Donna Neuwirth
Executive Director
As co-founder and executive director of Wormfarm, Donna has developed numerous public art projects at the intersection of culture and agriculture including the Reedikulus Puppet Festival, The Re-enchantment of Agriculture, and Fermentation Fest: A Live Culture Convergence. She has served as artistic/project director of the Farm/Art DTour since its inception in 2011. The DTour has become a model for rural creative placemaking under her leadership, featured in the NYT and PBS Newshour. She completed the National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program in 2015 and serves on the board of the Sauk County Development Corporation. She has a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Jay Salinas
Director of Special Projects & Outreach
Jay is an artist, farmer and co-founder of Wormfarm. He coordinates the Artist Residency program, and leads food and agriculture outreach initiatives. He helped conceptualize the Farm/Art DTour and has served as juror, logistics and Food Chain coordinator from 2011-2020. Trained as a sculptor, Jay holds a BFA from University of IL Champaign and an MFA from University of Cincinnati. He has operated a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm since 1995. He has worked nationally for food justice and sustainability issues and was a director at Growing Power in Milwaukee from 2006-09.
Jean O'Neil
Executive Assistant
Jean is a Madison native who recently retired from a 35-year career in information technology (IT). In her former position as a Senior Software Engineer at Motorola Solutions, Inc., she wrote and supported software for some of the largest Public Safety/Law Enforcement departments in the country. She has also worked as a bookkeeper for several small businesses in the Madison area. Drawing on decades of experience supporting growing businesses, Jean will streamline Wormfarm’s various accounting and technology needs in her new role. She’s excited to explore the inner workings of a nonprofit, and to align her budding interests in gardening and regenerative agriculture with Wormfarm’s mission-driven work. Jean graduated from the University of Minnesota with degrees in Business Administration and Management Information Systems.
Philip Matthews
Director of Programs
For a decade Philip has led site-specific projects in performance, language and collaborative art. Prior to joining Wormfarm’s team in spring 2020, he organized bold projects at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis including (with Ballroom Marfa) Marfa Dialogues / STL, a program series which invited scientists, artists, civic leaders and activists to seek solutions to Midwestern climate issues. A poet from eastern North Carolina, he is the author of two books and holds an MFA in Poetry from Washington University in St. Louis and BA in English from Tulane University.
Serena Elston
Curator of Public Engagement
Serena is an artist and curator who has produced major projects of public engagement for over a decade. Her background in architecture and construction have led to the creation of ambitious projects like SPACORE, an immersive 45 artist exhibition examining the labor of wellness capitalism. In 2018, Serena created Siren Island, a floating stage for actively re-contextualizing the mythologies of land through live theater events on the open water. Her research-based art practice investigates the disciplines of architecture, agriculture, and history to search for those forgotten tools that connect us to the land. Serena is most passionate about supporting rural spaces as major cultural producers and envisioning open land as an exhibition platform. Serena received a BFA in Architecture and Sculpture from MassArt and an MFA in Sculpture from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Tanya Carney
Program Assistant
Tanya has nearly a decade of experience working on government-funded projects in research, communications, planning, and implementation roles. After spending the majority of her career focused on initiatives in West Africa, she is excited to be supporting projects in her home state. Tanya is particularly interested in food security and the intersection of small-scale agriculture, climate change, tradition, and technology. This interest was cultivated during her service in the Peace Corps in Burkina Faso. She holds an MS in Environment and Resources from the University of Wisconsin and a BS in Conservation Biology, Geography, and Photography from the University of Minnesota.