March 29, 2024
Annapolis, US 41 F

State Arts Council hires new Public Art Director

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leisel fennerThe Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) announces the hiring of Liesel Fenner as its new Public Art Program Director, effective September 9, 2015. 

For more than 20 years, Fenner has worked in the art and design fields nationally both in the public and private sectors. She was the former Public Art Program Manager at Americans for the Arts in Washington DC, developing partnerships, programs, and services to advance public art, civic design, and cultural planning. 

“We welcome Ms. Fenner and her broad experience developing and providing information resources and education tools to advocate and advance public art and design in the built environment,” said Acting Managing Director of the Division of Tourism, Film and the Arts, Bill Pencek. “Drawing on her knowledge and background, MSAC will be able to advance its strategy to employ the arts as drivers of Maryland’s creative economy and placemaking movement, as well as support Governor Hogan’s goal to increase Maryland’s appeal and livability.”

Through the Public Art Network, Fenner provided technical assistance and planned the annual public art conference bringing together public art and design professionals from programs across the nation. Most recently, she worked with Gallagher & Associates in Silver Spring as Project Manager on permanent exhibition projects in cooperation with a variety of national museums including natural history, cultural heritage, and art and music venues. 

“I am excited to be joining the Maryland State Arts Council because of the solid groundwork already laid by Maryland’s Commission on Public Art,” said Fenner. “The Maryland Public Art Initiative which integrates public art enhancements into state-funded construction establishes a process for the successful incorporation of artistic concepts into the fiber of these projects creating an environmentally-oriented approach to the relationship between public art and architecture.”

Fenner, formerly with the New England Foundation for the Arts in Boston, developed and managed three public art programs that commissioned more than 40 projects during which she worked closely with artists and arts agencies in the implementation of their work.  In the San Francisco Bay Area, Liesel practiced landscape architecture and urban design. She is licensed and a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and received her Master’s degree from the Rhode Island School of Design specializing in Public Art and Installation, and her Bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of California, Davis.

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