New World Center Wallcast, South Beach - Free Concerts and Movies on Giant Screen

Wallcast, South Beach

SoundScape is a park in South Beach with an area specially designed for audiences to watch free concerts on a giant screen on the wall of the New World Center.

In addition, the Wallcast system is being used to show movies, also free.

Space for 700 People
The park is dotted with palm trees and a series of pergolas at the Washington Avenue end will eventually be covered with bougainvilleas, but a grassy space has been left for 700 people in front of New World Symphony’s concert hall on 17th Street, which opened in 2011.

Bring Blankets or Folding Chairs
Most of the audience bring blankets or folding chairs, and while you might get the odd cool night in the winter, generally Miami Beach is the perfect place for an open-air evening concert or outdoor movie show.

But during the rainy season in summer, even with an umbrella to protect you from the warm rain, the waterlogged grass underfoot may not seem such a good idea.

Sound from 150 Speakers
Although there has been criticism of the sound quality, I think it is acceptable, thanks to about 150 speakers in green tubular structures at the sides of the viewing area. It wouldn't be reasonable to expect the quality to be the same as indoors, and there is always the option of buying a ticket and listening inside.

Even though the projectors are housed in a structure well away from the building, the screen definition is good.

Guggenheim Museum Architect
Frank Gehry, the architect whose best-known buildings include the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, designed the New World Center, but not the park. The budget was too tight for his plans for the park, so the contract went to the Dutch firm West 8.

This new concert hall replaces New World Symphony's previous home, the Lincoln Theatre, on nearby Lincoln Road. It's a private-public partnership including Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami Beach.

Concerts on Saturday, Movies Wednesday
Concerts are held on Saturdays and films are shown on Wednesdays, generally starting at 8 pm, although it would be a advisable to arrive early to claim a good spot. Some people take food to have a picnic while waiting for the beginning of the show.

List of Films
Obviously you shouldn't expect the latest releases for free. A mixture of movie classics and fairly recent films made up the first season's movies:

• Avatar
• Fantastic Mr Fox
• Grease
• Inception
• Moulin Rouge
• Big
• Casablanca
• North By Northwest
• Wall-E
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• The Sound of Music
• Fantasia
• The Wizard of Oz
• Dirty Dancing

The Park Is at Washington Road and 17th Street
Tickets are not required, and the SoundScape park is a short walk from the shops, restaurants and bars of South Beach's bustling Lincoln Road, on the corner of Washington Avenue and 17th Street.