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OVERVIEW
I am an entrepreneurial leader and manager with over 15 years of experience innovating and analyzing
at local and ecosystem-wide scales. I am driven by a desire to build a more just society through
fostering creativity and community-led solutions. I founded and am the principal at Sherman Cultural
Strategies, a consultancy working at the intersection of community development, social justice, and
the arts. Before moving to Boston nine years ago to expand my work to a national scale and for a
master’s degree in urban planning, I spent seven years in NYC, where I founded & directed the High
Line's Public Programs, Education, and Community Engagement Department.
SELECTED CONSULTING PROJECTS
Projects marked with + are done in collaboration with Deidra Montgomery.
Mural Arts Philadelphia (National) | Serve as learning partner for three-year Public Art and Civic
Engagement Capacity Building Initiative, and return to evaluate the three- year new Arts and
Environmental Justice program (2020 - Present). +
Creatives Rebuild NY (New York State) | Evaluate the Artist Employment Program and facilitate a
national working group identifying advocacy areas for artist financial stability. (2023-Present). +
The Design Studio for Social Intervention (Boston) | Write a manual to teach cultural organizers to
produce new social infrastructure (2022 - Present).
NeighborWorks America National Training Institute (National) | Develop and teach two two-day in- person courses and one virtual course on integrating the arts into equitable affordable housing
development for community development practitioners around the country (2018-Present).
The Mayor's Institute on City Design (National) | Conduct research, design a strategy, and produce
resources to integrate creative thinking and cultural equity into this longstanding program of the
National Endowment for the Arts (2023- Present). +
New Hampshire State Council on the Arts (State of New Hampshire) | Complete a three-year
strategic plan for the state's largest arts funder (2022 - 2023). +
MASSCreative (State of Massachusetts) | Complete a program evaluation on the Create the Vote
fellowship pilot, a yearlong learning community for grassroots organizers focused on building
advocacy, creating knowledge, and sustaining power in the arts and cultural sector (2022-2023).+
LISC, The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (National) | Co-design and document the Arts &
Wealth Building Lab to support systems change in community development (2020 - 2023).
54 Dover Street
Medford, MA 02155
(773) 965-1338
www.danyasherman.com
danya@danyasherman.com
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Danya Sherman, Principal
she/her
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The Barr Foundation (Boston, MA) | Lead a team to evaluate and recommend new funding
opportunities that will strengthen and build the statewide public art ecosystem (2019-2022).+
Hewlett Foundation Performing Arts Program (San Francisco Bay Area) | With Gibrán Rivera,
facilitate a strategy origination process for systems change grant-making. (2021- 2023).
Seattle Housing Authority (Seattle, WA) | Evaluate the Yesler Terrace’s arts programming
increase social cohesion and minimize disruptions of housing redevelopment (2019-2023).
Northeastern University School of Law (Boston, MA) | Evaluate the impact of projects that
embed cultural organizers in housing departments and community organizations (2018- 2022).
The Boston Foundation (Boston, MA) | Evaluate and advise the Place Leadership Network, an
innovative peer learning cohort program of community development organizations (2019-2021).
ArtPlace America (National) | As a member of the research team, author research and develop
field-building resources for community development and creative practitioners (2015 – 2020).
Now + There (Boston, MA) | Evaluate the public art accelerator program that increases the skills
of artists working cross-sector to achieve community impact in the public realm (2020). +
Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture (Boston, MA) | Evaluate the impact of year three of the City
Artist-in-Residence Program, and advise and support year four’s program (2018 – 2021). +
NEWHAB (National) | Co-facilitate a strategic planning process (2021). +
Alabama African American Civil Rights Heritage Consortium / World Monuments Fund
(Alabama) | Conduct evaluation and strategic visioning /creative placemaking workshops (2019).
Waterloo Greenway (Austin, TX) | Devise a Cultural Program Strategic Plan and advise on
community engagement strategy for a new park district (2018).
The Rudy Bruner Awards (Boston, MA) | Write case studies for award-winning urban design
projects, including Bruce Bolling Building and Beyond Walls Mural Projects (2017 – 2019).
MIT CoLab & Project Row Houses (Houston, TX) | Conceptualize strategies for community- driven cultural and economic development alongside Project Row Houses (2015).
High Line Network (National) | Co-produce inaugural conference (2015).
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
MIT Center for Real Estate (International) | Devise and direct experimental interactive media
production team to create curricula on socially responsible urban development (2015 – 2017).
Friends of the High Line (New York, NY) | Over seven years, build and direct all aspects of new
department for Public Programs and Community Engagement to make the High Line a more
inclusive platform for all New York City residents through community development and the arts.
Hire and manage a team of five full-time, 15 part-time staff and over 100 volunteers (2007 – 2013).
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SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Queensland Institute of Technology | Keynote “Creative Placemaking for Social Impact” (2020)
ArtPlace America | Plenary “Practicing Culture to Build a Post-Colonial Economy” (2020)
Boston Area Research Initiative | Talk “Policy implications of cultural organizing” (2019)
ArtPlace America | Workshops “Anti-Displacement through Arts and Culture (2018)
Providence Athenaeum | Keynote “Urban Development as Freedom Practice” (2018)
Harvard Graduate School of Design | Equitable community design workshops (2018-2021)
Project Row Houses | Panel “Strategies on Collaboration: Building Impactful Partnerships” (2018)
Boston Society of Architects | Panel “Examples from Elsewhere: The High Line” (2017)
Santa Cruz Museum of Art | Talk “Parks as Sites of Cultural Diversity and Equity”(2014)
Drexel University | Panel “From Tracks to Parks: The Next Generation of Urban Green” (2013)
Parsons New School for Design | Talk “Urban Colloquium: The High Line” (2012)
Next City | Next City Vanguard 40-under-40 leadership award and talk (2012)
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS (Click publication title for live links)
"Humanizing Public Housing: Arts, Culture, and Well-Being in the Mixed Income
Redevelopment of Seattle’s Yesler Terrace." The Seattle Housing Authority, 2023.
“Shared Spaces: Learning from the Place Leadership Network." The Boston Foundation, 2021.
"Evaluating the Third Year of Boston Artists-in-Residence Program." The City of Boston Mayor's
Office of Arts and Culture, 2020.
"Building Community Wealth: The Role of Arts and Culture in Equitable Economic
Development." ArtPlace America, 2020.
"Building Stable Ground: An Evaluation Report." Northeastern University NuLawLab, 2019.
"Community Engagement, Equity, and the High Line." Chapter in "Deconstructing the High
Line," eds. Christoph Lindner and Brian Rosa. Rutgers UP, 2017.
“How Community-Engaged Design is Changing Development.” Next City, May 2016.
"Exploring the Ways Arts and Culture Intersects with Housing: Emerging Practices and
Implications for Further Action." ArtPlace America, 2016.
"Gentrification Can’t Be the Theme of Rust Belt City Recovery." Next City, December 2017.
"What Long-Distance Trains Teach Us About Public Space in America." Next City, February 2015.
EDUCATION
MIT | Master in City Planning, MIT Women of Excellence Award, Departmental Service Award
Wesleyan University | Bachelor of Arts