LTC 491-2025 Art Week Miami Beach, Dec. 1 - 7 , 2025Docusign Envelope ID: F4AEE76F-CC6F-4090-9923-857DCA191C25
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
LTC #491-2025 LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO: Honorable Mayor Steven Meiner and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Eric Carpenter, City Manager
DATE: November 18, 2025
SUBJECT: Art Week Miami Beach, Dec. 1 – 7, 2025
The purpose of this Letter to Commission (LTC) is to provide an update on the City’s preparation for Art Week Miami Beach, including a list of city-produced activations, transportation plans, Police
staffing and marketing efforts. CITY-PRODUCED ACTIVATIONS The City of Miami Beach presents No Vacancy, Miami Beach a contemporary art exhibition featuring 12 Miami Beach hotels, that celebrates artists, provokes critical discourse, and invites the
public to experience our famed hotels as destination art spaces and temporary galleries, on view from November 13, 2025, through December 20, 2025. No Vacancy is an international art competition spanning five weeks on Miami Beach with 12 exhibits at 12 different hotels. For its sixth year, $35,000 in prizes will be awarded, including a $10,000 public prize by the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau and a $25,000 juried prize awarded by nationally recognized art experts. All selected artists received a $10,000 stiped to materialize their projects. Funded in partnership with the Miami Beach Visitors and Convention Authority. Participating Artists & Hotel Properties:
• Andrea Myers, Avalon Hotel Miami, 700 Ocean Drive
• LIZN’BOW, The Betsy Hotel Orb, 1440 Ocean Drive
• Denise Treizman, Cadillac Hotel & Beach Club, 3925 Collins Avenue
• Edison Peñafiel, The Catalina Hotel & Beach Club, 1732 Collins Avenue
• Pepe Mar, Casa Faena, 3500 Collins Avenue
• Nathalie Alfonso, International Inn on the Bay, 2301 Normandy Drive
• Patty Suau, Kimpton Surfcomber Hotel, 1717 Collins Avenue
• Amanda Linares, The Miami Beach EDITION, 2901 Collins Ave
• Evelyn Sosa, Nautilus Sonesta Miami Beach, 1825 Collins Ave
• Fabiola Larios, Riviera Suites Miami Beach, 318 20th Street
• Lee Pivnik, The Shelborne by Proper, 1801 Collins Avenue
• James Allister Sprang, Sherry Frontenac Hotel, 6565 Collins Avenue
The City of Miami Beach’s Legacy Purchase Program will return for its seventh year, in partnership with Art Basel Miami Beach. The City of Miami Beach will acquire an artwork from Art Basel Miami Beach’s Positions, Nova, and Galleries sectors with a $50,000 budget. The City of Miami Beach Art in Public Places Committee selects three stand-out pieces and the public is invited to vote on their favorite work. The winning artwork will be purchased for permanent display in the Miami Beach Convention Center. Previously acquired selections on behalf of the residents of Miami Beach included works by artists Sanford Biggers, Amoako Boafo, Ebony G. Patterson, Farah Al Qasimi, Juana Valdes and Nina Surel.
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The public may cast their votes at www.mbartsandculture.org/legacy-purchase-program starting Friday, November 21, 2025, 9:00 AM with voting ending on Monday, November 24,
2025, 5 p.m. TRANSPORTATION PLAN
This year’s installment of Art Week Miami Beach will once again include complimentary water taxis connecting Miami Beach with downtown Miami, along with a fleet of free, dedicated shuttle
buses designed to transport visitors and residents to a variety of art fairs.
Water Taxi Service
Up to seven water taxi vessels will operate across beautiful Biscayne Bay from Monday, Dec. 1 to Saturday, Dec. 6 from 10 a.m. to midnight and on Sunday, Dec. 7 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The water taxi service will run every 10-15 minutes between Maurice Gibb Memorial Park (1790 Purdy Avenue) in Miami Beach and the Venetian Marina & Yacht Club (1635 North Bayshore Drive) in Miami.
Art Week Dedicated Shuttles A series of free, dedicated shuttles linking the water taxi and several art fairs will run every 15 minutes throughout Miami Beach to connect visitors and residents with several art fairs. Shuttle operating hours will mirror the water taxis and can be tracked in real time on the Art Week Miami Beach website at www.artweekmb.com.
A dedicated Water Taxi Shuttle will operate between the Miami Beach water taxi stop at Maurice Gibb Memorial Park (1790 Purdy Avenue) and the Miami Beach Convention Center (Convention Center Drive and 18 Street).
South Beach Art Shuttles will travel between the Miami Beach Convention Center (Convention Center Drive and 18 Street) and Collins Avenue between 10 and 11 streets. Mid Beach Art Shuttles will travel between the Miami Beach Convention Center and Mid Beach, with the following stops: Convention Center Drive and 18 Street, Collins Avenue and 22 Street, Collins Avenue and 32 Street, Collins Avenue and 46 Street as well as Royal Palm Avenue between 41 and 42 streets.
Miami Beach - Design District Shuttles will travel between the Miami Beach Convention Center (Convention Center Drive and 18 Street) to/from NE 38 Street and NE 1 Court in the City of Miami — with the ability to operate on the dedicated inside shoulders of the Julia Tuttle Causeway to reduce travel time.
Park and Ride For the above complimentary services there will be designated pickup and drop-off locations in
the immediate vicinity of various parking garages in Miami Beach and Miami.
