The very young FIU College of Architecture & the Arts was only born in 2006, but already it has spread its wings wide, including with much-needed graduate programs and now, a new arts home in the eastern side of the county on Lincoln Road. In a 1940 Art Deco building that incorporates studio and gallery space for students of art, architecture and music, the idea is to bring their studies close to the hub of cultural and urban action, with the idea of collaboration with the New World Symphony, the Wolfsonsian and the Bass Museum. Currently, a show from the FIU arts faculty is on display. A progressive move.

As part of this interactivity, the new Lincoln Road campus also includes a program called Engaged Creativity, headed up by artist Xavier Cortada, which will involve students in the issues of sustainability through artistic interactions. Cortada is the right person for the job. People may remember his environmentally conscious-raising projects, such as his planted flags at the North and South poles and other eco-centered interventions spanning the globe from Florida to Taiwan (where is just recently features a “BLOOM” exhibit with Taiwanese wildflowers). With the new FIU program, he is embarking on “Flor500,” intended to mark the 500^th anniversary of the landing of Ponce de Leon on our state and to encourage the replanting and rejuvenation of original wildflowers. The explorer named the land he found after its amazing flowers, La Florida. “The wildflowers featured in ‘Flor500’ were part of the landscape enjoyed by indigenous people long before Europeans first landed 500 years ago,” is how it is described. “The project honors the natural history of the state and all its people.” Starting in 2012, in conjunction with FIU’s chair of landscape architecture Roberto Rovira, the project involves scientists who will help identify the indigenous flora; historians who will help identify 500 historical figures; and 500 artists from across the state who will put it together. Finally, 500 schools and organizations will plant the gardens. That’s a grand start to a new year. FIU CARTA annex is at 420 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, with gallery shows and musical concerts scheduled for the new year: carta.fiu.edu.