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.
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.