Philippa Hughes

Philippa P.B. Hughes is a social sculptor and creative strategist who produces art-fueled projects that spark humanizing and authentic conversations across political, social, and cultural divides. She is an evangelist for dismantling the polarization industrial complex, one conversation at a time. Hughes has designed and produced hundreds of creative activations since 2007 for curious folks to engage with art and one another in unconventional and meaningful ways. She leads Curios​i​ty​Con​nects​.us, a partner in Looking For America, a national series inviting politically diverse guests to break bread and talk to each other face-to-face using art as a starting point for relationship-building conversations. Hughes has engineered numerous public-private collaborations that have been funded by the Kresge Foundation, New American Economy, Center for Inclusion & Belonging, and the DC Office of Planning. She has served as a commissioner on the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities among numerous other boards throughout Washington, D.C., where she is based. Hughes has spoken at TEDxAmericanUniversity, Creative Placemaking Week 2018 in Amsterdam, Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit, TomTom Festival, Smart Growth America’s Intersections. Her work has been featured by CNN, PBS Newshour, CityLab, andThe Washington Post, among numerous other media outlets. Her formal training took place at the University of Virginia, which launched her into a six-year legal career that ended with the Washington City Paper declaring 2007 ​“The Year of Philippa.” Deep curiosity about the world and the people in it provided the education that mattered most.

Continue the Conversation

Live Q&A with Philippa Hughes
Thursday, October 22, 5:10 — 6 pm
Zoom event: Click here to join

The Penny Stamps Speaker Series and University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) invite you to join a live question and answer session with Philippa P.B. Hughes.

For any questions about this Q&A event or to share accommodation needs, please email lherbert@​umich.​edu and chrissti@​umich.​edu. High quality auto-captions/transcriptions will be provided. Please make any additional requests no later than October 15.

In partnership with the University of Michigan Museum of Art, this event is part of the Democracy & Debate theme semester.