Sweat Records began as a local independent music store in Miami in 2005, conceived by DJ and club promoter, Lauren (Lolo) Reskin, and by former WVUM DJ and public defense attorney, Sara Yousuf. It served as not only a record store but a public event space and coffee shop, catering to the eclectic music scene in South Florida. The store was forced to temporarily relocate to the back of Churchill's pub in 2005 after the destruction caused from Hurricane Wilma and eventually moved to its new permanent location near Little Haiti. Sara Yousuf also left her role as co-owner to pursue a full-time career as a public defense attorney in 2006 and was replaced by Jason Jimenez who came onboard as Lolo's new partner in 2007. Sweat Records continues to this day to offer a wide variety of performances and events, featuring both budding local artists and veteran rock bands, and to contribute heavily to Miami's thriving music culture.
The Sweat Records collection contains archival material documenting the history of the record store, including newspaper articles, magazines, ephemera, pamphlets, company records, administrative files, personal papers from Lolo Reskin, and audio-visual material. Items are arranged categorically by series and material type.
The Funding Arts Network is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the arts in Miami-Dade County through publicly funding grants for various art-related institutions, events, projects, and educational initiatives. The organization originally formed in 1996 under the name of Fifty over Fifty, Inc. with the initial goal of recruiting 50 members who would each contribute $1,000 a year to form a pool of $50,000 that would be endowed to the arts. Both the award pool and membership grew considerably over time, and by 2018, they had funded over 108 art organizations and had awarded $4,822,600 in grants. Their records contain past grant applications, newsletters, correspondence, contracts, awards, audio-visual materials, press clippings, bylaws, reports, minutes, membership lists, and other administrative documents for the organization.
