The essentialness of community and culture | Charles Siemon | TEDxBocaRaton

Mr. Siemon is an active advocate for the cultural arts and in community matters and was one of three founding members of the Centre for the Arts at Mizner Park which funded and developed the Mizner Park Amphitheater; the founding Chair and co-producer of the Festival of the Arts BOCA an internationally significant music, dance, theater and lecture program. In addition, Mr. Siemon served on the Board of Trustees of the Boca Raton Regional Hospital including a term as Vice Chairman and a term as Chairman.
Mr. Siemon was also the founding President of the Mizner Park Cultural Arts Association which redeveloped and operates the former International Museum of Cartoon Art into the Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center at the south end of Mizner Park which includes a state of the art a 250-300 seat studio theater.
Charles L. Siemon is a land use planning and planning law consultant with more than 30 years of experience providing professional services to public and private sector clients in more than 30 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico from offices in Chicago, Illinois and most recently in Boca Raton, Florida. He has been a lead consultant for a number of nationally recognized planning and planning law initiatives. He is the author of numerous articles in planning and legal periodicals, co-author of three books on planning and planning law matters and a contributing author to a number of planning and planning law treatises. Mr. Siemon has served as an adjunct professor in planning and law at several institutions of higher learning including Northwestern University College of Law and School of Urban and Regional Planning at FAU, where he most recently served as the John M. DeGrove Distinguished Scholar in Growth Management and Development.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

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Great presentation by Mr. Siemon! He has been the driving force in bringing valuable cultural arts expression into an area that would really lack such, without his dedication to this concept in Mizner Park. A true philanthropist, along with his team of those who care for the importance and the vision of things that really matter in a community, he's revitalized this niche within our South Florida town, even in rough economic times, and been a powerful engine in ensuring the presence of arts within this community. Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center, the Foundation, the Amphitheater, the Museum, the plaza, and and downtown district has truly benefitted from his vision and insistence on the collective value of what is necessary to the community at large. The MPCAC is a genuine jewel, and anyone who is lucky enough to see a performance there or in any of the Downtown Boca venues should do themselves a favor, and experience the myriad of artistic opportunities that have been afforded to local community because of Mr. Siemeon's hard work to make it a reality for the lucky citizens who get to live here and benefit from the cultural exchanges which occur right here. We are a very lucky town that greatly benefits from the vision of few who care to preserve what is really important in a community, in a culture, and to humans. Bravo!