Directora del Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs

Marialaura Leslie serves as Director of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, a public arts agency dedicated to strengthening the work of arts organizations and artists in Miami-Dade County through grants and technical assistance; promoting arts education; making cultural activities more equitable and accessible for all residents and visitors; building new and improving existing cultural facilities; operating arts centers; managing public art projects and improving the visual quality of the County's built environment.

An arts administrator with more than thirty years of experience in nonprofit arts management, cultural policy and local arts agency operations, Director Leslie joined the Department in 2001, moved to New York City to work in the arts for 4 years and returned to the Department in 2014. Prior to being promoted to Deputy Director in 2018, Marialaura held positions of increasing responsibility within the Department: Chief of Strategic Initiatives, Chief of Information and Outreach, and Cultural Projects Administrator.

With a background in dance and theater, she has worked with major cultural institutions in Miami, New York and Puerto Rico, including Miami City Ballet, Coconut Grove Playhouse, City Theater, Jerry Herman Ring Theater at the University of Miami, Miami Hispanic Ballet, International Ballet Festival of Miami, Queens Jazz Orchestra, Teatro del Sesenta, Balleteatro de Nana Hudo and Taller de Otra Cosa. In NYC, she worked at El Museo del Barrio, a major Puerto Rican, Latino and Latin American museum on Fifth Avenue with a 572-seat theater.

Previously, Ms. Leslie served as the Deputy Director of Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts at the historic Flushing Town Hall, a Smithsonian Affiliate in Queens and a partner venue for Carnegie Hall's Neighborhood Concert Series with an art gallery and a 300-seat theater.

A founding member and Past Chair of the Americans for the Arts Emerging Leaders Council (2002-2007), she has received many awards including the 2005 Emerging Arts Leader Award from the Arts & Business Council; the 2020 Remy Award for Civic Arts Leadership the South Florida Theatre League; and the 2022 Knight Arts Champion Award from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Ms. Leslie has served on grants panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, New York State Council on the Arts, Arts Council of Indianapolis, Arts and Science Council of Charlotte-Mecklenburg in North Carolina, Nebraska Arts Council, Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, Queens Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, among others.

She is a current member of Americans for the Arts, United States Urban Arts Federation, National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, the Arts Action Fund, the Cultural Tourism Committee of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, and a former member of The Beacon Council's Creative Design Committee. She also serves as a board member of the Florida Cultural Alliance and the Frost Science Museum. Ms. Leslie was recently elected as Chair of the South Florida Cultural Consortium, a 5-county regional arts alliance. She has traveled with the Miami-Dade County International Trade Consortium and the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce on business development missions to South America to promote Miami's cultural assets.

Ms. Leslie has a MA in Arts Administration from Goucher College and a BA with double major in Theater Arts Management and Spanish from University of Miami. She is a proud member of the United Way's Women United Miami leadership group.