As director of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, Michael Spring is responsible for supervision of a public arts agency with an annual budget of more than $33 million. In 2014, he was appointed to serve as a Senior Advisor for the County’s Cultural Affairs and Recreation portfolio, including oversight of the arts, parks and libraries. Over the more than thirty years that he has served the Department of Cultural Affairs, Spring has helped build Miami-Dade County’s cultural community into a more than a $1 billion annual industry comprised of more than 1,000 non-profit cultural groups and thousands of artists. Spring has a B.A. from the University of Miami and earned an M.A. in painting from New York University, involving studies in Venice, Italy. He continues to paint and develop his interests as a visual artist.