With a setting as inspiring as Greater Fort Lauderdale, it’s no surprise that a vibrant cultural community sprung up. Explore the community’s world-class museums, renowned exhibits, and gorgeous street art. Whether it’s a permanent installation, a traveling exhibit, a mural, or a magnificent sculpture, visitors will find artful experiences that’ll wow everyone under the sun.
Art and Culture Center / Hollywood
The Art and Culture Center/Hollywood not only hosts major exhibitions, but also film screenings, art camps for children of all ages, and community conversations. The subject matter spans the human experience, sharing stories from underrepresented communities. Open Dialogue films consists of four documentaries shining a light on the queer experience. And in multimedia art, themes such as the environment, AI, the African diaspora, and other thought-provoking themes are explored.
The museum itself is a work of art. It resides in the former home of the Kagey family–a Mediterranean Revival mansion built in 1924 that today serves as a community gathering space.
Mad Arts
One of the newest additions to the Greater Fort Lauderdale art scene is Mad Arts, an immersive museum that pushes the boundaries of art, technology, and imagination. The family-friendly “visionary playground” will tickle your senses with exhibits utilizing the visual arts, light, and sound for an experience that will be hard to forget. Peruse the exhibits by award-winning artists spread across the two floors of the Dania Beach museum.
Island SPACE Caribbean Museum
Located within the Broward Mall in Plantation, Island SPACE Caribbean Museum touts a collection of artifacts, paraphernalia, cultural relics, and fine art that tells the story of South Florida’s diverse Caribbean community. An ever-evolving museum space, projects that can be supported include a reggae documentary, photo exhibit, and expanding the museum.
Coral Springs Center for the Arts
The Coral Springs Center for the Arts stage hosts plays, concerts, dance, musicals, comedies, and special events, and guests can share a range of emotions with others in the 1,471-seat auditorium. Howie Mandell, Dave Chapelle, the Indigo Girls, Miss Florida contestants, and the stars of musicals like “In the Heights” and “High School Musical” have walked through the wings over the center’s more than 30-year history. And for future performers, there’s Next Stop Broadway, an in-house academy fostering the creativity of the community’s youngsters with dreams of the stage.
NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale
You can’t miss the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale in downtown, not with dripping neon paint (the artwork is titled, “Acid-Free” by artist Jen Stark) covering the facade. The museum’s signature mural is one of a couple decorating its exterior walls, including “Band” by Arturo Herrera and “Watching the Wheels Go Round and Round” by R & R Studios, Roberto Behar and Rosario Marquardt.
Step inside and you’ll discover a museum that celebrates the visual history of civilization, displaying a diverse collection of sculptures, paintings, and multimedia pieces. The museum’s permanent collection contains more than 7,500 works, including a large array of Latin American and Cuban modern and contemporary art, and post-war, avant-garde pieces by European Cobra artists. For budding artists, the museum showcases works by the Broward Teen Art Council and offers workshops for little ones to explore the world of art in line with the museum’s current exhibitions.
Mark your calendars for the first Thursday of the month, also known as Sunny Days/Starry Nights, where entry is free for the public and drinks are two-for-one. It’s a part of the museum’s goal to make art accessible to all.
24 Marie Fine Art Gallery
Flagler Village is home to the 24 Marie Fine Art Gallery, an homage to Black contemporary art. Founders Gavin Jordan and Tameka Jordan have a curated selection of artwork for sale, ranging from paintings to pottery, sculptures, and mixed media pieces. As art experts, they also host open-house receptions, exhibitions, and collaborations with emerging artists.
Beyond Museums
While Greater Fort Lauderdale features numerous art museums and galleries, art appreciation extends beyond traditional walls.
Marvel at local art as soon as you touch down at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Throughout the airport, you’ll see more than 30 pieces of public art throughout all four terminals as well as the Hibiscus Garage, the north runway, rental car center, and the connector between terminals three and four. These artworks encompass a diverse range of media, including mosaic floor tiles, sculptures, tapestries, LED installations, and even a realistic vendor sculpture, complete with a Walkman, in the baggage claim area.
The Downtown Hollywood Mural Project is a collection of curated outdoor murals by local, national, and internationally recognized artists. Take a stroll through the streets of downtown Hollywood or take a guided mural tour to view 36 wall and ten sidewalk murals by artists including Haxxah, Kenny Scharf, Susana Vergara, Squiggle Daddy, TM Sisters, Yuhmi Collective, Jen Little, Claudine Julien, and more.
Art lovers can also take the Sculpture Tour in Wilton Manors, a collection of 20 sculptures. Marvel at larger-than-life orange slices “Slices of Heaven” or colorful popsicles “Ice Pops” by artist Craig Berube-Gray. Perhaps the most impressive is a glass-mosaic-covered bunny titled “Thunder Bunny” by artist Hunt Slonem.
The MASS District in Fort Lauderdale’s Progresso Village neighborhood is a thriving creative enclave packed with vibrant street art murals in addition to restaurants, art studios, and other small businesses. Every first Saturday of the month is the Fort Lauderdale ArtWalk, and every second Sunday brings out more than 90 vendors and artists for the Sunny Side Up Market. Also in Progresso Village is the Sistrunk Marketplace & Brewery, where murals by Rosanna Kalis, Diane Portwood, Lori Pratico, and Orla Ananda create a sense of place.
A visit to downtown Fort Lauderdale isn’t complete without stopping by the Society Las Olas apartments for a selfie at the must-see “Thrive” by South African sculptor Daniel Popper. The massive seraphic female figure opens her chest to reveal a passageway laden with ferns.
A few blocks away, along the exterior wall of Cuba Libre Restaurant and Rum Bar, you’ll spot Fort Lauderdale's newest mural, “Esperanza (Hope)”, by acclaimed artist Erni Vales, which was unveiled in 2022 to commemorate the first anniversary of the uprising in Cuba. Also on Las Olas is the newly dedicated mural by Lori Pratico, tropical wall art of “Las Olas” in the walkway between 619 and 621 E. Las Olas Boulevard.
At the entrance to the W Fort Lauderdale on North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard, you’ll find the Everyone Under the Sun mural installation by Fort Lauderdale-based, internationally renowned airbrush artist Avi Ram. The mural, sponsored by Visit Lauderdale, depicts Mother Nature overseeing the area’s beauty. Also on the beach is the AC Hotel Fort Lauderdale Beach, home to a moss mural “Portal to Paradise” by Plant the Future.