Miami-Dade mayors gather at Nova exhibit to honor victims of Oct. 7, denounce antisemitism
Over a dozen mayors across Miami-Dade County gathered to denounce antisemitism at an emotional exhibit that honors the victims of the Hamas attacks that took place during an Israeli music festival more than a year ago.
“We’re living through a profoundly painful time for Jewish people around the world,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “These beautiful efforts here make sure that the world can touch and feel and see what has happened and how it must never happen again.”
With found footage, recovered items and stories told by survivors, the Nova Exhibit, which opened this week at Greenwich Studios in North Miami, takes visitors through a full sensory experience of the horrific events that unfolded at the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023, where over 380 people were killed in the Hamas-led assault.
The walk-through exhibit features scorched vehicles, bullet-riddled bathroom stalls and abandoned merch tables that create an unsettling experience made to look and feel like the campsite at Nova.
The items found in the main rooms — camping tents, water bottles, sun hats, rows of worn shoes — are all authentic, personal belongings recovered from the festival grounds in the aftermath of the attacks. Visitors are encouraged to touch the objects, pick up and read the iphone messages sent to loved ones, and listen to the startling sounds of the attacks.
Project partner Scooter Braun says it’s all meant to immerse visitors in the emotional turmoil felt by the music festival goers on that dark day.
“We want people to immerse themselves in this experience so they can see their own humanity in it,” said Braun, who helped bring the exhibit over to the United States from Israel. “We want them to see themselves at any festival they’ve gone to, whether it be Ultra, whether it be Coachella, whether it be burning man...”
The exhibit has traveled to Los Angeles and New York — where it received over 250,000 visitors — and will now be on display in Miami for ten weeks. After hearing the powerful reactions the exhibit received in other cities, Braun says he advocated to bring the project to Miami where he knew many people would be visiting during the holidays.
The exhibit is already having an impact in elite Miami circles. Miami Heat player Jimmy Butler and prolific music producer Jermaine Dupri both visited the exhibit ahead of and on opening night.
“He came over and he was absolutely blown away,” Braun said about Jimmy Butler. “He said, ‘I didn’t realize the extent of this ... I really want to bring the whole team.’”
Braun, who is well-known in the music industry for managing popular artists including Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato and J Balvin, said he hopes the exhibit will foster empathy and understanding for what happened on October 7.
“By coming here and touching an iPhone or touching a tent .... or just listening to testimonials, you start to realize this could have been you. This could have been your brother. This could have been your sister...” he said.
Woven throughout the exhibit are bits of information about Oct. 7, which was the deadliest attack committed against Jews since the Holocaust. The exhibit explains that the attack occurred at dawn on October 7, where thousands had gathered the night before for a festival meant to celebrate peace and love. Hamas militants stormed into Israel on brutal raids that left 1,200 people dead and another 240 taken hostage, sparking an all out war in Gaza with no end in sight.
At a press conference organized by the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, local mayors from across the county gave statements denouncing the rise in antisemitism and reflecting on the past year in South Florida.
“In Miami ... we do not tolerate any acts of evil or violence or discrimination or hate against the Jewish people,” said Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. “Frankly, we don’t tolerate that against anyone, but certainly, I think we’re hypersensitive to people of the Jewish faith, because we see what occurs across America and across the world.”
The mayor of Hialeah, Esteban “Steve” Bovo, pointed out that Hialeah, a place with no synagogues and a small Jewish community, has started to support the Jewish community through gestures of solidarity.
“We did something that had never been done in our city. We now celebrate Hanukkah in our city as a gesture of openness in our community,” Bovo said.
The exhibit has sold over 10,000 tickets in Miami in the first week alone, according to organizers. One hundred percent of ticket sales go toward supporting the exhibit’s founder — the Tribe of Nova Foundation, an Israeli nonprofit that was founded in 2023 by the festival’s organizers to support survivors of the attack as well as the bereaved families.
In the last room of the exhibit, a space of healing meant to bring awareness to the work being done by the Tribe of Nova Foundation, visitors can look up to see a neon sign offering a plea of hope for the future.
Hollywood resident Amanda Bryk, 36, visited the exhibit on Thursday and said it offers the public much-needed context about what took place.
“You can feel how there was no place to hide,” said Bryk, who also visited the Nova site in Israel. “So now seeing the stories behind it and being able to put those two together, it just provides a clearer, more disturbing picture.”
Bryk’s friend, Elana Grauer, who organized a mission trip to Israel after Oct 7., said though the exhibit is emotionally taxing, it’s important for people to come.
“The over 300 people who died that day, they deserve this, they deserve this honor, and they deserve to be remembered and for their stories to be illuminated.”
IF YOU GO:
WHAT: The Nova Music Festival Exhibition
WHERE: Greenwich Studios 12100 NE 16th Ave. North Miami, FL 33161
WHEN: December 18, 2024 - through mid-February. Open Tuesday to Sunday 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM (Last exhibition entry at 7:40 PM)
COST: $18+ (includes a donation to The Tribe of Nova Foundation)
This story was produced with financial support from Trish and Dan Bell and from donors comprising the South Florida Jewish and Muslim Communities, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.
This story was originally published December 20, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
