• Sarah R Filley
  • Services
  • About me
    • Prosperity Forest
    • Anthropocene Mixtape
    • Popuphood
    • Creative Projects
    • CV
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Sarah R Filley
  • Services
  • About me
    • Prosperity Forest
    • Anthropocene Mixtape
    • Popuphood
    • Creative Projects
    • CV
  • Contact
  • Blog
SARAH R FILLEY
  • Sarah R Filley
  • Services
  • About me
    • Prosperity Forest
    • Anthropocene Mixtape
    • Popuphood
    • Creative Projects
    • CV
  • Contact
  • Blog
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My work experience reveals a series of answers with over a decade of innovative and creative gestures; rethinking retail as a place of refuge, pop-up markets as spatial justice, public art as foresight strategy, civic engagement as cultural resilience, vacant spaces as business incubators, and backyards transformed into habitat labs for climate action. 

What is the function of cities? 

CV

Experience


Regenerative Futurist, Founder 2021 - present
Prosperity Forest, Pilot 2021 - present
Popuphood, CEO & Cofounder 2011-2020
The Justice Collective, EDI Senior Consultant 2019-2021
OppSites, CMO Marketing and Business Strategy 2014-2016
Academic Affiliations

California College of Arts, Build Lab, Architecture Department, Urban HIVE. Client: Project Lead, Lennar Urban. Curriculum Development. Faculty: Sandra Vivanco, Fall 2015
California College of Arts, ENGAGE, Creative Disruptions. Client: KONO (Koreatown Northgate CBD) Project Lead / Community Partner, Curriculum Development w/ Faculty: Liz Ogbu, Spring 2013
Honors and Awards

 Award of Merit, Northern California chapter of the American Planning Association, Downtown Oakland Specific Plan, 2025
Spontaneous Interventions, 
U.S. Pavilion, the 13th international Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale Di Venezia
, Biennale Jury Special Mention for National Participation, Aug 29-Nov 25, 2012
Artplace, Art Place Finalist, Pop-up Resource Village Bay-view Hunters Point, with Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, San Francisco, CA 2016
S
pirit of the District Award, Downtown Community Benefits District 201
Partners in Preservation Awards, Leadership and Advocacy, Oakland Heritage
​Alliance 2012

Best New Retail Idea of the Year, The Best of 2012, Oakland Magazine 2012
Best of the East Bay, East Bay Express, Most Groundbreaking Retail Initiative 2012
​
Winner: Drop2Drink, Random Hacks of Kindness (RHOK), Project Lead, San Francisco, CA 2012
Symposia Organized

City of Hayward and Working Solutions, Popuphood Popup to Permanent Program Launch City of Hayward Small Business Week. Panelists included SBA, ACSBDC, Working solutions, Kiva, Nav, and Square. Hayward, CA 2017
San Francisco Planning and Urban Renewal Association (SPUR), Activating San Francisco’s Southeast Waterfront, San Francisco, CA, December 2015
Moderator, “Place keeping: values, policy, and place on the plaza,” Civic Brown Bag Panel, Panelists: James Rojas, Jamie Parks, Kiran Jain, Popuphood HQ, Oakland, CA, 2013
Residencies / Think Tanks

Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Residency, Arts Education 2016-17
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), Urban Futures 2015
Future of Soul 2013-4
Melbourne Fashion Week (MSFW): Retail Think Tank,  City of Melbourne, AU 2012
Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, Summer of Smart 2011
University of California Botanical Gardens at Berkeley, Berkeley 2010
Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA 2008
Trainings and Workshops

Backyard Solution Series, Climate presentations & workshops, 2023-24
Producer, Launch that amazing product: Working with Whole Foods Market, Oakland, CA February 2019
Session Moderator and Acting Topic Chair, Popup 101- Retail With A Mission! Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI), Los Angeles, CA August 2017
Co-facilitation, 2016 MITx: U.Lab: Leading From the Emerging Future, Impact Hub Oakland, Oakland, CA.