The designated shuttle pickup and drop-off locations in Miami Beach are as follows:
• Royal Palm Avenue between 41 and 42 streets serving the 42 Street Garage (4049 Royal Palm Avenue)
• Convention Center Drive between 17 and 18 streets serving the 17 Street Garage (640 17 Street), Pennsylvania Avenue Garage (1661 Pennsylvania Avenue) and Miami Beach City Hall Garage (1755 Meridian Avenue)
• Purdy Avenue and 18 Street serving the Sunset Harbour Garage (1900 Bay Road)
The designated shuttle pickup and drop-off location in Miami is as follows:
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• NE 38 Street and NE 1 Avenue serving the City View Garage (25 NE 38 Street), Palm Court Garage (155 NE 38 Street) and Public Parking Lot (3630 NE 1 Court)
The designated water taxi pickup and drop-off locations in Miami Beach/Miami are as follows:
• Miami Beach - Maurice Gibb Memorial Park (1790 Purdy Avenue) serving the Sunset Harbour Garage (1900 Bay Road)
• Miami - Venetian Marina & Yacht Club (1635 North Bayshore Drive) serving the Omni Garage (453 NE 15 Street)
Miami Beach Trolley The Miami Beach Trolley service will operate at an enhanced frequency of service from 8 a.m. to
midnight from Wednesday, Dec. 3 to Saturday, Dec. 6, to help reduce the anticipated traffic
congestion.
Peak Travel Times The heaviest traffic during Art Week Miami Beach typically occurs on weekday afternoons with congestion increasing closer to the weekend. Traffic congestion leaving Miami Beach can be
exacerbated by traffic or incidents on major thoroughfares outside of the city, including I-395, I-
195 and I-95. The Florida Department of Transportation’s (FDOT) ongoing road work and lane
reductions near the Biscayne Boulevard off-ramp in downtown Miami is expected to impede westbound traffic leaving Miami Beach along the MacArthur Causeway. A citywide construction moratorium will suspend all non-city construction-related activities within the city’s right of way throughout the week — prohibiting road, sidewalk and lane closures.
To reduce congestion along the Venetian Causeway connecting downtown Miami and Miami
Beach, the East Venetian Causeway drawbridge will be on lockdown and will not open to vessels from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 1 through Friday, Dec. 5, and from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6 and Sunday, Dec. 7, except for emergency vessels and vessels in distress.
The city plans to implement special event signal timing changes and other traffic management
measures, as needed, to help manage congestion along major thoroughfares with an enhanced
level of real-time traffic monitoring during Art Week Miami Beach. This will include 17 hours of
traffic monitoring, from 7 a.m. to midnight on Monday, Dec. 1 through Saturday, Dec. 6. Beyond those dates, the traffic monitoring services will continue from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Traffic monitors will coordinate with the Miami Beach Police Department (MBPD) to enforce traffic regulations at intersections while keeping motorists informed of delays through digital message signs. The city will proactively communicate with Waze, Google and Inrix to accurately reflect all street closures
on their respective mobile platforms in real-time.
In addition, the city will issue traffic text alerts as warranted to notify the public of major roadway incidents. Subscribe to receive traffic text message alerts by texting MBAlert to 888777. City staff
will work closely with the FDOT SunGuide Traffic Management Center to program traffic messages on overhead digital message signs along I-95, SR 112/I-195 and SR 836/I-395 regarding any major incidents affecting traffic flow on Miami Beach causeways.
PUBLIC SAFETY
To enhance public safety, MBPD will significantly increase its staffing levels from Wednesday, Dec. 3 through Sunday, Dec. 7. In a concerted effort, officers will be deployed for additional shifts, including overtime and off-duty. Their strategic placement along key intersections in and
around events, as well as in residential neighborhoods surrounding the Miami Beach Convention Center and along the 41 Street corridor, aims to ensure attendees' safety and address potential traffic challenges. MBPD officers will be assigned the task of strategically reducing instances of cut-through traffic
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within residential areas. By encouraging drivers to utilize main thoroughfares, the city aims to minimize disruption to local neighborhoods. MBPD’s Public Safety Specialists will be strategically posted to assist with traffic mitigation. MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
The Art Week Miami Beach 2025 campaign introduces a refreshed visual identity that reaffirms the city’s position as the world’s premier art destination each December. Designed to set Art Week Miami Beach apart from other cultural events, the new look embraces a minimalist aesthetic anchored by a wave-inspired logo and icon — an homage to the city’s distinctive shoreline. The color palette includes a blend of blue, aqua and coral that draws inspiration from Miami Beach’s sunrises. As part of the marketing efforts, a dedicated website — www.ArtWeekMB.com — was created with a streamlined design. For the first time, the platform features an interactive map to help visitors navigate events and fairs throughout Miami Beach. The map highlights free transportation options, including water taxis, dedicated shuttles, trolleys and Freebees, along with micromobility choices such as Citi Bike, making it easier than ever to explore the city. The campaign features a wide range of communications and marketing designed to maximize visibility, including a video spot, digital banners, e-newsletters and a robust social media push along with citywide placements on trolleys, bus shelters, garage posters, pole banners and IKE kiosks. Additional advertising will include radio/podcast spots, CCTV, ads at MIA airport and print
placements in the Miami Herald Sunday edition and its Art Week magazine. Additionally, printed maps will be distributed at the fairs and at strategic transportation stops in Miami Beach and Miami and new, larger totem-style wayfinding signs will be placed throughout Miami Beach and Miami to help residents and visitors navigate the city's free transportation options.
All marketing efforts are reinforced by robust media outreach, amplifying Art Week Miami Beach and extending its presence across local, national and global audiences. For more information on art week activations, please contact Lissette Garcia Arrogante, Director,
Tourism and Culture at lissettearrogante@miamibeachfl.gov.
CC: MH/LGA/FV/MB/LS
Examples of campaign creative can be seen below.
:30 and :15 PSA
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Map Brochure
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Trolleys
Website – ArtWeekMB.com
Bus Shelters, Garage and Elevator Posters
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Pole Banners
Social Graphics and Digital Banners