I design how public art programs actually run.
Selection processes, stakeholder committees, the structure behind a percent-for-art program — built so the community is heard and the artist can do the work. I design the process. You run with it.
I work with municipalities, developers, and nonprofit arts organizations at the front end of public art — designing the processes that determine how art gets made, who gets selected, and how communities are genuinely heard along the way.
My work spans murals, percent-for-art programs, grant-funded projects, and capital improvement initiatives. I’ve facilitated resident stakeholder committees, coordinated street-closing public art activations, served on selection panels nationally and locally, and have been the Project Manager on two citywide public art plans. I don’t manage execution — I design the structure that makes good execution possible.
I also come from documentary and commercial film — production work for the New York Times, PBS, Netflix, and others — which shaped how I think about story, structure, and what it takes to make something land.
A note on attribution: much of this work was carried out through institutional roles. At the City of Lancaster’s Office of Public Art, I served as Public Art Community Engagement Manager — an NEA-funded position — and stepped into an expanded role overseeing the department’s programs and projects when the Public Art Director departed. At Forecast Public Art, I served as Project Manager on citywide public art plans and community engagement work. All projects are attributed to the relevant institution throughout this page.
Services
Stakeholder & Resident Committee Facilitation
Assembling and running the group that gives a project its community voice.
Artist Selection Process Design
Building the RFQ/RFP and selection process for public or private developer projects.
Selection Panel & Juror Services
Serving as an outside expert on someone else’s artist selection panel — bringing firsthand knowledge of process design, equity, and what makes a selection committee actually work.
Public Art Workshops
Sessions like “Public Art Foundations,” built for municipal staff, artists, or community members.
Educational Material Design
Curriculum and handouts that make a public art program legible to the people it serves.
Speaking & Training
Talks and facilitated training series on public art process, equity, and community engagement — for arts administrators, government staff, and arts organizations at all stages. Past engagements include a five-week training series for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
Event Activation & Public Art Coordination
On-the-ground coordination for public art events that require cross-agency collaboration — including street closures, permitting, and partnerships with public works and law enforcement.
Artist Advising
Coaching-adjacent support for artists navigating public art systems — from understanding what a contract is actually asking of you, to knowing how to position yourself in a selection process, to building relationships with municipalities and developers that work in your favor. This isn’t legal advice; it’s institutional fluency, translated. Having sat inside many of the systems artists are trying to navigate, I can offer the kind of informed, frank guidance that’s rarely available to emerging and mid-career artists.
The sliding scale is intended for artists, caregivers, and those with limited income — choose what feels sustainable within this range, no documentation needed. If you need support and fall outside this range, please reach out. I would rather find a way than have access be a barrier.
Selected Work
Making an Intersection Easier to Navigate
Cabbage Hill is a dense Lancaster neighborhood with a busy five-way intersection that residents had long identified as confusing, unwelcoming, and dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists. Through a Bloomberg Philanthropies Asphalt Art Initiative grant, the City of Lancaster undertook a community-driven redesign. In my role as Public Art Manager with the City of Lancaster, I managed the project from artist selection through installation.
Car volume reduced by 27%. Average speed dropped by 20%. Driver yield rate to pedestrians up 10%.
Bike ridership increased by 12%. Crosswalks shortened by 55%, adding over 3,600 sq ft of new pedestrian space.
100 volunteers painted the intersection. Multiple survey rounds published at each milestone.
Fern Dannis & Peter Barber
View full project →325 Blake Road Community Engagement
The 325 Blake Road development in Hopkins, Minnesota — a 17-acre mixed-use redevelopment adjacent to the future Blake Road Light Rail Station — partnered with Forecast Public Art to ensure residents, particularly BIPOC community members, renters, transit riders, and youth, had a genuine voice in shaping its public spaces and wayfinding. As Project Manager at Forecast, I oversaw the artist open call, artist orientation, and a multi-month community engagement series.
6 artists, 10+ community events across multiple neighborhood venues over three months.
City of Hopkins, Alatus LLC, Minnehaha Creek Watershed District.
Community input directly informed public art commissions and wayfinding design for the development.
