Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Brion, Katherine

Area of Concentration

Humanities with Museum Studies

Abstract

The City of Sarasota’s Public Art Program recently implemented a new master plan emphasizing community participation in the development of public art. This shift signals movement toward what art historian Miwon Kwon has labeled the “Art in the Public Interest” model, in which community input shapes both the process and outcome of public art. This thesis examines how the “public” is defined and represented in practice through a case study of two mural projects at the Sarasota School of Arts and Sciences: Reverend Lewis and Irene Colson (2025) and Creative Seeds (2026). Drawing on primary sources, including Public Art Committee meetings and interviews with key stakeholders, this study traces how decision-making unfolds across each phase of the projects. The findings reveal that, despite expanded opportunities for engagement, participation remains highly mediated and uneven. Rather than reflecting a broad public, “public interest” is determined by a limited group of stakeholders, including cultural, economic, institutional, and artistic actors. Ultimately, this thesis argues that community representation is selectively constructed, raising questions about how public art processes can more equitably distribute decision-making authority.

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

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