The Public Access Design Fellowship is a yearlong professional development program for New York City-based emerging artists and designers. The Fellowship invites New York City-based emerging designers and artists to learn about community-engaged design alongside a cohort. Over the course of the year, Fellows attend six to seven meetings beginning January 2022. During these meetings, Fellows come together to learn about community-engaged design, anti-oppression practices, and community organizing.

In addition to the Fellowship meetings, three to four Fellows will have the opportunity to collaborate on a Public Access Design project. Public Access Design is a 4–6 month long collaboration of CUP staff, a designer (or design team), and an organization advocating for community change, resulting in the creation of a booklet that breaks down a complex policy issue.

Designers and artists respond to CUP’s open call for the Public Access Design Fellowship.

A jury of designers and public policy experts use specified criteria to select 8–10 designers to be Public Access Design fellows. They also selected one to two fellows who will collaborate on the Public Access Design projects that will begin in January 2022.

We want to uplift designers who identify with communities that have been historically marginalized in the design professions. We encourage designers who identify with those groups to apply, including but not limited to people of color, people from low-income, LGBTQ+, immigrant communities, formerly incarcerated people, and others.

Note: CUP is actively monitoring and planning for how we can best keep designers and community partners safe during COVID. We will be in touch with fellows about whether or not meetings will take place in-person or remotely.

Reasons to Apply

• The Fellowship is an opportunity to learn from and build relationships with other emerging designers interested in contributing their design skills to community-engaged work.
• During the Fellowship you will learn about CUP’s community-engaged design practices and how you can apply it to your own design practice. 
• Fellows have the opportunity to meet previous CUP collaborators such as prominent designers, leaders in the advocacy world, and CUP alumni. 
• Through the Fellowship meetings Fellows gain a stronger understanding of how to collaborate with community organizations.
• With each meeting, Fellows can reflect on their design practice and the design community through an anti-racist, equity-driven lens.

Reflections from Previous Fellows

• “It re-cemented the things that we want to do [with our design practice]. We are going to approach next year with new goals, new motivation, and new people.”
• “I’ve always wanted to work with community organizations and have that be a big part of my work. Meeting with the alumni showed me how realistic, how big a part of social design can take up in my practice.”
• “This fellowship helped me refocus my goals and my destination as a creative.”
• “I appreciated being pushed to talk about privilege and different perspectives in life.”

We seek skilled, emerging designers with an interest in both social justice and a collaborative, community-engaged design process. Fellows should be able to create original and inventive visual solutions.

The jury will evaluate applicants based on the following criteria:

• Does the designer show an ability to organize complex information?
• Is the designer interested in a deeply collaborative process?
• Does the designer seem capable of creative unique, relevant work that can meet the needs of community partners?
• Can the designer incorporate illustration, photography, information design, or other non-typographic solutions into their work?

To learn more about each of these criteria, click here!

Note: Applicants do not have to have prior experience in social justice work or community-engaged design to be considered a strong candidate for the Fellowship. 

All Public Access Design Fellows receive:

• A $200 honorarium
• Press and promotion from CUP
• Attend Fellowship meetings

Fellows who work on Public Access Design projects also receive:

• An additional $4,000 stipend
• Full attribution and rights to reproduction for their work
• Project publicity through CUP, including press releases, exhibit entries, and design award submissions

CUP manages the collaborative process, provides production costs, and helps staff each project with additional design support, research, and writing as needed. CUP is committed to innovative design, and will be an advocate for creative approaches to each project.

• August 5, 2021 — Call for Public Access Design Fellows opens!
• August 25, 2021 — Optional webinar for designers applicants. CUP will host an optional webinar on August 25th from 4:30-6PM for designers or design teams interested in applying to Making Policy Public or Public Access Design. If you’re interested in participating, register here.
• September 13, 2021 at 12:00pm EST — Call for Public Access Design Fellows closes
• Late October 2021 — Jury meets to review applications and select finalists
• Early November 2021 — CUP interviews finalists
• Early December 2021 — CUP notifies selected applicants
• January 2022 — Public Access Design Fellows are announced!

This years’s jury is:

• Quadira Coles— Previous CUP Advocate and Policy Manager at Girls for Gender Equity
• Zelene Suchilt — Community Organizer at Cabrini Immigrant Services
• Chloe Chang — Previous Design Fellow and Senior Communication Designer at Open Box
• Gabrielle Widjaja — Designer and Founder of Gentle Oriental Studio

Should I apply to Making Policy Public or to Public Access Design? 

We encourage you to submit your work for consideration to both programs but you can only be selected for one program.

Making Policy Public projects are intensive collaborations with CUP and a community organization for 8–10 months that result in a fold-out poster that breaks down and demystifies a complex social justice issue. Designers receive an honorarium of $7,000 for their participation.

Public Access Design Fellowship is a yearlong professional develpment opportunity with the potential to collaborate on a 4-6 month project with CUP and a community organization. If chosen to collaborate on a project, designers receive an honorarium of $4,000.

Can I apply as part of a design team? 

Yes, applications from teams are welcome for Public Access Design and highly encouraged for Making Policy Public!

What work should I include with my application? 

Please include what you consider your strongest work and be sure to include some examples of print work. If you’re an individual submitting work that you did as part of a group, please indicate, in the caption, your specific role and contribution to the project.

Note: Renderings of urban spaces and architecture, while appreciated as a method of image-making, are outside of the work we consider when reviewing portfolios for Public Access Design Fellows.

Other Questions? 

If you have any questions about the Fellowship or the application process, email Pilar Finuccio, Community Education Program Manager at pilar@welcometocup.org