Our Story

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HARTVEST PROJECT came out of a personal dream by its founder Carola Bravo. The dream of inspiring as many people as possible to appreciate, enjoy, love and collect art. In 2014 artist Carola Bravo, created HARTVEST PROJECT, an art venture dedicated to “planting art seeds” and offering the experience of enjoying art. Being a practicing artist herself and a longtime educator, HARTVEST PROJECT started offering, with the support of her former husband and business consultant César Prato, very interesting “art immersive experiences” that quickly created a group of fascinated participants!

Since its creation, most of HARTVEST PROJECT’s events took place in Casa Ballerina. The family home and Carola’s art studio became a space for private gatherings, meetings and reunions. Casa Ballerina is one of a handful of Pinecrest architectural
jewels from the 50’s, an original Mid-Century Modern house designed by nationally recognized architect Robert Fitch-Smith. This house was selected by The Villagers, Miami’s oldest non-profit organization dedicated to historic preservation, for preserving
the spirit of the 50s while maintaining the original architect’s design and it has also been a filming set for one of Nickelodeon’s famous TV programs. Casa Ballerina Casa Ballerina offered a very creative and unique atmosphere, among an interesting art collection and an eclectic arrangement of furnishings, books and accessories, guest-artists talked about their work and art experts offered lectures

guiding participants through a one-of- a-kind “journey of art”.

In 2016, we realized we were quickly outgrowing the space and started looking for a larger space which could offer the same “unique atmosphere” Casa Ballerina was offering, which we knew was not an easy task! Until December of 2015, when Carola
found a hidden treasure! A beautiful and historic space surrounded by tropical gardens: Cypress Hall in Pinecrest Gardens. A perfect space for offering our innovative programming and continuing planting and harvesting “Art Seeds”.

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In January 2016, Carola presented the project to the Park, with the help of her friend Julie Jeffries, who made the connection between HARTVEST PROJECT and Pinecrest Gardens. Since that day, Pinecrest Gardens, the Village of Pinecrest and HARTVEST
PROJECT, made an interesting alliance with the mission of offering art education and connections to the community. HARTVEST PROJECT found two important allies whose wide vision and clear understanding of the potential and positive impact this
project could bring to the community, have made this alliance possible: Alana Golembo-Perez (Pinecrest Gardens Director) and Yocelyn Galiano (Village Manager), who loved and supported the project since the first day they saw it. At the end of 2016 began the
interior remodeling of the space and by October 2017, Cypress Hall in Pinecrest Gardens becomes our main home and the perfect place to “keep planting art seeds”.