Vicki Landon, Administrator of Arts & Cultural Affairs for Orange County, Florida, celebrates the formal adoption of the CANVAS Plan by the Board of County Commissioners on September 16, 2025 (courtesy of Women in the Arts, Inc.).

The 10-year CANVAS Plan for the City of Orlando and Orange County is a cultural master plan with six main goals and one gargantuan task: Elevate our region’s arts and culture to a level befitting its creative community.

On September 16th, in a bout of good news for our City and County, the Board of County Commissioners voted to unanimously accept the Cultural Plan. Seeking to celebrate the full spectrum of local heritage and identity while embracing innovation, CANVAS aims to position the City of Orlando and Orange County as “places where arts and culture thrive through genuine human connection, hospitality, and inclusion.”

Vicki Landon, Administrator of Orange County Arts & Cultural Affairs, presents CANVAS Plan content to a varied local audience at the Community Town Hall in Holden Heights Community Center, June 24, 2025. © 2025 Carolina Carret.

The plan is rooted in three foundational principles: (1.) Our Arts Belong to Everyone; (2.) We Are a Creative Epicenter; and (3.) We Invest in Our Own.

Essentially, equitable access to the arts, our region’s unique identity, and our existing cultural assets comprise the blueprint of the CANVAS Plan. We’re not transplanting an arts-and-culture scene from elsewhere: We’re investing in one that already exists. Local artists and organizations, get excited.

If you haven’t been involved in the process— consisting of presentations to the Orange County Board of County Commissioners; meetings between the Plan’s Steering Committee; a Community Town Hall in June; an online public comment period from July 14th– 28th; and the initial 18 months of intensive community engagement involving over 1,500 residents, artists, cultural organizations, and civic leaders across all six council districts and 13 municipalities within Orange County— fear not.

The Community Town Hall in June saw the convening of people from all ages, backgrounds, and interests sharing both support for the plan’s ideals and conviction that it really ought to serve the people— those of us who are already here, actively investing so much into our communities for the love of arts, culture, and skateboarding. Yes, skateboarding. Zach Moldof of Central Florida non-profit Skate Bud spoke up at the convening, reminding us to think beyond the traditional vestiges of arts and culture. To be a thriving community we need functional, shared outdoor spaces for active and integrated expression. Another longtime resident of Orange County took the thought in a different direction, suggesting that surrounding Lake Eola should be activated with outdoor art. In response, I floated the idea of something classy like Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate (2004) in Chicago’s Millenium Park— colloquially known as “The Bean.” We the People of Orlando and Orange County deserve a Bean of our own, don’t we?

After splitting into groups to brainstorm where the CANVAS Plan might take us, we also heard echoes of concern. Who is behind the plan? Who is it serving? Have you made up your minds? Don’t forget the little guy!

Vicki Landon delivers an impassioned State of the Arts address to the Orange County Board of County Commissioners. Background: Artwork by Orlando artist PJ Svejda. July 15, 2025. © 2025 Carolina Carret.
Vicki Landon, Administrator of Orange County Arts & Cultural Affairs, presents CANVAS Plan content to a varied local audience at the Community Town Hall in Holden Heights Community Center, June 24, 2025. © 2025 Carolina Carret.

One thing is for certain: Irrespective of the CANVAS Plan’s methodology, we can all agree that our City Beautiful and resounding Orange County evoke artful magic and bountiful wonder beyond our popular theme parks. Art is already here— our creatives elicit something unbelievably real via their variety of mediums. On behalf of Orlandoans and Orange County constituents, we look forward to enacting the CANVAS Plan, expanding upon our creative nature to benefit locals and visitors alike.

To find out how those of us vested in the arts can stay active and updated during the progression of CANVAS over the next ten years (beyond thumbing through the plan’s 100-some pages) we went straight to the source. Vicki Landon, Administrator of Orange County’s Arts & Cultural Affairs office, urges constituents to check the website to stay in the loop. You, too, can keep tabs on the plan’s rollout over the next ten years, if you keep coming back to the CANVAS Cultural Plan Updates tab on the Orange County website.

While you’re at it, I suggest keeping up with Orange County’s Arts & Culture Overview. Subscribe to Vicki Landon’s Arts & Cultural Affairs Update newsletters and keep an eye out for public engagement opportunities.

You can check out the accepted CANVAS Plan here (appendices and everything!); and if you’re really into it, you can watch the September 16 Board of County Commissioners meeting unfold minute-by-minute.

Thanks for reading. And get ready: Arts in Orlando are soon to reach new heights.

Elevating Our Local Art Scene: The CANVAS Cultural Plan for the City of Orlando and Orange County

Celebrating Pool Party: The Pool in American Art—A Timely and Reflective Exhibition at the Mennello Museum of American Art