Panelist

Cityminded, Workshop Bus Tour, Oakland Incubators, Makers, Revitalization and Entrepreneurial Strategies, Meeting of the Minds, Richmond, CA 2015
American Planning Association (APA), Birth of the cool...Land use Planning! Rooted in Authenticity, Oakland, CA 2015
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), Alternatives to Commercial Revitalization, UC Hastings College of Law,
San Francisco, CA 2013

International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), Session Moderator and Acting Topic Chair, Pop-up retail and restaurants, Northern California Alliance Program, San Ramon, CA  2013
Urban Land Institute (ULI), Broadway Corridor Retail Study, Daniel Rose Center for Public Leadership in Land Use, Oakland, CA 2012
Oakland Economic Development Forum, San Francisco Planning and Urban Renewal Association (SPUR), Oakland, CA 2012

San Francisco Planning Department,Visual Mapping Challenge, Groupaya, San Francisco, CA 2012
UC California Botanical Garden at Berkeley, Creative Lead, Children’s carnivorous terrariums workshop and Succulent terrariums workshop, Berkeley, CA 2010
Invited Participation on Juries

NEA Our Town Grant Judge 2014
Architizer + Juror 2014
Building our Civic Web, Code for Oakland, Judge,  Kaiser Center, Oakland, CA 2012
Invited Industry Webinars​

Collective Action for a Vibrant Local Economy, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 2014
Pop-Up retail and Community Revitalization, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) (BALLE), The Center for the New American Dream 2013
From Vacant spaces to Vibrant Places, International Economic Development Council (IEDC) 2013
Inclusion in Global Reports

Global Innovation Report, Innovative Retail and Derelict Revival, PSFK 2012
Global Innovation Report, Pop-Up Shops Revitalize Historic but Derelict Downtown Oakland, PSFK 2013
America’s Top Twelve Art Places, ArtPlace 2013
Stylus, London 2013
Professional Affiliations

Cinereach, Climate Workshop, 2024
Good Energy Stories, non-profit consultancy 2022 
Climate Reality Project Leader, Michigan 2021-present
Institute For The Future, certification in Futures Thinking

Renegade Neighborhood Economist, International Cohort, 2022
Business Advisory Committee, CA Assemblyman Rob Bonta, 2014-16
Education

Pollinator Stewardship Certification, Pollinator  Partnership  (pending) 2024
Institute for the Future (IFTF), Certification: ​Futures Thinking 2021
Climate Reality Leadership Training, April, 2021

University of Arizona, Certification: Biosphere 2 Science for the Future of Our Planet, 2020
Pachamama Alliance,
Certification: Regenerative Design, 2020
California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA. Sculpture, 1991-95
Kuvataideakatemia, 3 mo. Sculpture Study, Helsinki, Finland 1990-91
Guest Artist, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia 1990-91
Lawrence University, Appleton, WI 1989-90
Articles

2022 What is a regenerative Doughnut? Hint: It bridges local actions to meet global climate goals. Read here
2022 The Soil Keepers, A Community Making A Difference. Read here
2019 Under Trash Mountain, The Konmari Method Checklist Read here
Invited Lectures and Symposia

Keynotes
Empty Storefronts Conference, Popuphood: The Transformational Power of Creative Retail Ecosystems, presented by NAIOP (WI) and NEWaukee, Milwaukee, WI, 2018
Creative Entrepreneurship: Made In Santa Maria, Making Cities through Creative Entrepreneurship, Allen Hancock College, 2018 
European Creative Hubs Forum: SYN, The Creative Transformation of Cities, Athens, Greece 2017 
ULI’s 2016 Fall Meeting, ULI’s Changing World Speaker Series: Shaping Cities and Communities, in Dallas, Texas
Imagine Austin Speaker Series, Improv to Improve, City Forum: Mike Lydon and Sarah Filley, Texas Architecture, The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture, 2016
American Institute of Architects (AIA), Progression/people/place/perspective, (re)imagining our future, Design Week, Academy for Emerging Professionals, San Francisco, CA, September 2012
Melbourne Spring Fashion Week (MSFW), Provenance and the Power of a local Brand Strategy, Business Seminar, The City of Melbourne, Australia September 2012
​

