Vizcaya is looking to preserve more than the images families make at its waterfront estate: it wants to collect the stories connected to those visits. On Sept. 18, the Miami-Dade County-owned institution held its second annual Vizcaya Late: Everyone's Quince, an evening of music, dancing and cake centered on the quinceañera tradition and its place in South Florida.
Held during National Hispanic Heritage Month, the gathering featured live Latin music, salsa dancing, group artmaking and a large quinceañera-style cake, according to WLRN. A quinceañera marks a girl's 15th birthday and is often accompanied by a family celebration and formal photographs. Organizers made the event open to everyone, whether or not they had celebrated a quince or attended one before.
A Villa Built for Milestone Photos
Vizcaya, once the winter estate of businessman James Deering, is now owned by Miami-Dade County. Its gardens and Italian-style waterfront setting are a popular location for quinceañera photographs. Staff have seen as many as 15 families taking photos on the grounds in a single day, according to WLRN.
A demographic snapshot
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 50% of Miami-Dade County’s Hispanic population identified as Cuban in the 2020 Census. That figure describes the county’s Hispanic population, rather than the share of all county residents who identify as Hispanic or Latino.
María Carla Chicuén, who came to Miami from Cuba with her family in 2002 at age 14, had her quinceañera photos taken at Vizcaya, according to WLRN. She said the occasion with her parents, sister and godmother helped her feel part of Miami after arriving in a new country.
Planning a Permanent Archive of Quince Stories
Vizcaya's ambitions now stretch beyond a single night of celebration. The institution wants to create a permanent home for visitors' quinceañera stories and plans to grow that archive by collecting testimonials and experiences from quinceañeras who have passed through its gates, with a stated hope of one day letting visitors hear those collected voices directly.
That effort builds on Beyond Vizcaya, a digital initiative through which the organization has already partnered with community members to collect oral histories about Miami. Vizcaya has worked closely with its Little Bahamas community, for instance, to create a repository of stories tied to that neighborhood's history, per a report from WLRN, a model organizers hope to extend to the quinceañera tradition as well.
Other oral-history collections
The University of Miami Libraries' Cuban Heritage Collection has documented Cuban and Cuban American experiences through recorded oral histories since 2008, according to University of Miami News. The University of Miami Libraries describes its oral-history interviews as covering subjects including South Florida, Cuba and the Haitian Diaspora. Selected interviews are available online in its Digital Collections, while others are available for research by visiting the libraries.
