Art Week should celebrate Miami’s creative soul. Instead, it arrived wrapped in unprecedented security, with artists arrested and politically active residents detained. When viewing paintings requires passing police checkpoints, something fundamentally shifts.
History reminds us that art has always played a role in detecting threats. It’s democracy’s canary in the coal mine. From Picasso’s Guernica to Banksy’s walls, artists speak truths that politicians won’t touch. They turn dissent into dialogue, frustration into form. That’s not a bug in democracy’s system, it’s art’s role in society.
Yet we again are seeing patterns that should worry us: Universities face pressure to align curricula with political ideology. Miami Beach dismantled its rainbow crosswalk, erasing a much-loved symbol of inclusion. Now Art Week brings surveillance and police presence instead of celebration of freedom of expression and speech. When we treat creativity like a threat, we tell citizens their voices are problems to solve rather than rights to protect.
Remember our Thanksgiving lesson: Ships sink from water that gets inside, not storms outside. Fear is that water. When artists self-censor, when teachers avoid controversial topics, when kids learn to color inside political lines, democracy’s hull cracks.
Key Biscayne’s galleries, murals, and school art programs matter more than we realize. Every student painting or reciting a poem, every local exhibition, every street artist’s sketch maintains space for expression. Support them. Display their work. Buy their pieces. Show up. Democracy needs us to draw outside the lines.
For more information on civic engagement and everything you need to know about voting in Miami go to GoVoteMiami.org