Panelist

Moderator, Economic Development Forum, Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Oakland, CA, June 2012
Santa Monica Cultural Affairs, Beach=Culture: Writ Large Press Panel: "Money" , Annenberg Community Beach House, 90x90 Writ Large Press, Santa Monica, CA 2017
John McNeil Studio and Envelope A+D, Against the Grain: Creative disruption in unlikely places, San Francisco Design Week, Berkeley, CA, 2016
American Planning Association (APA), Popping Up in a Neighborhood Near You: Pop-Up and Temporary Retail, Rooted in Authenticity, Oakland, CA 2015
SPUR, Embracing Pop-Up Retail, SPUR San Jose, CA 2014
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Collective Action for a Vibrant Local Economy, San Francisco, CA 2014
Impact Hub Oakland, Placemaking, Pecha Kucha, Oakland, CA 2014
International Downtown Association, Creative Corridors: Growing Creative Midwest Urban District Forum, Clusters, Grand Rapids, MI 2014
East Bay Women and Business Roundtable luncheon Speaker Series, Innovative Oakland Women: Five Small Business Powerhouses, “Rising to the Top,” Oakland, CA 2014
Next City, Reinventing the Urban Street, Crafting Corridors Salon, Philadelphia, PA 2013
Center for Community Progress, Reclaiming Vacant Land Properties, Moderator: Ariella Cohen, Editor, Next City, New Orleans, LA 2012
Venice Biennale of Architecture,
 Getting it Done, Spontaneous Interventions, Design Actions for the Common Ground, US Pavilion. Moderator: Ann Guiney, Director Institute for Urban Design Venice, Italy 2012
Intersection for the Arts, Open Process: Highlights from Summer of Smart: Mapping, New Media and Civic Engagement, San Francisco, CA 2011
Worth Ryder Galleries, Knowledge Hacking Panel, Wonderarium, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 2010 
Subtle Technologies Festival, Cerebral Score, Toronto, CA 2004
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Art Exhibitions
Performances / Public Engagement 

Anthropocene Mixtape, ArtPrize, Grand Rapids, MI 2024
Wonderarium, 
Outlandish, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA 2011
Knot series, photography, SFArtPad, Krowswork,
San Fransisco, CA 2011             
Survive This!, ShadowShop, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA 2010
Prayer Rope, installation, It’s own Nothingness, Krowswork Gallery, Oakland, CA 2010

Wonderarium, Knowledge Hacking, Worth Ryder Gallery, UC Berkeley, CA 2010
Prayer Rope, EpiscoDisco, Grace Cathedral Gallery,
San Francisco, CA 2009                             

Prayer Rope, installation, Spirit Rappings, Hamburger Eyes Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2009
Prayer Rope, Installation, Fresh Work, Kala Art Institute,
​Oakland, CA 2008

Prayer Rope, installation, Innovation & Imagination,
 Seattle Art Museum Gallery, Seattle, WA 2008
Survive This! The Sky is Falling, Spur Projects-Curator: Michelle Townsend, Woodside, CA 2008    
Camo Series (photos), The Camo Show, Dominican University of California: San Marco Gallery 
Curator: Stephanie Peak 2007
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Rope/Chair, Performance, lead artist in collaboration with Ashara Ekundayo, Body Politics: FIELD OF INQUIRY INSTALLATIONS, San Francisco, CA, 2015
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Wet Wings, Installation, Digital projection in collaboration by All of it Now, Climate: FIELD OF INQUIRY INSTALLATIONS, San Francisco, CA 2014
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Gestures of Empathy,  Installation, Future of Soul: FIELD OF INQUIRY INSTALLATIONS, San Francisco, CA 2013
Exploratorium, Wonderarium, Surreal AfterDark,  San Francisco, CA 2011
Uptown/Lake Merritt Community Benefits District, Mobile Plant Ambassador,  Oakland First Friday, Oakland, CA 2011
​Exploratorium, Wonderarium, Nomadic Communities AfterDark, San Francisco, CA 2010
SJ01 Zero1 Festival, Wonderarium, Green Prix,  San Jose, CA 2010
Worth Ryder Gallery, Art Practice Dept.,University of California at Berkeley, Wonderarium, Knowledge Hacking, Berkeley, CA 2010
East Bay mini-Maker Faire, Wonderarium, Oakland, CA 2010
San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers, Wonderarium, SLURP! San Francisco, CA 2010
California Academy of Sciences, Wonderarium, ParkLife NightLife, San Francisco, CA 2010

    Resources and insights for dreaming into a regenerative future.
    ​

Yes! I want a regenerative future.