As Creative Placemaking Project Manager for the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture (MOAC), Kerri Malone (pronouns she/her) manages creative placemaking projects and supports creative activations. Kerri works collaboratively to identify opportunities to activate public spaces through a variety of creative elements, including street painting, community events, block parties, and performances.

Kerri is a native Chicagoian who currently lives in East Boston. She grew up singing, dancing, and writing and has maintained a connection with the arts professionally and personally throughout her life. While working toward her bachelors degree in Urban Planning at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Kerri was known as the “artsy planner” who always asked questions about the intersection of planning and arts and culture. Her interests led her to the University of Chicago, where she received a masters in the Humanities with a focus on cultural policy.

In the last decade, Kerri has worked primarily in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors in arts and culture and in entrepreneurship. Her professional background combines program management, grantmaking, community development, and research. She has launched neighborhood-based art programs and managed grantmaking programs that support arts educators, individual artists, and arts and culture nonprofits. Kerri has also directed the execution of place-based entrepreneurship projects and has managed a community arts space in her hometown in Illinois.

In her free time, you can find Kerri taking a movement class, exploring local businesses and events, and relaxing outside in the sun. You can also find her reading and buying new graphic novels, which she started collecting in 2020.