Debra Simon

An award-winning public arts curator and producer, Debra has more than 30 years of experience in visual and performing arts curation, commissioning and programming for civic organizations and the real estate industry. Most recently, Debra created the strategic plan for a public art program at Amtrak New York Penn Station, the busiest transit hub in the western hemisphere. Currently, she curates and produces Art at Amtrak for several stations.

As the VP at the Downtown Alliance, she created the Music at Castle Clinton concerts, Dine Around Downtown, and co-founded the River to River Festival. As the Director of Times Square Arts, Debra oversaw Midnight Moment, the world’s largest digital art exhibition on electronic billboards, and the annual Valentine Heart design competition, among other projects for the over 300,000 daily visitors to Times Square. As Artistic Director at Brookfield Properties, Debra led a national arts program that planned and executed multi-disciplinary programming, presenting over 500 free events annually in New York, Denver, Los Angeles and Houston.

“Purveyors of Office Space and Lively Arts,” by Alan Kozin for The New York Times. Photo credit: Members of the Sun Ra Arkestra at Bang on a Can Marathon, photo by Chad Batka

PURVEYORS OF OFFICE SPACE AND LIVELY ARTS by Alan Kozin for The New York Times, Members of the Sun Ra Arkestra at Bang on a Can Marathon, Photo by Chad Batka

Photo by David Plakke Media NYC

“There can be no authentic placemaking, without public art.”

Awards & Recognition

  • Our Town Newspaper’s DOTTY Award

  • The U.S. MAXI Awards

  • Municipal Art Society’s Livable City Award

  • Americans for the Arts BCA Best Businesses Partnering with the Arts in America

  • Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Liberty Award

  • Bang on a Can's Visionary Award

  • Arts & Business Partnership Encore Award

Meet the Team

  • Erica Overskei

    ARTS PROFESSIONAL + CURATOR/PRODUCER

    Erica Overskei is an arts professional based in Los Angeles and New York City with over 15 years of experience in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors of the art world. She is an experienced arts program manager and event producer with a proven track record leading complex projects and arts initiatives for diverse audiences and extending that expertise into creative placemaking.

  • Victoria Ayoub

    GRAPHIC DESIGNER

    Victoria Ayoub is a graduate of Montclair State University, having majored in Visual Arts with a concentration in Graphic and Digital Design.

  • Dylan Danuser

    Dylan Danuser is a multi-disciplinary artist with a degree in visual arts from Montclair State University. She has coordinated PR and curation for multiple student-led art exhibitions as well as freelance art and graphic design commissions

  • Lucy Lynch

    DESIGN PRODUCTION MANAGER

    Lucy Lynch is an Architectural Studies graduate with a minor in Art History from Hobart and William Smith Colleges