Arts program “roared” to Miriam Zimms during her battles with cancer, tapping into hidden creative talent, changing her life. 

Miriam Simms

Story by Sarah Worth, Gasparilla Arts.

Challenges bring opportunities. It’s a cliche that says a lot yet can’t truly convey the enormity of challenges Miriam Zimms faced while battling cancer and then the pure joy she found in the artistic opportunities that later grew out of that experience.

In 2010, while working as a consultant and business owner, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and was later told she carried the BRCA gene, leading to the removal of her breasts, ovaries and fallopian tubes. In 2013, additional tests found a second primary cancer – chondrosarcoma  – in her left pelvis, leading to a 10-hour surgery, an internal hemipelvectomy and full-hip replacement. 

Two years of physical therapy helped her re-learn how to sit up, then to stand up, and then to walk again, leaving her with the use of a cane and rollator for short distances and a wheelchair and electric scooter for longer treks. 

Loss after loss of the feminine self (miscarriages, breasts, ovaries/fallopian tubes, her left pelvis, loss of motherhood) in three short years, coupled with post-surgical side effects, led Miriam to turn to the healing arts as a way to help her cope.

It was out of these challenges that Miram discovered the power of art to heal. While undergoing treatment at Moffitt Cancer Center, Miram tenaciously participated in the hospital’s arts in medicine program, which encourages patients and families to engage with art and music to promote healing and self-discovery through cancer. 

Miram dove right into the therapeutic program and began a daily personal arts practice to help her focus away from anxiety, PTSD, chronic pain and doubts about her life ahead and to regain some sense of control through a meditative and creative arts process. 

“The arts became the outlet to tell my story, to express emotions and feelings, and create,” she said. “It allowed my analytical left-brain side to take a back seat to the creative right brain side. I really had no options but physical therapy and the arts every day for two years. I needed more than just to survive.”

“The arts became the outlet to tell my story, to express emotions and feelings, and create,” she said. “It allowed my analytical left-brain side to take a back seat to the creative right brain side. I really had no options but physical therapy and the arts every day for two years. I needed more than just to survive.”

Others took notice, too. Her husband, of course, but also the team at Moffitt, the local USF CAM Curator, libraries, cultural arts center, and local organizations. She was experiencing a metamorphosis, of sorts, transforming from patient to thriver to artist and advocate.

And more was to come: Miriam went on to advocate nationally for Arts in Health as a board member of the National Organization for Arts in Health, become an artist with a disability through Arts4All FL, volunteer to teach artists with the Franciscan Center’s Operation Restore program, and become involved in the Hispanic Services Council children’s immigrant arts program.

“Without Arts4All FL organization,” she said. “I would not have gained credibility over time as an abstract symbolism artist, focusing on loss and resiliency.”

Her own art has been in more than 17 galleries throughout Florida, including in the permanent collection on display at the Moffitt Cancer Center’s International Plaza campus in Tampa.

Miriam was also a featured artist in the live demonstration studios during the 2022 Gasparilla Festival of the Arts. Over the course of the weekend’s event, attendees contributed to the creation of an on-site expressive arts 8’ by 4’ mural and a live 3’ by 2’ ink canvas piece, which were donated at the end of the event.

Beyond Tampa, her work has been showcased in collections in Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, the Osceola Arts Center in Kissimmee, and in the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee. And farther afield, some of her art now lives comfortably in homes from California, Denver, New York City, and even Germany, among others.

Abroad, Miriam mentored Arts in Health peers in Egypt this summer to roll out an expressive arts (visual arts and music) event on International Museum Day for World Peace at the Manial Palace Museum in Cairo. https://thenoah.net/the-meditative-arts-come-to-egypt-thru-music-and-zentangle-art-mural/

She speaks frequently about accessibility and the arts.  

“My art is intended to heal, me while I express and create it, you while you view it, and the community as they experience it,” she said. “It’s really about making the arts accessible to all.”

Today, Miriam is 14 years from her breast cancer diagnosis (triple negative) advocating as the Guatemalan Globes, and 11 years from chondrosarcoma (primary bone cancer) advocating as HIPster the Artist.

“I still make it a daily practice to do something artistic, to keep creating in a new body and life that will never be the same again,” she said. “Having faced so many losses, I live in the present moment. I make it a practice not to live in fear. I have an ability now to leave my legacy through arts advocacy and my art.” https://encasawithm.com

Arts4All

Be sure to visit the Arts4All tent in the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts Community Outreach Village on Festival Weekend, March 1-2, 2025. 

