Ms. Penny Balkin Bach
Executive Director
Association for Public Art
Penny Balkin Bach is the Executive Director and Chief Curator at the Association for Public Art (formerly Fairmount Park Art Association), the nation's first private non-profit public art organization, chartered in 1872 and dedicated to the integration of public art and urban planning. A curator, writer, historian and educator, Bach is a recognized leader in the field of outdoor sculpture and public art. Her activities include the exploration of innovative approaches to public art and its audiences, the creation of opportunities for newly commissioned works, the promotion and interpretation of art in public places, and advocacy of responsible stewardship of public art. She is Executive Producer of Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO, an award-winning outdoor sculpture interpretive program for Philadelphia’s public art, available for free by cell phone, by audio download, and on the web. She is the author of Public Art in Philadelphia, published by Temple University Press; editor and essayist for New•Land•Marks: public art, community, and the meaning of place, an imprint of Grayson Publishing; and she has written and lectured extensively about public art and the environment. Bach serves on the Mayor's Cultural Advisory Council for the City of Philadelphia and as Chair of the City’s Public Art Advisory Committee. She served two terms on the Public Art Network (PAN) Council of the Americans for the Arts. Bach is the recipient of the national PAD award, from the Public Art Dialogue (an affiliate of the College Art Association), in recognition of her longstanding and continuing contributions to the field. She received the inaugural Tyler Tribute Award from the Tyler School of Art, and was named a “Creative Connector” by Leadership Philadelphia. Bach received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the Moore College of Art & Design. She received an MA in Visual Communications and Social Organization from Goddard College and a BFA from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art.