Miami Fine Arts Academy — Local services in Miami

Please stay away from this place. My daughter took piano lessons for a few months and she enjoyed her teacher, but the school system and especially her owner, Alexa Burgio, are the real problem. Dont get me wrong, the teachers are good and nice people. The problem is the owner and her system. Lets first talk about the outrageous price, 330 per month, and that would be just too expensive, but the atrocious thing is that LESS THAN HALF of that goes to the teacher who actually does most of the work. My advice, save this absurd amount of money and pay a private teacher as good as the one in the school. Youll get the same or better results with your child and it will cost you a fraction of this price, and it will go all to the teacher who actually works, and not this manipulative, greedy owner. Besides that, this is not a school with an art educational system like the owner says in her ads. All the school does is signing you up and then assign you to a teacher who basically gives you private lessons with his her own personal system. But its so ridiculous that one day I asked our teacher if we can have her number to call her in case of any emergency or anything and she told me with a terrified face that it was against the school rules to do that, that we cant even be friends on Facebook. What kind of psychotic and controlling owner establishes these rules in these days of social media. How can you pretend to control who is friend with whom outside the school. This is who this person Alexa is. She is a really nasty person who talk down everyone, especially her own staff. I witnessed that myself while I was waiting for my daughter piano lessons, how she treated one of the receptionist in a really despective and prepotent manner, and then the poor receptionist went to talk to a visitor with a terrified forced smile that tells you everything you need to know about this work environment. Of course, in order to make it apparent they have a more sophisticated system than that, the owner uses a ridiculous reward system with trophies that they give the student based on the time spent in the academy rather than actual progress made. The result is students who can barely play anything have the maximum level trophy. This system effectively rewards money spent and not musical level achieved. What a joke. Then there is the recitals. Of course all this private schools have recitals where the student can play and have fun, and its considered one of the reasons why you would attend this places and not a private teacher. Well, the owner thinks that she can profit a little bit more with that. She actually rent some of the most expensive concert places, even the Carnegie Hall, in order to charge the parents more and make them think their children are making a lot of progress because they played in the Carnegie Hall, even if they play Twinkle, twinkle little star. I cant even start to say how wrong and manipulative this is. This is sending the kids totally the wrong message making them believe that they can play in those places that were reserved for, you know, people who spent most of his life practicing. Again, stay away from this place. Having a clean school, I give you that, isnt worth this amount of money and the exploiting of the teachers who...

I want to express my gratitude for all of your work during this weekend's recital. The event was flawlessly executed. I was very impressed with how organized everything was. Getting the tickets and dropping off the participants was a quick and easy process. All events were exactly on time and as explained in the materials. The administrators, staff and teachers did everything with grace and positive attitude that was infectious and the quality of the academy and the teaching showed. All the kids looked so happy and confident. It was really very impressive. As parents, we also appreciate how efficiently it was run. Providing us with an exact one hour window ensured that everyone was in a good mood and made it easier to invite guests. I can imagine only parents would want to listen to several hours of performance, but creating that one hour window ensured that our attention was focused, and that other family members were happy to attend. I can see myself going to many more of these. Having the different areas available for pictures was also a great idea, as it allowed us to capture these great memories. My son was so happy and proud. He loved receiving the flowers and was saying that he could not wait for future recitals where he would "earn" more flowers. My 3 year old daughter also said she couldn't wait either and would one day like to play an instrument as well. I always strongly recommend the academy but after this experience, it really solidifies in my mind what a great place this is.

We are also very thankful for Rafael (my son's piano teacher). He is an amazing teacher. He has taught our son so much in a very short amount of time. He pushes him to continue to challenge himself to strengthen his piano playing skills and his ability to read music. He is very positive and even tempered, while still being focused and hard working. He is truly serving as a great role model for my kid. I also love that he is involving us as parents in the process. I do not know anything about music, but he is teaching me as well, which allows me to then go over the daily homework with my son so that he can continue to learn. Doing the daily piano homework has been a great bonding experience with my son and has allowed him to progress even more. My son now plays during his free time and loves to show us new pieces that he is learning beyond the designated homework. We have a lot of fun practicing and a lot of that comes from the positive class experience that encourages him to keep going.

Thank you for everything and please convey our thanks to everyone in the team that made today possible. We are filled with happiness and pride for today's...

Imagine that for a moment all your worries simply disappear and you begin dreaming the moment you walk thru a door... and what is even more fascinating is the fact that your dream will become a reality, which is be able to see your little one grow to master what he or she loves so much... whether it is a musical instrument, theater, dancing, ballet, art, it doesn't matter.. here dreams do come true and what is a dream in itself is the fact that your child will be surrounded by some of the most talented and caring individuals that you will ever meet. From the moment you walk into this magical place the caring smile and welcoming of the front desk personnel will captivate you along with the attention to detail in every corner that you turn to inside the Miami Fine Arts Academy, and when I say attention to detail, I do not only refer to how beautiful the place is, but also to the amazing security of the place (where you will not need to worry about the safety of your kid), to the caring Professors that will honestly tell you if your child has talent or not... and to me this is so important for every penny counts at home and like many parents, we too need to think very carefully how we budget our finances and I can honestly tell you having our little one here is not spending money but it is proven to be an investment that will benefit our child for the rest of her life. Miami is such an amazing place where it doesn't matter what your child wants to learn, there are great places all around and that is the beauty of this city, you do not need to settle, there are endless options to choose from... I've been actively looking for 3 years for the right place for her, I've visited different studios, theaters, art academies, and most recently different summer camps all over and I can honestly tell you, the best ones I found (which were beautiful in every way really) could not compare in my heart to the Miami Fine Arts Academy... Go ahead; call them, stop by, have a conversation with any of the members of this amazing place and you will understand why I could not had chosen a better place for the most important person in my life! Chances are you might end up with the same feeling about the most important person...