About
Sherry Dobbin, FRSA, MA, BFA is a Cultural Advisor and Placemaking Advisor providing strategic guidance for cultural infrastructure and programmes. Her advice includes delivery plans and funding models that bring together commercial, civic and philanthropic investment. She has worked across all artforms for over thirty-five years, leading cultural organisations and curating for public realm across four continents.
From 2017-2022, she served as Partner (Managing & Cultural Director) at Futurecity UK, a global placemaking and public art commissioning agency based in London, where she consulted for developers, cities, business improvement districts to establish permanent and programmatic cultural sustainability for place identity. She brokered partnerships for Centre Pompidou, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Museum of London and created new cultural institution co-location models in built environment projects.; often assisting in successful architectural competitions and planning permission grantings. As Chair of the Urban Art Forum UK for the Urban Land Institute-UK, she shared and designated strategic thinking and good practice for forward-thinking policy and delivery frameworks that linked arts and property sectors across innovation and social value impact measurement.
She served as Director of Times Square Arts and Creative Director for Times Square Alliance from 2012-2016 where she founded Midnight Moment, the world’s largest and longest running digital art exhibition, shown on the electronic billboards every night since 2012. She produced over 150 projects on the pedestrian plazas, Duffy Square and cinema and F&B venues; inclusive of 94 curator partnerships with cultural institutions and commercial galleries, and architecture and design associations.
Prior to that, she was Director of Robert Wilson’s experimental performance institution, The Watermill Center and the related Byrd Hoffman Watermill Foundation, where she advanced the programme through international and national institutional and academic partnerships, while acting as programme director for 80-150 artists-in-residence per year. She developed the government and philanthropic support as well as established presentation partnerships in NYC for the residents’ work. Her leadership developed from her practice-based experience as a Project Director of arts-led regeneration partnership initiatives throughout London and East of England and as performing arts administrator and theatre director with such companies as Los Angeles Opera, Huntingdon Theatre Company, Boston Ballet, WGBH-TV, and partnership initiatives with Arts Council England East.
She regularly participates in international thought-leadership for advancing culture-led development as keynote speaker, panellist and moderator across arts and property. (see published). She holds a BFA (with honours) in Theater Studies from Boston University, an MA in Art History (with distinction) in cross-disciplinary practice from Birkbeck, University of London. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts London, nominated for her work in arts-led regeneration. She was previously an Associate Professor at NYU Wagner School where she taught graduate students on ‘Arts & The Artists in Urban Revitalisation.”
She volunteers her expertise for cause – for example, by bringing partnerships to The Walk with UNICEF HQ, Piccadilly Lights, Times Square to their global efforts.
Current non-executive roles
