Ryan has collaborated with artists, scholars, institutions, and communities on socially engaged public art projects and programs since 2010. These co-created initiatives harness the power of creativity, storytelling, research, and engagement to nurture connections between people, history, and our environment. His interdisciplinary projects have been featured in museums and books, as well as in historic sites, neighborhoods, gardens, transit stations, rivers, cemeteries, and storefronts.

Ryan is the Executive Director of Civic Engagement at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, where he stewards initiatives that foster environmental resilience through community science projects, volunteer opportunities, exhibitions, and public programs. In addition, he regularly consults for several organizations, including the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program (Curatorial Consultant), Monument Lab (Project Management Consultant), and James Turrell's Skyspace at Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting (Lead Host). Ryan also serves on several boards and committees, including the Board of Directors at Historic Rittenhouse Town, the Community Engagement & Partnerships Committee for the Rail Park, and the Program Committee of the Parkway Council, where he supports placekeeping and community-driven public space initiatives.

His work has received grants and awards from notable foundations, including Art for Justice, the Arts and Business Council of Philadelphia, the City of Philadelphia, the Neubauer Family Foundation, the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and the William Penn Foundation. Ryan has lectured and led workshops at well-known institutions, including the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the American Society of Media Photographers, the Barnes Foundation, Fleisher Art Memorial, the Halide Project, the Mural Arts Program, the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, the Philadelphia Horticultural Society, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, as well as at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of the Arts, and the Art Institute of Philadelphia.

Notable projects include The WaterShed (2024), nkwiluntàmën: I long for it; I am lonesome for it (2023), Philadelphia District Attorney's Office Artist in Residence (2022), Kensington Healing Verse (2021), Boat People (2020), Ghost Ship (2019),

Earlier in his career, Ryan worked as a photographer for newspapers and advertising agencies, focusing on visual storytelling. To view more of that work, please click HERE