Philippa Pham Hughes is a social sculptor, educator, speaker, and writer. Currently, she is a Social Practice Resident at The Kennedy Center, Visiting Artist For Arts & Civic Engagement at the University of Michigan Museum of Art, and a Lecturer at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. She applies relational thinking and an aesthetic of care and delight to her work in democracy building, civic engagement, and repairing the social fabric of our country one creative conversation at a time. Philippa draws from the arts and humanities to design spaces for honest conversations across political, social, and cultural differences. She 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. She also curates multi-disciplinary art exhibits & experiences. 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. Philippa has spoken internationally, including SXSW, The Sphere Initiative at the Cato Institute, TEDxAmericanUniversity, Placemaking Week Amsterdam, University of Michigan's Penny Stamps Speaker Series, Sparkfest, Fort Worth Women's Policy Forum. Her work has been featured by artnet, CNN, PBS Newshour, CityLab, and The Washington Post. Philippa’s mission: to create a society in which all humans flourish.

“From the moment you meet Philippa ... she is intoxicating – thoughtful, respectful, honest ....”
— U-M Arts Initiative

Awards and positions:

  • The Kennedy Center, Social Practice Resident, 2024-2027.

  • University of Michigan Museum of Art, Visiting Artist for Arts & Civic Engagement, 2023-25. Lead support provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

  • Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, Lecturer, Fall 2024, Winter 2025.

  • SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins, Visiting Fellow and Lecturer, 2023-24.

  • Kallion Circle, Facilitator.

  • Federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, for We Should Talk.

  • Significant funding received from New American Economy for Looking For America and from the Kresge Foundation through the D.C. Office of Planning for SEE / CHANGE and If You Lived Here.

  • Multiple projects by the Southwest Business Improvement District, Rosslyn Business Improvement District, AARP, Maryland State Arts Council, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, Walmart, D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities.

  • Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar, 2012.

  • DC Humanities Council, Distinguished Service to Humanities Award, 2011.

A few things she has written:

  • WETA PBS, Around Town: Best Bets, Art Critic.

  • “The Greatest Poem,” an animated short film commissioned by Arena Stage, 2022.

  • “Like All Americans Stories, Mine Is Complicated,” Washington Monthly, June 3, 2021.

  • “What Four Years Of Dining With Trump Supporters Taught Me About Polarization,” GEN, January 21, 2021.

  • “My Cousin Runs ICE. He’s Killing the Same American Dream Granted to His Own Parents,” GEN, November 3, 2020.

  • “Want to Bridge Divides? Start With a Blueberry and Cherry Crisp,” CNN Opinion, December 6, 2019.

  • “Community Conversations: Bringing People Together,” Siouxland Magazine, July 3, 2019.

  • "Regrets of An Accidental Placemaker," Shelterforce, June 19, 2018.

A few talks she has given:

“The energy in the room was powerful, and the attendee ratings were unanimously enthusiastic. Your thoughtful remarks were an important part of this event. We are confident that your participation will have tangible results in future support of the arts.”
— Karen Myers and Kendal Lake Smith, Fort Worth Women's Policy Forum

  • “Imagining a Flourishing Future” | Art & Democracy Day at Hopkins Bloomberg Center | October 22, 2024.

  • “Radical Conversations” | Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series | October 10, 2024.

  • “We Need To Talk: Repairing Our Social Fabric One Creative Conversation At a Time” | Davidson College | September 30, 2024.

  • “Art in Civic Education” | The Sphere Initiative at the Cato Institute | June 22, 2024.

  • “We Are the Greatest Poems” | Sparkfest24 at Amphibian Stage in Fort Worth, Texas | June 7, 2024.

  • “Art and Mental Health” | IlluminAsia Festival | Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art | May 11, 2024.

  • Talking Across the Divide” | Friends of the Facts, a News Literacy Fair | Missouri School of Journalism | June 27, 2022.

  • “C’mom, Can Art Really Change the World?” | EU@SXSW | March 14, 2022.

  • “How Art Can Generate Real Change In Your Community and Lead To Human Flourishing” | Fort Worth Women’s Policy Forum | November 12, 2021.

