Lily Yeh is Global Artist and Founder of the organization Barefoot Artists. Her expertise is in community healing and building through the arts. Yeh was Professor of Painting and Art History at the University of Pennsylvania from 1968 through 1998. She is a founder of The Village of Arts and Humanities in North Philadelphia where she worked as Executive and Artistic Director from 1968 to 2004. Yeh’s mission at Barefoot Artists is to use art as a transformative power to foster community empowerment, improve the physical environment, promote economic development, and preserve indigenous art and culture. Her ventures at Barefoot Artists have led her through North America, Europe, Africa, China, and India. Using art as a medium for social revival and change, she has positively influenced many impoverished communities worldwide.

2024    Speaker, TED 2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, Vancouver, Canada 
2023    Designer and supervisor, installation of the 90 x 21, mosaic wall, at Dandelion School for migrant children, Beijing
2022    Smithsonian Collection, Lily Yeh papers collected by Smithsonian Archives of American Art
2018     Keynote Speaker, RPP Colloquium: Urban Alchemy, Post-Conflict Healing:  Art Transforms, Harvard Divinity School