Mission and Vision


We envision a world in which all people, regardless of their identities, can access their rights, get services they need, and have a say in shaping the civic decisions, policies, and institutions that are important to them.

To get there...

CUP uses the power of art and design to increase meaningful civic engagement, in partnership with marginalized communities.

We do this by collaborating with community organizations, schools, visual designers, and teaching artists, to make information about the public policies, processes, and systems, accessible.

In everything we create...

We believe that accessible information about public policies and systems is critical for protecting human rights, supporting individual and collective agency, and transforming systems of oppression.

We believe that increasing understanding about how policies and systems work is one of the first steps to creating more just and equitable cities.

We believe that our work should be defined, informed, and made in partnership with the people directly impacted by the policies, processes, and systems that make up our city.

We believe in the power of art and design to create work that reflects the value, power, and vision of directly impacted people and communities.

Values

Our projects and partners reflect the diversity of people and issues impacted by public policies and institutions, but our work is consistently guided by these core values:

We believe in civic engagement as a creative action, and as an act of agency, power, and self-determination.

We use design and art as acts of inventing with purpose and intention, and as a way to create the world we want to live in.

We center communities who experience oppression and their expertise, solutions, and lived experiences. We support organizing and grassroots power-building.

We believe in transparency and accessibility and strive to make work that increases access to information, decisions, and power.

We strive to be accountable to each other and to our partners and communities; to be and create work that is trustworthy.

We believe in the power of collaboration to create meaningful experiences; strengthen ideas; bring different perspectives, skills, and experiences together; and create work that is more than the sum of its parts.

We bring joy and humor to our work, both in our relationships and in the work we create. We believe a sense of playfulness, humor, and warmth are purposeful and support learning.