  • “Dismantling the Polarization Industrial Complex” | Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series | October 16, 2020.

  • “Creative Placemaking For All” | Tom Tom Summit | April 10, 2019.

  • “Creative Placemaking and Revitalization” | Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit | October 6, 2018.

  • "Measuring Social Placemaking One Conversation At a Time" | Placemaking Week 2017 Amsterdam | October 12, 2017.

  • "Seeing Your Way to Civil Discourse" | TEDxAmericanUniversity | June 22, 2017.

“It was a beautiful conversation expertly steered by you.”
— Togzhan Kassenova

A few creative projects she has imagined and created: 

  • Hey, We Need To Talk, 2024 In this deeply divided era, one of the hardest things you can do is talk to someone who thinks differently from you. But that’s exactly what we need to do if we want to solve the social and political problems our country faces and if we want to create a society in which everyone flourishes. Strengthening our social bonds happens when we begin to care about each other again. That begins with a conversation.

    Philippa transformed the Crumpacker Gallery at the University of Michigan Museum of Art into a social sculpture, an artwork that becomes complete when human connections happen, where you can have honest, caring, common sense conversations. This artwork was inspired by the work of U-M Professor Jenna Bednar, who proposes four pillars of flourishing: community, sustainability, dignity, and beauty.

  • Vagabond Almost 50 years post-war, the Vietnamese-American narrative is still skewed. 13 Vietnamese creatives have decided to change this vision. Vagabond is a Zine featuring interviews and other work with those artists, poets, photographers, designers, and musicians in the DMV area. Co-created by Philippa Pham Hughes and Anthony Trung Quang Le, Vagabond challenges mainstream American beliefs on what it means to be Vietnamese-American through the counter-narratives of its writers. In addition to their interview contributions, each artist was commissioned to write a letter to their younger self as an act of self-care. Vagabond is a powerful reminder of how far the Vietnamese American community has come while serving as a vessel of education to the public. The Zine celebrates rich Vietnamese American excellence through art and healing, a radical act of self-love for both the artists and the community.

  • We Should Talk is a series of multi-media art installations and programs in which multi-disciplinary Asian American women artists create space to explore the nuances and complexities of what it means to be an Asian American woman. We Should Talk is led by curator and artist Philippa Pham Hughes and artists Xena Ni and Adele 이슬 Kenworthy. We apply an aesthetic of care and delight to creating relational spaces in which we share deeply and honestly, learn from one another, explore, and grow together.

“The poems were magic — I think three times they made me turn to a stranger or someone I had just met (or drove them to turn to me) and dive into deep personal conversations about our journeys as AAPI women, and the tools and support systems that empower us to redefine ourselves. Such a powerful demonstration of how sharing our stories can create thought-provoking and inspiring connections.”
— Ayeh Bandeh-Ahmadi

  • Hey, We Need To Talk, 2022 In partnership with the Ann Arbor City Clerk’s Office, the Creative Campus Voting Project is collaborating with UMMA to turn your art museum into an election hub — register to vote, get your ballot, access voting resources, and celebrate participation. In addition, visiting artist Philippa Hughes will host a dynamic and deeply engaging series of experimental social events across UMMA’s galleries, creating space for authentic and honest conversations between politically diverse people.

  • The Greatest Poem Walt Whitman believed that the power of poetry and democracy are derived from their capacity to make a unified whole from diverse and sometimes contradictory parts. He said, “The United States are the greatest poem.” As a Hybrid American who contains multitudes, I see myself reflected in Whitman’s words and those words inspired me to write “The Greatest Poem,” a declaration of what it means to me to be American, to be human, to be a poem. This film was commissioned by Shanara Gabrielle and Arena Stage and directed by Elyse Kelly. My words were brought to life by 20 amazing artists.

  • Treehouse Treehouse invites the viewer into a space of beauty that encourages us to wonder about the world and each other. Imagine a world in which we all can flourish, and are connected to nature and one another. This multisensory, collaborative installation is a portal for reflection, reconnection, remembrance and dialogue.

