Miguel Godoy, a Chandler-based artist and educator, described how school partnerships and community input shape his public art, including a Provinces Park mural that incorporated designs from roughly 650 Shumway Leadership Academy students.

On the episode of Professionals on the Rise, hosted by Council member Angel Encinas, Godoy said he answered a city call for muralists to partner with Chandler Unified School District and shifted his original plan after meeting students. “I scratched all of that because I realized how amazing these kids were, and I really wanted the ideas to be generated from them,” Godoy said. He said the final design emphasized the students’ core values — community, inclusion and empathy — with each pillar of the playground canopy dedicated to one of those values and another pillar honoring the “Shumway stars.”

Godoy described the process in detail: he ran workshops, collected students’ crayon and pencil drawings, identified recurring themes, reproduced them on a durable material called PolyTeb, projected the designs and had students paint them. He then enlisted college students from Estrella Mountain Community College to refine and install the murals and said the project culminated in a community celebration.

Godoy also discussed his work as an instructor. He said his primary teaching goal is to give students fellowship and “a belief in themselves,” in part because creative careers can feel isolating. He told Encinas he is in his second year as full‑time faculty at Estrella Mountain Community College and that his classroom emphasizes technical skill, concept and community.

The artist described how his El Valle jersey design for the Phoenix Suns originated after the Suns’ creative team reached out by direct message. Godoy said the team was drawn to his public work and his connection to Chicano culture; after verifying the outreach, he spoke with the creative director and began the project. “Having the city behind it, having the cultura, having our Chicanos behind the mural — that was the biggest impact,” he said, adding that broad recognition came from the jersey being included among the city‑edition run.

Godoy closed with advice for emerging creators: he urged them to push past impostor syndrome and to treat creativity as a “superpower,” saying that belief in oneself opens career opportunities. He also briefly described upcoming work: continuing his teaching role, a large public art commission in Phoenix, another collaboration related to the Suns, and a mural for a technology company.

Why it matters: Godoy’s projects illustrate how municipal arts programs, school partnerships and paid calls for art can create hands‑on opportunities for students, generate civic pride and provide career pathways for local artists.