Abdurrahman Mahmud · Briauna Williams · Fern Naomi Renville · Genie Castro · Sayge Carroll · Katrina Knutson
View full project →Alameda Public Art Master Plan
As Project Manager at Forecast Public Art, I guided the development of Alameda’s first comprehensive public art master plan — a 126-page citywide framework covering commissioning, funding, siting, and deaccession, delivered through deep community engagement including PAC workshops, one-on-one conversations, pop-up events, and a bilingual citywide survey.
600+ people engaged. 439 survey respondents. 3 PAC workshops.
126-page master plan with 7 strategic recommendations and a five-year action plan.
City of Alameda — Base Reuse & Economic Development Department, November 2023.
Red Wing Five-Year Arts & Culture Action Plan
As Project Manager at Forecast, I managed the artist engagement and pop-up community events that drove public input for Red Wing’s first comprehensive arts and culture action plan. Artist-led pop-up engagements I coordinated reached 430 residents directly — gathering community input through creative activities rather than conventional public meetings.
430 people engaged through artist-led pop-ups. 127 survey participants.
Project Manager — artist engagement and community pop-ups, Forecast Public Art.
City of Red Wing, MN — Arts & Culture Commission, 2022.
PACE Neighbors Program
PACE (Public Art Community Engagement) Neighbors was a 1.5-year NEA-funded program embedding local artists in their own Lancaster neighborhoods to use temporary public art as a tool for civic listening — connecting residents to the city’s comprehensive planning process through creativity rather than conventional engagement. As Public Art Community Engagement Manager, I designed and ran the program end-to-end: artist selection, cohort development, community workshops, professional development, and the culminating exhibition at Franklin & Marshall College’s Winter Visual Arts Center.
The artist selection process — which I facilitated as a non-voting member of the selection committee — used an open call, a committee of arts professionals, artists, and community leaders, and a published toolkit to ensure transparency and equity. The five selected artists worked across theatre, sculpture, social practice, food systems, and spoken word, representing a cross-section of Lancaster’s neighborhoods and communities.
National Endowment for the Arts · Franklin & Marshall College · Lancaster County Community Foundation · High Family Foundation · Rick and Gail Gray Fund · City of Lancaster Comprehensive Plan
Teatro Paloma · Shauna Yorty · Libby Modern · Matty Geez · Sir Dominique Jordan
Phase 1: Onboarding & asset mapping · Phase 2: Workshops · Phase 3: Community discoveries · Phase 4: Exhibition at F&M College
PACE Neighbors Program — NEA-funded, Public Art Community Engagement Manager
Culliton Park Public Art — On-site mural management & artist talks, Salina Almanzar & Matthew Geller
Asphalt Art / Cabbage Hill Intersection — Bloomberg Philanthropies grant project
UrbanArt Commission, Memphis TN — Public Art Foundations facilitator
NJ State Council on the Arts — Making It Public training series facilitator
LISC National Panel — Public art & community trust building
Selection panels — Local and national, various clients
Blake Road, Hopkins MN — Community engagement
Alameda Public Art Master Plan, CA — Project Manager
Red Wing Arts & Culture Plan, MN — Project Manager
MN State University Moorhead, Weld Hall — Artist call coordination
Press & Speaking
Lancaster City Initiative Seeking Artists for PACE Neighbors Program
“As opposed to going into a neighborhood and just changing something, it’s like using art as a tool to listen and connect with others.”
Read article →PACE Neighbors Program Puts Out a Call for Resident Artists
“The opportunities are endless. Through this program, I want to help artists push the boundaries of conventional notions of what it means to exhibit work.”
Read article →The Power in Engaging the Community Through Art
F&M senior Sarah Sutter interned with PACE under Yarlyn’s direction, developing a zine documenting art and civic engagement in Lancaster.
Read article →Your Weekly Guide to the Arts
Featured as guest facilitator for UrbanArt Commission’s artist workshop series in Memphis, TN — presenting Public Art Foundations to emerging public artists.
Read article →City of Lancaster to Unveil Culliton Park
Press release for the opening of the renovated Culliton Park — a $3.4M project integrating site-specific public artworks by Salina Almanzar and Matthew Geller.
Read press release →Public Art, Community Trust & Restructuring Lancaster City’s Public Art Program
National panel hosted by LISC, moderated by Irfana Jetha Noorani.
Watch panel →Making It Public — Training Series for Public Art Administrators
Five-week facilitated training series in partnership with Forecast Public Art, covering community engagement, RFQ/RFP, equitable artist selection, and contracting. 2024.
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