Parkland Livestyle November 2013

ecording studio and computer lab for
graphic design and gaming, birthday
party rooms, a volunteer lounge area
and a cafe and gift shop.
The solution came in 2006 when
Shrago signed a partnership with
Broward County to build a Young
at Art Museum that also housed a
Broward County Library Children’s
Reading Center. An exhaustive capital
campaign raised more than half of the
$21 million needed, while Broward
County contributed $5 million. The
Knights Foundation Arts Challenge
awarded Shrago a $500,000 grant.
The 11-acre building opened at
State Road 84 and Northwest 121st
Avenue in Davie in 2012. Mindy’s
mother retired shortly afterwards.
“The partnership with Broward
County Libraries created a synergy
that merged literacy with art,” Shrago
says. “And the library is open seven
days a week, so there is no dead space
on weekends.”
Shrago used her charm to persuade
experts from some of the nation’s
finest museums, including The Getty,
Museum of Modern Art in New York,
Noguchi Museum, Museum for African
Art, Chicago Children’s Museum and
Brooklyn Museum of Art, to convene in
a symposium to help cook up a master
plan of exhibits for the museum. Janet
Rice Elman, executive director of the
Association of Children’s Museums,
called the efforts of Shrago and her
mother “simply astounding.”
The Young at Art Museum features the finest, state-of-the-art studios for ceramics,
printmaking, cartooning, photography, mixed media, drawing and painting.
“To have founders who opened a
museum—and this is now the third
location—and see it through three
different capital campaigns is very
unusual,” says Elman. “I cannot
think of another example in the field
of founders who founded and refounded
a museum. I think these
two women had sheer determination
and unbelievable vision and drive to
push this forward.” After touring the
newest incarnation of the museum
recently, Elman called it “fantastic…
I love the way the library is nestled in
the middle of the museum. Libraries
are traditionally community gathering
places, so it all makes sense.”
If there is one person not surprised
by Shrago’s accomplishments, it’s her
husband who is now a mediator. “Art
has always been Mindy’s passion,”
says Spechler. “She eats, drinks and
sleeps Young at Art. I supported her
100 percent.”
Indeed, the entire family is
passionate about art; the couple’s
two children, Ali and Zack, are both
artists. Shrago and her husband
have a sizeable art collection in their
Hollywood Lakes house as well as in
their Manhattan home.
A workaholic who wakes up at 5:30
a.m. daily, Shrago has few interests
outside of art. She recently vacationed
in Italy with her husband, where she
viewed plenty of artwork, and spends
her days off at art museums. She
recently visited the Norton Museum
of Art in West Palm Beach. A friend
texted her to see where she was.
“I’m at a museum,” she responded.
“Art heals.”
LMGFL.COM | NOVEMBER 2013 47