The Public Access Design Fellowship invites New York City-based artists and designers to apply their design skills to social change. The fellowship is a unique opportunity for artists and designers to learn and apply a community-engaged lens to their design practice.

Each year, a jury of advocates and designers selects a group of artists and designers to be Fellows with the Public Access Design program for a one-year period. Fellows attend an introductory session on CUP’s methods for collaborative and participatory design with CUP staff and designers from previous CUP projects. Fellows also attend several gatherings throughout the year. These include opportunities to meet and network with past CUP collaborators, as well as other notable New York City-based design professionals and community advocates.

Select Fellows will also have the opportunity to collaborate with an advocacy partner and CUP staff on a project to produce innovative print tools that make information about important social justice issues accessible to historically underrepresented communities. 

A jury will meet in early December 2019 to select the 2020 Public Access Design Fellows. 

Jeanne Ortiz-Ortiz
Legal Fellow, Disaster Response at Pro Bono Net

Leila Taylor
Creative Director, Marketing and Communications, Brooklyn Public Library

Malika Conner
Senior Organizer for Anti-Displacement, Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development

Josh Cochran
Illustrator and muralist based in Brooklyn

All Public Access Design Fellows receive:

• A $200 honorarium
• Press and promotion from CUP
• Invitations to small gatherings with current and former CUP collaborators, jury members, and other prominent designers

• An additional $2,000 stipend
• Full attribution and rights to reproduction for their work
• Project publicity through CUP, including press releases, exhibit entries, and design award submissions

CUP is committed to innovative design, and will be an advocate for creative approaches to each project.

Public Access Design projects will take the form of two possible media formats, each designed to work with partner organizations’ needs and to be easily completed within the short project time frame. Advocacy partners are asked in their application to identify one format for their project. Currently, the formats are:

Application Timeline

• September 26: Applications open
• November 5: Applications close
• Early December: Jury meets to select fellows
• December 20: Fellows are notified

The group of Design Fellows will include but not be limited to designers with experience in each of the media formats being offered by the program. Artists and designers working in print are encouraged to apply.

The jury will evaluate applicants based on the following criteria:

• Quality of design work presented, particularly as it relates to the designer’s selected media formats
• Does the designer’s work show an ability to organize complex information?
• Is the designer interested in a deeply collaborative process?
• Does the designer seem capable of producing original, inventive work that will also meet the needs of his or her collaborators?
• Can the designer incorporate illustration, photography, information design, or other non-typographic solutions into their work?
• Is the designer invested enough in the process and goals to produce exceptional work, given the timetable and funding?

Should I apply to Making Policy Public or to Public Access Design?
Both! Designers are invited to apply to both programs. We encourage you to submit your work for consideration to both programs. 

Can I apply as part of a design team?
Yes, applications from teams are encouraged!

What work should I include with my application?
Please include what you consider your strongest work in your application, and be sure to include work in the media formats that you’re applying to work in. If you’re an individual submitting work that you did as part of a group, please indicate your role in the project in the caption.