,000 for her front windows, $28,000 worth of new mirrors, and flooring in the $10,000 to $20,000 range. Beyond that is the cost to replace all the stereos, computers, and office.
“Nothing survived at all,” she says. “It's just starting over.”
Like downtown Miami, volunteers showed up in swarms to help the cleanup in downtown Globe after the storm.
And then, volunteers began stepping up to save the unthinkable at the dance academy — $50,000 worth of muddy, water-damaged costumes for the Nutcracker and other productions.
Somewhere between 30 to 50 families from here and Safford combined efforts to gather the costumes, divide them up, and clean each one.
“They were stomping on the costumes to get the mud and water out, because they were black.”
Remarkably, some of them have come back as usable.
Like Miami Art Works, Power Elite was eligible for flood relief funds through United Fund and received a $5,000 Local First Arizona grant, which McCarey used to install storm doors designed to keep future floodwaters out.
She is organizing a “Sponsor a Mirror” campaign, where donors can fund replacements for the dance rooms. A platinum-level donation of $1,400 covers one mirror.
Although she maintained a $2 million insurance policy, McCarey’s claim was denied because the flooding originated from rising water rather than falling rain.
“If anything happened to that building or anything in the building, it would cover it 100 percent, if the water's coming down,” she says. “So it can rain and hail, rip my roof off, and they would pay for every bit of content in my building, and they would pay to fix the building.”
“But because the water rose, because it flooded, it entered the building and went upward, they automatically deny it as an insurance claim,” she adds.
Like many longstanding businesses in the historic downtown districts, Power Elite was also ‘grandfathered-in’ and didn’t have to be up to city code.
Now, the city is requiring her to get permits and get her buildings up to code.
“I'm willing to do what they want me to do, but at the same time, they need to help with the expenses of those kinds of things that they're requiring,” she says.
With seven buildings to restore, 15 employees to pay, and new city code requirements to meet, the financial burden is heavy, she adds.
Despite her losses, McCarey has kept classes going. Students have been practicing in borrowed spaces, including Cobre Valley Center for the Arts, Charles Bejarano Elementary School, High Desert Middle School, the Elks Building, and the Globe Senior Center.
The dance academy already has a show planned for Dec. 12 at High Desert Middle School.
The academy will also host a fundraiser — the Living Hope Dance Convention — in late January to support rebuilding efforts.
Power Elite’s nonprofit status has allowed McCarey to expand outreach to lower-income youth. Earlier this year, she offered free dance workshops to local students, many of whom had never taken a class before.
“The moms, I think, were more emotional than the kids,” she says, “because they could see their child do something that they couldn't really normally afford.”
She hopes to resume those programs next summer.
As for the studio, “It's going to stay here,” she says. “And it’s going to keep serving all our community’s children.”
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