Maxence Doytier Leads a Cultural Awakening

If you follow Fort Lauderdale’s flourishing arts and culture scene, chances are you’ve heard of Maxence Doytier. At 30 years old with a signature head of blonde dreads, the down-to-earth Doytier is the creative director of Twenty6North Productions, a three-tier production company working with South Florida’s up-and-coming creatives. The brand’s name is a nod to Fort Lauderdale’s 26 degrees north latitude coordinate. 

His passion for the arts stems from a creative upbringing, which began in Cannes, France. At age 4, he moved stateside with his parents, whom he credits for instilling in him an appreciation for the arts. Doytier’s mom taught art for 20 years and is now an instructional art facilitator for Broward County Schools; his father is an art director  in Wynwood and has witnessed the transformation of the art-centric Miami neighborhood awash in urban graffiti. “I’m following in his footsteps to keep the arts alive in Fort Lauderdale and support it as best as I can,” Doytier says. 

Before launching Twenty6North Productions in 2018, Doytier gained experience in the entertainment industry by working alongside the teams behind the Rolling Loud hip-hop festival and the MultiRace triathlons. Today, his agency works with a collective of multidisciplinary artists; offers real estate companies, commercial builders, and residential complexes an opportunity to support the arts and promote their brands creatively; and acts as an event production company that provides artistic direction for avant-garde pop-ups and exhibitions.

Doytier’s projects have involved everything from coordinating the largest school mural to debut in Broward County at Virginia Shuman Young Elementary School to organizing beach cleanups every second Saturday of the month in partnership with B Ocean Resort. The collected trash was upcycled into a traveling piece of artwork that will be displayed around town beginning this month. One stop on the tour is Sistrunk Marketplace & Brewery, which Society 8 Hospitality Group opened last year. Doytier is the creative director at Society 8, and he notes that he has a good relationship with the hospitality industry. “They know what I do as a curator and as an art facilitator,” he says.

Doytier’s future is bright—and bustling. In November he received confirmation that his agency would be working on several activations for December’s Miami Art Week, including an event at Loews Miami Beach and a virtual Wynwood Mural Festival. “We are grateful to expand our roots from Fort Lauderdale into Miami with hopes of continuously supporting the local art community and beyond,” he says.

He also partnered with Broward College’s UP program to commission artists to paint six murals in six zip codes in Broward County that “need attention and love.” The goal is to “create a strong message that if you support the arts, you are supporting the community at large, and you’re really creating an impact,” says Doytier. The first mural is at HANDY, a nonprofit organization working with abused, neglected, and disadvantaged youth in Oakland Park. “A mural is something that someone put their blood, sweat, tears, time, and energy to create. It creates a sense of community.”

His latest project is one that will reap international impact. It’s inspired by Red Regatta, a public art installation that debuted at the 2019 Venice Biennale and showcased red-hued sailboats to remind attendees of environmental threats to the city’s waterways. “Considering [Fort Lauderdale] is the Venice of the Americas, we wanted to do something similar,” Doytier explains. “We are doing it with purple, which is a healing color.” As of press time, the activation was set to launch this month.