Philippa Pham Hughes

SNF Agora Visiting Fellow, AY 23-24

Philippa Pham Hughes is a social sculptor, cultural strategist, and curator who applies relational thinking and an aesthetic of care and delight to her work in democracy building and civic engagement. She draws from the arts and humanities to design spaces for honest conversations across political, social, and cultural differences and has produced hundreds of creative activations since 2007 for people who might not normally meet to engage with one another in unconventional and meaningful ways. These relational experiences build social capital, social cohesion, and social discourse. She is a curious and lateral thinker whose multi-disciplinary practice is informed by sociology, psychology, philosophy, political science, history, community organizing, design thinking, creative placemaking, art, and humanities. Hughes has spoken internationally, including SXSW, TEDxAmericanUniversity, Placemaking Week Amsterdam, University of Michigan’s Penny Stamps Speaker Series, Fort Worth Women’s Policy Forum. Her work has been featured by artnet, CNN, PBS Newshour, CityLab, and The Washington Post. Her mission: to create a society in which all humans flourish.