As a Boise local, Matilda “Tilley” Bubb (she/her) is committed to building the city’s cultural infrastructure to integrate arts, history, and opportunities for artists into all aspects of the city’s public life. As Boise’s Cultural Planner, she does this through the creation of visionary plans, strategic partnerships, and community engagement.

Highlights of her work include collaborating with artists and public agencies to write public art plans for the Boise City Department of Public Works and Boise Airport and researching creative industries, cultural policy, and government innovations; identifying ideas to bring back to Boise.

She began her Boise arts administration career as the city’s Public Arts Manager from 1998-2017. During her tenure, the City Council passed the Percent-for-Public Art ordinance in 2001, a policy she helped craft, marking the beginning of the city’s significant investment in public art.

After nineteen years developing public art projects for the airport, libraries, Boise WaterShed, downtown streets, and local parks, she moved into her current role as Boise’s Cultural Planner in 2017. She was the lead author of a two-year community-based process developing Boise’s Cultural Master Plan.

Bubb served for five years on the Americans for the Arts Public Art Network Board and in 2012 she was honored with the Governor’s Arts Award for Excellence in Arts Administration. She is a Co-Founder of Surel’s Place, an artist-in-residence program, and a Trustee of the Mitchell Family Foundation. Bubb earned her Ph.D. in public administration and policy with a focus on the creative economy from Boise State University (BSU) in 2024, her Master's in public administration and a Graduate Certificate in community and regional planning from BSU in 2008, and a BFA in visual art from the University of Oregon in 1990. Bubb is an active visual artist who works primarily in encaustic painting. She teaches Design Thinking in Boise State University’s Executive MBA Program.

CONTACT MATILDA (TILLEY)
mbubb@cityofboise.org, 208-608-7047