CUP’s core staff supports the organization from day to day, but CUP projects are designed and implemented by teams of artists, designers, educators, activists, and researchers.
Christine is the Executive Director of CUP. She has over fifteen years of experience in community design. Prior to joining CUP, she was Assistant Director of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio in Biloxi, Mississippi, where she provided architectural design and city planning services to low-income communities recovering from Hurricane Katrina. In 2012, she was identified as one of the “Public Interest Design 100.” She holds Masters in Architecture and in City Planning from MIT, and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University.
She’s been a CUP fan since 2001, and a staff member since 2009.
closeValeria is a visual storyteller who creates tools for participation in collaboration with social justice organizations. She also consults with cultural institutions, education non-profits, and others on community engagement and youth education. Valeria was formerly the Deputy Director of CUP, where over the course of eight years she created popular education tools with community-based organizations and developed curricula to help public high school students change the way the see their own neighborhoods. She has shared her thoughts on project-based learning, collaboration, and design for social impact at places like the New Museum, the Cooper-Hewitt, Pratt Institute, and institutions from Indianapolis to Rotterdam. Valeria holds a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University in Modern Culture and Media.
closeOscar is a Community Education Program Manager at CUP. He is a graduate of the City and Regional Planning Master’s Program at Pratt Institute with a concentration on Community Development. While completing his studies at Pratt, Oscar worked and interned in various local community organizations and groups, including CUP, on issues dealing with planning, design, and community education and engagement. Previously, he received a B.A. in Sociology and Latin American Studies from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Originally from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, he moved to Washington, D.C. at a young age. He is fluent in English, Spanish, and French and can give pretty good directions in Portuguese.
closeJenn was CUP’s Youth Education Program Manager. With a strong belief that all youths deserve equitable access to the arts, Jenn has developed inclusive programs, published curriculum guides, and trained educators in how to use the arts as a tool for understanding, development, and social change with over 100 New York City public schools and community based organizations. Jenn continues her pursuit of art as a tool for empowerment as a practicing artist, designer, educator, and administrator implementing high-quality, interdisciplinary art programs. You can follow her creative pursuits at artjawdesigns.com.
closeDillon de Give is an artist and educator who acts in a spirit of humane experimentalism. His projects set a stage for subtle alterations to everyday social performances and expose novel and equitable methods for distributing an experience of art. Dillon holds a BS in Radio/Television/Film from Northwestern University and an MFA in Art and Social Practice from Portland State University. He is a co-founder of the Walk Exchange, a cooperative walking group. He organizes the annual Coyote Walk Itinerancy, a retreat that traces a path between New York City and the wild. Dillon worked with CUP to produce the videos “Common Cents,” “Now Boarding,” and “Who Rules?”
closeClara was the Program Manager for CUP’s Public Access Design program from 2012 to 2014. Before coming to CUP, she worked in Structured Credit for Barclays Capital. Clara has a Bachelor of the Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.
closeDAMAYAN is a 10-year old grassroots, membership-based organization of low-income Filipino im/migrant workers, primarily women domestic workers. DAMAYAN organizes Filipino workers to defend their rights and to understand and challenge the root causes of forced migration and poverty. Through its programs and campaigns, DAMAYAN has effectively addressed exploitation, health problems and gender violence against Filipino women domestic workers. It uses solid organizing to combine political analysis and education with services, basebuilding, leadership development, and advocacy. It is a democratic organization with a wide base of over 800 members and an elected Board of Directors of all women domestic workers. DAMAYAN worked with CUP on Work Forced, a video about the labor trafficking of Filipino domestic workers.
closeChristine is the Executive Director of CUP. She has over fifteen years of experience in community design. Prior to joining CUP, she was Assistant Director of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio in Biloxi, Mississippi, where she provided architectural design and city planning services to low-income communities recovering from Hurricane Katrina. In 2012, she was identified as one of the “Public Interest Design 100.” She holds Masters in Architecture and in City Planning from MIT, and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University.
She’s been a CUP fan since 2001, and a staff member since 2009.
closeRaj Kottamasu is an artist, designer and urban planner. His work includes animation, print & web design, illustration, design research and cultural programming for organizations including The Architectural League of New York, Public Policy Lab, The Participatory Budgeting Project, and the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation. Raj also currently teaches Information Graphics in the Programs for Sustainable Planning & Development at Pratt Institute. He served as a Public Access Design Fellow in 2012, producing the animated video ‘Work Forced’ in collaboration with CUP and Damayan Migrant Workers Association. He holds a Master’s degree in City Planning, with a certificate in Urban Design, from MIT. rajworks.com
closeAll Other Services is a multidisciplinary design team working to enrich arts and advocacy projects. Through design, we collaborate to understand social conditions and develop communications that promote collective empowerment. Founded by Joel Stillman and Kevin Wade Shaw, All Other Services produces work which ranges from identity, strategy, and awareness to interaction, service and product design. Selected experience includes IDEO, MoMA, The New York Times, Pentagram, Ralph Appelbaum and Associates, and Project Projects.
closeChristine is the Executive Director of CUP. She has over fifteen years of experience in community design. Prior to joining CUP, she was Assistant Director of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio in Biloxi, Mississippi, where she provided architectural design and city planning services to low-income communities recovering from Hurricane Katrina. In 2012, she was identified as one of the “Public Interest Design 100.” She holds Masters in Architecture and in City Planning from MIT, and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University.
She’s been a CUP fan since 2001, and a staff member since 2009.
closeIngrid was the Community Education Program Director for CUP. Before CUP, she was Curator of Exhibitions at the Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF), Chicago’s leading forum for the exchange of ideas on urban design. While at CAF, Ingrid developed major exhibitions that helped public audiences think critically about complex issues related to urban planning and architecture. Ingrid received her B.A. in English and Comparative History of Ideas from the University of Washington, and her M.A. in Humanities from the University of Chicago.
closeThe Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project (SNP) is New York City’s advocate for economic justice, combining direct legal services, litigation, research, and policymaking to achieve economic justice for all New Yorkers. We strengthen the safety net by ensuring access to public benefits, nutritional assistance programs, eviction prevention services, public housing, and emergency shelter to ensure that no New Yorker is without food, housing, or other basic human rights.
closeOscar is a Community Education Program Manager at CUP. He is a graduate of the City and Regional Planning Master’s Program at Pratt Institute with a concentration on Community Development. While completing his studies at Pratt, Oscar worked and interned in various local community organizations and groups, including CUP, on issues dealing with planning, design, and community education and engagement. Previously, he received a B.A. in Sociology and Latin American Studies from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Originally from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, he moved to Washington, D.C. at a young age. He is fluent in English, Spanish, and French and can give pretty good directions in Portuguese.
closeMark Torrey is a Community Education Program Manager for CUP, working on Making Policy Public and the Envisioning Development Toolkits. Previously he spent a good long while working as an Information Technology Specialist (computer guy) at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, but then decided to firm up his understanding of cities by getting a Masters in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University. He wears his pants in the Highwater fashion, which most of the CUP staff find to be ridiculous, but it keeps his pants from getting caught in the bike chain.
He has been a CUP staff member since 2011.
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