About

Community Arts International

A group of museum curators and artists founded Community Arts International (CAI) in San Francisco in 1976, an exciting time for the arts in America. Museums were seeking new ways to reach non-traditional audiences, while artists wanted to show their work in non-traditional spaces. CAI saw an opportunity to make museum-quality art accessible and meaningful to a broad public audience that rarely visited museums and galleries.

For over four decades, CAI has been dedicated to making fine art accessible to a diverse public audience as part of their daily lives. CAI brings art into the public arena by:

  • Creating museum-type experiences in airports, city streets, public buildings, and other gathering places
  • Commissioning and installing sculpture and large-scale artwork in public spaces
  • Bringing temporary art installations to public places, parks, billboards, housing projects and cityscapes
  • Integrating art with architecture in major public buildings including airports, hotels, shopping centers and parks

CAI has a proven commitment to art, working with clients and artists to bring a project to successful fruition on time and within budget. We have successfully completed dozens of small and large-scale projects around the world.

Some of our clients include HOK Architects, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, County of San Bernardino, University of Michigan, Pearson International Airport, Toronto; Safdie Architects, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore; State Towers, Seoul, Korea; San Francisco International Airport; San Diego International Airport; Miami International Airport; Hawaii State Council for Arts and Culture; Marriott Hotels; Australia Crafts Council; Government of Guam; Hankyu Department Stores, Japan; and New Almaty Financial District, Kazakhstan.

We have worked with internationally recognized artists such as Leo Villareal, Jonathan Borofsky, James Carpenter, Katarina Grosse, Ned Kahn, Jun Kaneko, Sol LeWitt, Jaume Plensa, Jennifer Steinkamp and Richard Serra to commission, manage and support site-specific installations.

The organization maintains international contacts from past projects and keeps current in the worldwide art community by visiting international art fairs, attending major auctions, and searching community venues for emerging artists and fresh ideas. CAI is in regular communication with a diverse network of artists and galleries, online and through personal visits.

CAI staff is trained in traditional museum work and has augmented this professional experience with the unique expertise and knowledge required by art in public places.

Explore our website to sample some of our projects.
If we can assist with your next project, please contact us.

Staff and Consultants

Elsa Cameron

President and Chief Curator

Elsa has more than 25 years’ experience in museum curatorial work and arts administration. She has been an art advisor for major projects around the world. Elsa has worked with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena; the Heard Museum, Phoenix; the San Francisco Airport Museum; San Diego International Airport; Embarcadero Center, San Francisco; Hawaii State Council for Arts and Culture; Urban Arts, Hong Kong; Greater Toronto Airports Authority; the New Almaty Financial District, Kazakhstan; Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort, Singapore; Paribas Bank/ KREDIT Fund, Seoul Korea; Stanford Health Care; and Centre Block, Canada.

Michael Lerner

Vice President

Michael has a strong background in technology, storytelling and interactive media, He worked as an associate curator in the Education Department of the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. He then spent many years developing traveling exhibitions and advising corporate clients such as Bank of America and Transamerica. He managed a major exhibition of art and artifacts from Shaanxi, China on the island of Guam and subsequently advised on the establishment of the Guam Museum. He was part of the team advising Stanford Health Care on architecturally-integrate art for the new hospital and assembling a collection of over 300 portable artworks. 

He holds a BA and MA in Art History, was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in Museum Education and is an active member of the Director’s Guild of America and ICOM.

Yolanda Sánchez

Ph.D., MFA

Yolanda is an art professional, scholar and visual artist. She served as Director of Miami International Airport’s Fine Arts & Cultural Affairs for 21 years. She was the liaison to the Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places Program (Percent for Art), assisting in the administration of a $4.8 billion airport expansion project, selecting artists and works of art, and managing art installations.

Yolanda is a accomplished painter holding an MFA in painting from Yale University and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Florida State University. She also holds a Fulbright scholarship.

Tay Swee Lin

Swee Lin is a Singapore-based independent art consultant. From 1995 until 2001 she was a curator at the Singapore Art Museum. She headed and directed Sculpture Square Ltd from 2001 – 2008. She was the curator for public art at the National Museum of Singapore (2004) and the public art program at Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3 (2006). In 2009, Tay was appointed the art consultant for Mapletree Business City’s public art program; in January 2014, the art consultant for community engagement program at Jurong Eco-Garden.

Swee Lin serves on the Art Acquisition Committee and Public Art Appraisal Committee at the Singapore Art Museum, Public Art Tax Incentive Scheme (PATIS). She was member of the curatorial selection committee and artist mentor of the President’s Young Talents Exhibition 2012, Singapore Art Museum. She was a Curator for the 2013 Singapore Biennale.

James McDonald

Researcher

Jim is a skilled researcher of art-related information. He was a curator and registrar for San Francisco Airport Museum; PGE Projects, Greater Toronto Airports Authority, City of Toronto.

Mark Jensen

Mark is a master craftsperson and museum designer experienced in art installation, care and handling of works of art, design and fabrication of 3D exhibits and installations. He worked at the Madison Art Center, Madison, Wisconsin; the Exploratorium, San Francisco; and the Oakland Museum of California.

Isaac Rosenthal

Isaac is a photographer based in New York. He has extensive experience in art cataloguing, specializing in works on paper. He remains active in and knowledgeable of emerging East Coast artists.

Rodrigo Fritz

Rodrigo holds a Master of Art degree from the University of Toronto. He has extensive experience in collection management, organizational phases of museum work, art education and art management. He worked with public art projects at The Greater Toronto Airports Authority; Marina Bay Sands, Singapore and in traditional museum work, including public relations and community outreach programs at the Royal Toronto Museum, Toronto.

Sophian Hoe

Sophian is based in Asia. He is an experienced registrar, exhibition designer and art manager. He received a diploma in Arts Management from La Salle College, Singapore; holds a BA in Arts from the University of New England, Australia and a Masters in Music from the University of Sydney.

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