  • Blueberries and Cherries Inviting politically diverse guests to break bread and talk to each other face-to-face over a home cooked meal. the goal: to understand the things that influence our votes and to find ways to bridge the vast ideological gap that plagues our country. We engage in civil discourse that is unfiltered by the lens of political punditry and by the anonymity and bias of social media.

“That was amazing! What an unconventional, sideways (meant in the best way), innovative way to get people to connect.”
— Erica Jin

  • Looking For America How do different communities—in the Midwest, at the border, in cities and in rural areas—answer that question? Across the United States, we’re inviting local artists and community members of all backgrounds and political stripes to come together to share their stories and perspectives. More info here.

  • Hello, Neighbor! Video portraits capturing the spirit of the Southwest neighborhood through storytelling and memory sharing.

  • A (GOOD) AMERICAN Art exhibit in which seven artists examined the immigrant experience in America and examined what it means to be a good American. The artists used the interior and exterior spaces of the Heurich House Museum, the historic home of 19th century German immigrant Christian Heurich, as backdrop and inspiration.

  • The Van Ness Social Club A new-fashioned town square and social gathering where millennial and elderly neighbors can get to know each other in dance and unexpected social interaction.

  • IF YOU LIVED HERE An interactive, site-specific installation that explores the meaning of home through personal reflection and within historical and archaeological context.

  • Us + Them = U.S. Finding Common Ground In a Divided Nation A co-curated visual response to the division our country faces, in which artists and activists examine and investigate our nation’s current political and cultural rift and explore how we can find a collective understanding through contemporary art-making methods

  • SEE/CHANGE Temporary creative pacemaking video art and community engagement project that put a human face on how population change and revitalization are affecting the Park View and Pleasant Plains neighborhoods of lower Georgia Avenue.

  • Supernova International performance art festival over three days throughout the streets and underused spaces of Rosslyn, Virginia.

  • LUMEN8Anacostia Temporary arts and culture festival in underutilized spaces.

  • Cherry Blast I, II, III, IV, and V Annual alternative, multi-media art and music events in raw spaces throughout DC. An official event of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

  • White Party Art, dance, games, and technology in an interactive experience at The Phillips Collection.

  • North Capitol Main Street Art Walk Summer-long showcase of sculptures placed in front yards of residences along a main street in the Bloomingdale neighborhood.

  • ZestFest Pop-up performing arts sidewalk festival over 10 days.

Some press about her projects:

  • Peabody Magazine: Democracy and the Arts, “Strengthening Democracy One Conversation at a Time,” Mazy Zajac, Fall 2023

  • Artnet, “Artist Philippa Pham Hughes’s Latest Work is a Massive Dinner Party Bringing Conservatives and Liberals Together Ahead of the Midterm Elections,” November 2, 2022.

  • The Washington Post, “Across the country, liberals and conservatives are coming together at moderated dinners to understand each other better," Leigh Giangreco, February 24, 2020.

  • CNN, “How to heal America’s fracture," Yaffa Frederick, November 2019.

  • El Paso Herald-Post, “El Paso Museum of History, national partners to host ‘Looking for America: El Paso,” October 9, 2019.

  • Siouxland News, “An art exhibition has Siouxlanders talking about what being American means to them," September 30, 2019.

  • Sioux City Journal, “New exhibit at Betty Strong encourages dialogue on what it means to be American," September 29, 2019.

  • Crude Magazine, “Crude Conversations with Philippa Hughes,” September 26, 2019.

  • Salt Lake Tribune, “Listening to each other will make us more civil," September 18, 2019.

  • Kojo Nnamdi Show, “Kojo Roadshow: How Gentrification Affects The Arts In The D.C. Region,” March 31, 2019.

  • Kojo Nnamdi Show, “Belonging, Civility, Ugh: What Happens When Commonly Held Ideals Backfire," November 20, 2018.

  • CityLab, “Encouraging Neighbors to See Eye To Eye,” Jessica Leigh Hester, November 17, 2016.

  • Bmore Art, "US + THEM = U.S.: Finding Common Ground In a Divided Nation," Michael Iacovone, February 9, 2017.

A few panels & podcasts she has joined:

Affiliations: