Tonya R. Miller Hall is a cultural architect and civic strategist reshaping how cities activate space, build identity, and drive economic growth through arts and culture. As Baltimore’s first cabinet-level Senior Advisor for Arts & Culture in more than three decades, she led an unprecedented cultural shift—modernizing policy, building creative infrastructure, and positioning the arts as a core engine of Baltimore’s urban revitalization.

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Before returning home, Tonya spent 20 years in New York shaping cultural engagement at the highest level. She crafted campaigns for icons like Madonna, Steven Tyler, and Wendy Williams; drove creative strategy for Time Inc., Viacom, GMHC, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund; and, as Senior Director of Business Development at William Morris Endeavor (WME), secured multimillion-dollar partnerships with brands including Bank of America, Samsung, Pandora, and SK-II. Her specialty: turning creativity into influence, visibility, and scalable economic opportunity.

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In Baltimore, Tonya became the force behind a new era of arts-driven transformation. She reimagined Artscape, aligning it with the Scott Administration’s Downtown Rise initiative and generating an $8.8M economic impact in its return year. She launched Scout, a contemporary art fair produced with Derrick Adams and Teri Henderson that put Baltimore artists on the national map. Her major placemaking work includes Urban Oasis, a corridor-wide cultural intervention featuring 45 murals and lighting installations beneath the JFX, and Inviting Light, a five-installation public art series supported by a $1M Bloomberg Public Art Challenge grant.

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Tonya is also the visionary behind Artscape Park, transforming a vacant lot in Station North into a vibrant community pocket park and cultural activation space—proof of her ability to turn overlooked assets into destination-worthy places. A strategist at heart, Tonya has reshaped the policies and pipelines that sustain creative cities. She led reforms to Baltimore’s 1% for Public Art legislation, expanding investment in murals, green space, and cultural activations. She formed the city’s Graffiti Task Force to reduce unwanted tagging while redirecting creative energy into positive public art. She also drafted a pioneering pipeline policy to train young adults and returning citizens in public art trades—from mural-making to graffiti writing—building new pathways into the creative workforce.

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Tonya blends the imagination of a producer, the precision of a strategist, and the instincts of a city builder. Whether she is securing national funding, delivering large-scale public art, reshaping a cultural ecosystem, or rebranding a city’s creative identity, she doesn’t just generate bold ideas—she activates them with measurable impact and cultural resonance.

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A champion of placemaking, artist housing, and equitable development, Tonya believes culture isn’t a luxury in city-building—it’s the foundation. She lives in Baltimore with her husband, Mark, and their two cats, Brooklyn and Rye.