.svg)
Presented by The Holland Foundation, The Sensory Yard invites visitors into an immersive world where curiosity, movement, rest, and imagination unfold at their own pace. Blending sensory architecture, participatory art, and immersive storytelling, this interactive installation encourages exploration without expectation. Every path is self-directed, every experience optional, creating an environment where wonder and nervous system regulation exist side by side.
Journey through a series of thoughtfully designed sensory spaces, each offering a unique invitation to engage. Find grounding in The Commons, move freely in The Motion Room, wander through the responsive beauty of The Light Forest, retreat into the quiet comfort of The Cocoon, dive into imaginative worlds in the Aquarium, and leave your mark in The Workshop Room, where the environment evolves through collective creativity.
Rather than asking visitors to perform or observe, The Sensory Yard offers permission—to pause, play, create, connect, or simply be. Designed with accessibility, emotional safety, and sensory inclusion at its core, the installation celebrates the many ways people experience the world and invites every visitor to discover what they need in the moment.
No tickets needed – this experience is free to the community during open hours.
Sunday, September 13, 2026 through Sunday, September 27, 2026
Roger Ideishi (he/him/Japanese American) is a Professor of Health, Human Function, and Rehabilitation Sciences at The George Washington University. He is co-founder of Philadelphia Chinatown Disability Advocacy Project supporting disabled immigrants navigate culturally and linguistically inaccessible health, education, and social systems. He served on two presidential disability policy campaign committees and advised 130 national and international cultural institutions. He received the 2017 Philadelphia Art-Reach Cultural Access Impact Award, the 2019 Kennedy Center Excellence in Accessibility Leadership Award, and was recognized in 2022 by the Kennedy Center as a Next 50 honoree for significant impacts on society through the arts.
Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew is an award-winning designer for theater, dance, opera, musicals, music performances, and large-scale immersive installations. As a designer, Jeanette aims to create a visual environment that is organically integrated into the production's landscape and its language. Her designs have been seen nationally and internationally in Havana (Cuba), Prague (Czech Republic), Lima (Peru), Edinburgh (Scotland), Tokyo (Japan), Graz (Austria), Shanghai (China), and Bloemfontein (South Africa). The New York Times described her designs as “clever” and “inventive.” Her dance work has also been praised for its “vibrant richness of a Caravaggio painted in neon.” In addition to Rhythm Bath with Susan Marshall, Jeanette has collaborated with Tendayi Kuumba, Annie-B Parson, and Donna Uchizono on The March, Wicked Bodies with Liz Lerman, and Chasing Magic with Ayodele Casel. She was the lighting designer for Company XIV between 2014 and 2019. Immersive experiences include David Byrne’s Theater of the Mind (Goodman & DCPA) and Emursive’s Life and Trust. Jeanette is a 2026 USA Fellow and has received an Obie for sustained achievement in design, the Henry Hewes Lighting Design Award, and recipient for the NEA/TCG Career Development Program. Arts Professor and Head of Lighting Design Training at NYU Tisch Drama.
@jeanette_yew
Headshot credit: Hunter Canning
The Holland Foundation
The OFFICE
.svg)
.svg)
