SaveArtSpace in partnership with Fountainhead is proud to present our 10th Anniversary - Miami Art Week 2025 celebration The People’s Art, a public art exhibition on ad space in Miami, FL, opening November 28, 2025, curated by Carol Damian, Dainy Tapia, Marco Caridad, Marie Vickles, Neil Ramsay, and Ross Karlan.

The People’s Art is an art of, and for, the people. This is the art of the commons, that shared space between the tyranny of privatization and the compromise of collectivity. In a medium dedicated to telling the people what they want, SaveArtSpace allows us to occupy public space as a personal place where we can imagine what we need. - Carlo McCormick

We invite artists of all ages and talents to submit their artwork between August 18, 2024 and September 29, 2025. This is an opportunity to have your work placed on ad space in Miami, FL.

Open call for art ends September 29, 2025. There is a small donation per image submission to participate, each donation is tax deductible and goes to producing the public art. Selected artists will be announced after October 28, 2025. Public art will be on view starting November 28, 2025 in New York, NY, and will be on view for at least one month.

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Curators

Dr. Carol Damian is Professor Emerita at Florida International University. She is the former Professor of Art History in the School of Art and Art History and the former Director and Chief Curator of the Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University (2008-2014) (retired). She is a graduate of Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., and received her MA in Pre-Columbian Art and her Ph. D. in Latin American History from the University of Miami. A specialist in Latin American and Caribbean Art, her most recent work has been with Latin American Women and Cuban exile artists, for whom she has written numerous catalogs and articles. She is the Curator of the Jay I. Kislak Collection at the Freedom Tower and the Curator of the Chapel of LaMerced at Corpus Christi Church. She is the author of The Virgin of the Andes: Art and Ritual in Colonial Cuzco (Grassfield Press, 1995), lectures frequently on Latin American and Caribbean art and has curated numerous exhibitions.

Dainy Tapia is a cultural practitioner based in Miami, FL. She is the founder and curator of ArtSeen365. Tapia holds a master's in Arts in Communications and a bachelor's degree in Computer Science. She has an independent curatorial practice and has organized multiple art exhibitions in Miami, New York, and São Paulo, Brazil, focusing on women artists and their roles in the art world, the environment, and human communication. Tapia also partners with select artists to support specific projects and their overall professional growth.

Connect with Dainy at @art.seen.365.

Marco Caridad (1985) is a Venezuelan-American interdisciplinary artist, curator, and artistic director based between Miami and Vieques, Puerto Rico. His work explores identity, queerness, censorship, and belonging through a hybrid practice that includes painting, video performance, assemblage, and printmaking. With a background in theater and design, Caridad creates poetic and ironic projects that often invite public participation and community reflection. As a curator, he has organized exhibitions that center social issues and experimental practices, including at Miami International Fine Arts (MIFA), where he serves as Artistic Director. He is also the founder of Biolumina, an artist residency program in Vieques. Caridad has exhibited nationally and internationally at institutions such as the Wolfsonian Museum, the Adrienne Arsht Center, and the Allentown Art Museum.

Connect with Marco at @marcocaridad.

Marie Vickles is the Senior Director of Education at the Pérez Art Museum Miami working in various roles within the museum’s Education department since October 2013 and a practicing independent curator. In her work as the Senior Director of Education, she administers programs that directly serve over 100,000 children, youth and adults annually. Marie has organized educational programs, workshops and exhibitions across the United States and the Caribbean for over 20 years and maintains an active practice as an independent curator producing exhibitions and curatorial projects. Marie completed her studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, and Florida State University and serves on the Art in Public Places Professional Advisory Committee for Miami Dade County Cultural Affairs. In her work as an arts educator and cultural practitioner, she is concerned with the relationship between creativity and community engagement – with the goal of supporting equity, sustainability, andaccess for all, through the arts.

Connect with Marie at @marievickles.

Neil Ramsay is a strategic business consultant, economist, and nonlinear systems thinker specializing in creative capital, economic development, and innovative business strategy. He is the founder of The Creative Economist LLC and ArtsUP! Concepts, through which he advises institutions and entrepreneurs on leveraging interdisciplinary approaches for sustainable growth.

Ramsay was a 2022 Fellow at the Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom and currently serves as a Creative Capital Consultant. He is also a Research Associate at Florida International University (FIU) and a Co-Founding Faculty Member of the Ratcliffe Art + Design Incubator, where he mentors emerging creative entrepreneurs.

In addition, Ramsay serves as an Economic Advisor At-Large to the Town of Lauderdale Lakes and holds a board position on FIU’s College of Business Master of Finance Advisory Board. As a dedicated mentor at NEW INC—the New Museum’s incubator for art, design, and technology—he applies nonlinear systems thinking to drive strategic innovation.

His expertise in business relations, financial modeling, and lateral problem-solving positions him at the forefront of bridging economic strategy with the creative industries.

Connect with Neil at @artmouth.

Ross Karlan, Ph.D. is a curator, scholar, and educator based in Miami, FL. Dr. Karlan is currently Curator in Residence at Laundromat Art Space and serves as Director of Art Muse LA & Miami and Executive Director of Art Muse Academy, a nonprofit dedicated to arts education and public arts access in Los Angeles, Miami, and beyond. Dr. Karlan holds a Ph.D. from Georgetown University, a BA from The University of Pennsylvania, and completed postdoctoral research at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. He has recently curated exhibitions at Laundromat Art Space, Mahara+Co. Gallery, Pan American Art Projects, and has forthcoming exhibitions at the Pablo Atchugarry Foundation and Boca Raton Museum of Art.

Connect with Ross at @_rossinante.

Participating Organizations

Fountainhead was founded in 2008 by collectors and passionate art appreciators Kathryn and Dan Mikesell, who believe connecting people intimately with artists impacts how we move through this world, treat one another and confront today’s most critical issues. They created Fountainhead to positively impact the lives and careers of artists and nurture and grow their local arts ecosystem. Establishing a residency program for visiting national and international artists alongside an artists’ studios complex to serve the local artist community, Fountainhead has welcomed nearly 530 artists from 49 countries and engages thousands of art lovers each year. In 2019, Fountainhead launched Artists Open, a countywide open studios event that welcomes the public into over 300 artists studios all over Miami.

Fountainhead’s approach empowers artists by making connections that lead to growth in their work and careers, providing time and space to experiment and challenge their practice, and mentorship and business skills to help them lead thriving careers. In its 15-year history, Fountainhead has become a pioneering force in the arts and culture landscape developing innovative artist and community engagement programs, and cultivating key relationships with leading art institutions in South Florida and beyond.

Connect with Fountainhead at @fountainheadarts.

Founded in 2015, SaveArtSpace is a non-profit organization that works to create an urban gallery experience, launching exhibitions that address intersectional themes and foster a message of social change that benefits the working class. By placing culture over commercialism, SaveArtSpace aims to empower artists from all walks of life and inspire a new generation of young creatives and activists.