Celebrate Cortada's birthday on Sep. 13 with the launch of the Seahorse Society at the Biscayne Nature Center
Cortada Challenges Sports World to Lead on Climate
At the 2025Â Green Sports Alliance Summit, Xavier Cortada served as Artist-in-Residence, delivering keynote speeches that challenged the sports industry to confront the climate crisis with the same teamwork and resilience that define the games themselves. Speaking to leagues, teams, and sustainability leaders from across the country, Cortada reminded them:Â âWhen a fan puts on your jersey, theyâre not just supporting your playersâtheyâre supporting your values. Theyâre saying, âI stand with you.ââ
At convenings held between June 10th-12th, 2025, at the Kaseya Center and the Intercontinental Hotel, Cortada urged the industry to see that trust as a responsibilityâand an opportunity. By transforming stadiums into spaces that spark climate awareness, from elevation murals to community activations, sports can rally millions of fans to become change agents. His challenge was clear: just as athletes fight for victory on the field, teams must now fight for their fansâ future.
New Public Art Catalog Released
Ceramic tile murals, bas-relief sculptures, freestanding works, metal cutouts, and digital art. Public art that transforms walls, plazas, and communities into spaces of meaning. Explore the catalog and see how these works bring lasting beauty and story to our shared spaces.
Celebrate Cortadaâs Birthday with the Launch of the Seahorse Society
Cortada will be celebrating his birthday on Saturday, September 13, 2025, by unveiling a permanent ceramic tile mural at the Biscayne Nature Center. This event will mark the 50th anniversary of the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserves and launch the Seahorse Society, a participatory eco-art project inviting the public to protect our threatened seagrass meadows.
"The Underwater: Broward" Convenes Community Climate Conversation
On July 26, 2025, the Cortada Foundation partnered with Broward Countyâs Resilient Environment Department and Cultural Division to host the second annual Community Climate Conversation at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center. The event featured opening remarks from State Senator Steve Geller and a presentation by Dr. Jennifer Jurado on Browardâs resilience efforts.
Xavier Cortada and Foundation Executive Director Adam Roberti guided participants in creating elevation markers as part of The Underwater initiative, and the day concluded with a lively town hallâstyle Q&A that connected community members directly with local leaders.
Cortada Challenges Incoming UM Med School Class to Be Voices for Truth
On August 14, 2025, artist and former University of Miami faculty member Xavier Cortada delivered a compelling address to the incoming class at the Miller School of Medicine. He shared his participatory public art projectsâThe Underwater and #KeepCoolMiamiDadeâas entry points into environmental justice and public health, even distributing Underwater yard signs to highlight local sea level elevations. Cortada also read aloud a March letter from more than 1,900 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine members warning of threats to independent science, urging future physicians to uphold truth, equity, and compassion as they navigate both climate challenges and the pressures on scientific integrity.
Cortada Welcomes UM Global Executive MBA Cohort with his Artwork
On August 21, 2025, Xavier Cortada delivered the keynote at the University of Miami Herbert Business Schoolâs annual Global Executive MBA reception at the Lowe Art Museum. Speaking to the incoming class of senior leaders and entrepreneurs, Cortada described Miami as a crossroads of culture, trade, technology, and climate resilience. He urged the students to embrace the city as a living case study in global problem-solving and presented them with signed artwork featuring the iconic UM âUâ as a symbol of their induction into the University community.
Americans for the Arts: Creative Partnerships for Climate Action
At AFTACON 2025 in Cincinnati, on June 13, 2025, Xavier Cortada joined Marda Kirn and Patrick Chandler to lead the breakout session Creative Partnerships for Climate Action: Where Art, Science, and Community Meet. The discussion highlighted how socially engaged art can translate data into dialogue, build trust across disciplines, and mobilize communities around climate resilience. Cortada shared his Miami-based projectsâincluding The Underwaterâas models of how art invites participation, reframes science, and sparks hope in the face of crisis.
Arts for Life! Scholarship Luncheon & Artist Symposium
On June 9, 2025, Xavier Cortada served as one of three featured panelists in the annual Arts for Life! Scholarship Luncheon and Artist Symposium at the Adrienne Arsht Center, joining Governor Jeb Bush, Columba Bush, and Floridaâs arts community in celebrating the stateâs most talented young artists. Founded by Columba Bush in 1999, the program awards $1,000 scholarships to 25 graduating seniors excelling in creative writing, dance, drama, music, or visual arts.
Cortada Foundation at Dear Everything
The Cortada Foundation is on the Host Committee for Dear Everything: A Musical Uprising for the Earth on Sunday, September 28 at 7:30pm. Before the show, attendees will find an installation of Underwater Elevation Markers surrounding the Miami Beach Bandshell, and will have the opportunity to customize their own.
Created by Tony award-winners V (formerly Eve Ensler) and Diane Paulus, Grammy nominee Justin Tranter (Chappell Roan, Selena Gomez) & more, Dear Everything is a riveting story driven by galvanizing and emotional pop and folk music, that speaks to the dialectic of our timesâadults focused on surviving the now, and youth with a fierce eye on the future. The cast of eleven actors/singers – backed by a dynamic youth choir – addresses the most pressing issue of our day – the climate crisis – with empathy, complexity and outrage.
NEWS
The Smithsonianâs Art x Climate Gallery, by way of the Fifth National Climate Assessment, triumphs despite the circumstances
âArt x Climate Gallery debuted at the Smithsonian Institutionâs National Museum of Natural History Ocean Hall this past Earth Day. Peculiarly, the show is not listed on the Smithsonianâs website. Nor was the April 22 opening organized by Smithsonian staffers. Rather, former U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) employees assembled the welcome ceremony. Publicity wasnât allowed.â
THROWBACK
25 YEARS AGO | 2000
Listen to the Children of the Green Island
CYPRUS: In June 2000, Cortada created a collaborative mural on the Green Line, the UN Peacekeeping Mission Buffer Zone separating the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, in partnership with hearing-impaired Cypriot youth from both sides, as part of an International Earth Day project sponsored by the United States Embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Xavier Cortada, âListen to the Children of the Green Island,â (60âł x 144âł), 2000
Breaking the Silence (XIII World AIDS Mural)
SOUTH AFRICA: In July 2000, Cortada created a collaborative mural with participants of the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, working with delegates to produce an artwork highlighting the global response to HIV/AIDS and symbolizing the shared commitment of the international community to confront the epidemic with solidarity and resolve.
Xavier Cortada, Breaking the Silence, XIII International AIDS Conference (presented by USAID), 2000
20 YEARS AGO | 2005
For the past 20 years, these murals by Xavier Cortada have welcomed visitors at the entrance of Miami City Hall. They tell the story of a city founded by a woman, incorporated through the votes of Black men, and rooted in multicultural origins.
First Encounter: 1566
This mural depicts Pedro MenĂ©ndez de AvilĂ©s landing at the mouth of the Miami River, as a Tequesta youth releases leaves into the windâa moment symbolizing exchange, upheaval, and the transformative encounter that shaped Miamiâs history.
Xavier Cortada, First Encounter: 1566, 96â x 78â, acrylic on canvas
The Incorporators: 1896
This mural portrays Julia Tuttle, Henry Flagler, and the 368 men who voted to create Miami, framed by the railroad, orange blossoms, and the pool hall where the city was bornâroots of a community destined to become the Magic City.
Xavier Cortada, The Incorporators: 1896, 96â x 78â, acrylic on canvas