Jessica Cusick

Jessica Cusick is the Cultural Affairs Manager for the City of Santa Monica. In 1998, she established Cusick Consulting to build upon her more than twenty years of experience working in the arts for governmental agencies, the private sector, and non-profit organizations. The firm specializes in cultural policy, civic art and community development through the arts.

Ms. Cusick’s initiatives have received awards from by the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Architects. She has also been recognized by the Women’s Caucus for Art for her work in the field of public art and on behalf of women artists and artists of color.

Ms. Cusick has a degree in art history from the Sorbonne in Paris, and a Masters from New York University. She is author of numerous articles on the topic of civic art and has contributed to a variety of publications. Most recently she wrote the section on planning in Public Art: By the Book, published in 2005 by the University of Washington Press.

Her teaching experience includes 12 years as an adjunct professor for the Public Art Studies graduate program at the University of Southern California as well as guest lecturer semesters with the University of Houston and Otis College of Art and Design.