Art in the Public Square: The Stories Our Spaces Tell

Art does not only live inside museums and galleries. It surrounds us in murals, public buildings, parks, gathering places and the neighborhoods we move through every day.

On October 6, 2026, the Parikh Giving Alliance brought together three Central Florida arts leaders for our latest Collaboration Circle, Art in the Public Square: The Stories Our Spaces Tell. The virtual conversation explored how art shapes the way we experience a place and how it can preserve stories, reflect identity and help people see their surroundings differently. The program was part of the Parikh Giving Alliance Collaboration Circle, our signature Zoom-at-Noon series held three times each year and centered on our key areas of impact: healthcare, education and the arts. These free, one-hour conversations bring leaders with different perspectives together to explore important community issues and open the door to future collaboration.

Three Perspectives on Art and Community

Hosted by Beena M. Parikh, PhD, Co-Founder of the Parikh Giving Alliance, the conversation featured three leaders whose work connects art and community in different ways:

• Vicki Landon, Orange County Arts and Cultural Affairs, brought the public-sector perspective, including the role government and community investment can play in bringing art into shared spaces.

• Gisela Romero, Orlando visual artist, shared the artist’s perspective on creativity, storytelling and the ability of art to give visibility to experiences that might otherwise go unseen.

• Gareth Edwards, Founder of A Perfect Union Art Gallery, brought the perspective of a community builder creating opportunities for artists and helping make art more welcoming and accessible.

Together, their perspectives created a broader look at public art, from how projects are supported and selected to what an artist hopes people will experience when they encounter the finished work.

More Than Something Beautiful

Public art can certainly make a space more beautiful, but its value often reaches much further. A mural can preserve the memory of a neighborhood. An installation can introduce people to a story they have never heard. A performance can bring strangers together in a place they might otherwise pass without noticing.

Art can also invite questions. Who is represented here? Whose story is being told? What does this place mean to the people who call it home? When art reflects the character and history of a community, it can create a stronger connection between people and place. It can encourage civic pride while helping residents feel that their experiences are seen and valued.

Making Room for More Stories

One of the important ideas behind the conversation was representation. Public spaces tell stories whether we plan for them to or not. The art chosen for those spaces can help determine which histories are remembered and which voices become part of the community’s visible identity. That makes the process behind public art especially important. The strongest projects are not simply placed in a neighborhood; they are informed by the people who live there.

Artists, residents, local government, nonprofit organizations and businesses may each see a community from a different vantage point. Bringing those voices into the process can lead to work that feels more connected to the place it occupies and more meaningful to the people who experience it. Public art also has the power to bring forward stories that have not always received attention. Through color, imagery, movement and design, artists can help us look again at people, moments and places we may have overlooked.

Creative Spaces Build Community

The conversation also looked beyond art displayed outdoors. Galleries and other creative spaces can play an important role in helping artists and community members find one another. At their best, these spaces are not simply places to view finished work. They can introduce emerging artists, encourage conversation and give people a comfortable place to experience something new.

Access matters. People are more likely to connect with the arts when they feel welcomed and when creative experiences are part of the places they already live, work and gather. That may happen through a neighborhood mural, a community performance, a gallery program or an unexpected installation in a familiar public space. The more opportunities people have to encounter art, the more possibilities there are for connection.

Collaboration Brings Art Into Everyday Life

Creating meaningful public art takes more than one person or organization. Artists bring vision and skill. Residents bring knowledge of their community. Government partners can help open public spaces and navigate the process. Nonprofits and businesses can provide funding, relationships and additional ways to involve the public. When those pieces come together, art can become part of how a community understands itself.

This is also where conversations like Collaboration Circle matter. Bringing people with different experiences together helps uncover new possibilities. A conversation may lead to a partnership, introduce an artist to a new audience or help an organization see how creativity could become part of its own work.

Seeing Familiar Places Differently

Public art asks us to pause. It can turn an ordinary wall, walkway or gathering place into something that makes us look twice. It can remind us of where we have been while helping us imagine what a place could become.

At the Parikh Giving Alliance, we believe the arts are an essential part of a healthy, thriving community. Art in the Public Square: The Stories Our Spaces Tell offered an opportunity to consider not only what art adds to a place, but whose stories it carries and how it can help people feel more connected to the community around them.

The conversation may have lasted one hour, but the opportunity extends far beyond it. Every neighborhood has stories worth sharing. Every community has creative voices waiting to be heard. When we make room for those voices in the spaces we share, we begin to see those spaces, and one another, in new ways.

Watch the Full Conversation

Watch Art in the Public Square: The Stories Our Spaces Tell and learn more about the Parikh Giving Alliance Collaboration Circle series.