Lily Yeh

Born: 1941 in Guizhou, China

Education: University of Pennsylvania, School of Design and National Taiwan University

Occupation: Artist, Activist, and Urban Alchemist

The Village of Arts and Humanities: In 1986, Lily Yeh founded The Village of Arts and Humanities. It is a non-profit organization that helps build community through art and use of small spaces. Centered in North Philadelphia, The Village has worked on many different projects all for bettering the community. Some projects include after school programs, greening land transformation, housing renovation, theatre, and economic development initiatives. The Village yearly serves over 10,000 low income youth and families.

“ Making genuine connection lies at the beginning of building a real community.”

Barefoot Artists

Lily Yeh founded Barefoot Artists in 2002. It is an organization with very few staff members and has many volunteers. Barefoot Artists raises funds for projects that will better a community’s environment, health, economics, and education. They have now gone to eleven different countries and done many projects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CKIAE-Fwx0 Trailer for the documentary “Barefoot Artist”