To learn more about Arts4All, visit their website at https://arts4allflorida.org/

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The Savants

The Savants are a nine piece southern soul group from Gainesville, FL. They perform original soul music inspired by the Muscle Shoals Sound as well as the iconic and legendary music that came out of labels like Stax Records and Atlantic Records during the 1960s & 1970s.

Formed in 2011 in Gainesville, FL, the group has undergone several personal changes over the years but settled into its current lineup around 2020.

The band has made its presence felt around the southeast, notably playing Red Gorilla at SXSW in 2017, Suwannee Hulaween in 2016 and Changeville in its hometown in 2018 and 2016. Along the way they have been featured alongside groups such as; Gary Clark Jr., Durand Jones and the Indications, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Kendra Morris, Charles Bradley and His Extraordinares, George Porter Jr of the Meters, The Original Wailers, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Postmodern Jukebox and more.

TV Breakup Scene

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Nick Ewing

Music’s ability to release energy within us is overwhelming. Capturing moments of emotion and expression to elicit that reaction is such a joyful honor. It’s allowed me to connect, create, and cultivate so many beautiful experiences. Let this be with you… Cheers!

Mia Marlene

Danish-American, California-born, and Florida-raised multi-instrumentalist Mia Marlene offers a vibrant sonic world through her indie pop music, which is infused with hues of 1980’s synth pop and lush, captivating melodies. Her self-produced debut album, “good for my art,”  features songs about living abroad, creative aspirations, and terrible exes (because, well, you know).

Mia Marlene’s music is anchored in her many experiences living in London, Copenhagen, Colorado, and Washington D.C.; places that shaped her sonic vision and imprinted onto her the wealth of the human experience, and how all of these experiences can serve as creative fuel for songwriting and music-making.

Prizilla

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 Since releasing PEOPLE PERSON, their debut EP, the band has been turning heads and moving feet. With over 50,000 fans following along online, PRIZILLA has earned a reputation for live shows that are part concert, part catharsis, and entirely unmissable.

  The band has shared stages with Nick Hakim and Madison McFerrin, lit up NYC with Couch and The Retrograde, and shaken the rafters with St. Paul & the Broken Bones and Flipturn at FL Fin Fest. PRIZILLA shows no signs of stopping, proving that music isn’t just something you hear—it’s something you feel. And they feel it. This is music for anyone who craves the unexpected, the unforgettable, and the kind of energy that makes you lose track of time. Come for the sax solos; stay for the magic.

Pusha Preme

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MK Blessed

Mk Blessed was born in Congo Kinshasa in Sep 18th  He is a singer/songwriter and a speaker who started writing songs at the age of 7 and taught them to His Church worship team, which enjoyed singing His songs.

He formed His first Music group at the Age of 10 and was doing secular music.

When He was 13 he fled his home country and went to a Refugee camp due to war, He lived there for 10 years and then immigrated to the USA in 2016, though He has been writing for a while Mk Blessed released His first single on Dec,  4 2021 entitled Faithful God.

MK blessed is a husband of one wife and a father of two girls, He went to Kampala High School and later attended Bible college in Uganda East Africa, He is a founder of a non profit organization named Fociom that shares love with the underprivileged of the world like himself, Mk Blessed passion is to help others.

Izzy Bradburn

Singer, songwriter, guitarist. I aim to write emotional music that addresses the world we live in and how it makes us all feel.

Boho Sideshow

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Fabiola Méndez

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Native to Caguas, PR, Fabiola began playing the cuatro, Puerto Rico’s national instrument, at the age of six. She got her early music trainings at the Antonio Paoli School of Music in Caguas and her Bachelor’s in Music from Berklee College of Music, where in 2018 she made history as the first graduate to play the Puerto Rican cuatro as principal instrument.

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Her list of recordings include: Herencia Criolla (2009), Al Otro Lado Del Charco (2019), Afrorriqueña (2021), and Flora Campesina (2024). In 2022, she produced her first
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In recent years, she’s had the honor of receiving recognitions such as the Quincy Jones Award, ambassador for the Puerto Rican Day Parade in NYC, the Brother Thomas Fellowship, the Whippoorwill Arts Fellowship, and the ASCAP Foundation Lucille and Jack Yellen Award 2022. She was also nominated for a Children’s and Family Emmy in the category of Outstanding Interactive Media and won the “Latin Artist of the Year 2023” by the Boston Music Awards. Her music is featured on the film Beautiful, FL (Disney+), on the tv shows Alma’s Way, Work It Out Wombats (PBS Kids), and Mecha Builders (HBO Max), as well as indie films, jingles, and TV commercials.