The Role of Art in Creating Welcoming and Culturally Safe Spaces
- Emma M
- Oct 31
- 3 min read
When people walk into a building, they are not simply entering a structure. They are arriving into an experience. The way a space feels — its sense of warmth, belonging, dignity, and connection — is shaped long before a program begins or a service is offered. Architecture can set a foundation, but it is often art that makes a place feel human.
For organizations serving diverse communities, art is not decoration. It is a form of storytelling, a cultural anchor, and in many cases, an act of recognition. Art has the power to make people feel seen — or unseen — the moment they enter a space.
Art as a Bridge Between People and Place
A building’s walls can tell a story about who a space is for. When art reflects the identities, histories, and cultures of the people who use it, it becomes a bridge — building trust, safety, and connection.
In shelters, housing, schools, community hubs, and care environments, many individuals walk in during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. Art can be the first signal that they are welcome. That they belong here. That the space honours who they are and what they carry.
We see this in trauma-informed environments where natural forms, warm colour palettes, and gentle visual patterns help the nervous system settle. We see it in cultural spaces where local artists express shared teachings, values, humour, or resilience — reinforcing identity and continuity.
Art can soften institutional environments. It can humanize clinical ones. It can create place-based meaning where there was once only surface.
Art as Community Voice
Meaningful art in public and community-serving spaces is rarely created in isolation. It emerges from conversation, relationship, and trust-building. It grows from listening.
In many of the projects we lead, artists are engaged early in the process — not as an add-on once construction is complete, but as contributors to vision, flow, and experience. When artists work alongside architects, Elders, staff, youth, or program participants, the result is deeper than aesthetic impact. It becomes shared ownership. A collective heartbeat.
In this way, art becomes a mechanism for inclusion. It invites people to see themselves reflected in the spaces they move through. It can also make room for histories that have gone unacknowledged, and for stories that deserve to live in public view.
Cultural Safety Through Visual Language
Cultural safety is created when people feel seen, understood, and respected. Art is one of the few tools that can communicate this immediately — without requiring explanation.
For example:
Murals in a youth housing project that incorporate local languages and symbols can signal belonging and continuity.
Portrait photography in community spaces can honour the faces, families, and holdings of culture that shape a neighbourhood.
Textile traditions integrated into wayfinding can make navigation intuitive and familiar.
Sculpture aligned to traditional directional teachings can reaffirm identity and grounding.
These are not aesthetic flourishes. They are design choices that communicate dignity.
Art as Healing
For communities carrying collective grief or histories of displacement, art can also hold space for remembrance and healing. It can honour what has been lost while affirming what endures.
Memorial installations, gathering circles, and storytelling spaces can invite quiet reflection or shared ceremony. These spaces do not erase harm — they acknowledge it, while affirming life, resilience, and continuance.
When done with care, art can help transform buildings into places of restoration.
A Commitment, Not a Finishing Touch
Integrating meaningful art into spaces requires time, collaboration, and intention. It requires working with artists whose voices reflect the community. It requires budgets that treat art as integral to the project, not optional. It requires flexibility in timelines to allow for consultation and iteration.
But when we make this commitment, we create spaces that people want to return to. Spaces that feel like they were made for real lives, real identities, real stories.
At Larkspur, we have learned that art is one of the most powerful elements in shaping how a space feels — and how it welcomes. When art is embedded with care and created in relationship, buildings become more than structures. They become places of belonging.
Because every community deserves to see itself reflected in the spaces it calls home.
