Students from $ Breakdown

CUP and CUP teaching artist Douglas Paulson worked with students from College Now at Brooklyn College on an Urban Investigation about neighborhood financial services. Those students were: Roodlyne Vilsaint, Kimberly Saintelus, Maniza Pritila, Alyssa Lau, Cynthia Dunston, Tommi Ann Davis, Shannae Braham, Alexa Betancourt.

Christine Gaspar

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.

Sam Holleran

Is an artist, designer, and writer. Sam was CUP’s Communications Coordinator from 2011 to 2014. He attended the the Cooper Union where he was the recipient of the Herb Lubalin Fellowship for Typography and the Benjamin Menschel Fellowship for Creative Inquiry. Sam has worked extensively in printmaking; his fields of interest include: photogravure, letterpress, Ukiyo-e, and silkscreen.

Douglas Paulson

Douglas Paulson is an artist who explores the ways people construct cultural moments and spaces through collaboration.  Douglas has organized and participated in expansive projects, adventures, and shows across the U.S. and Europe, and loves asking the question: “What art are you for?”  

He is the New York wing of the international collective Parfyme, initiator of an informal collaborative group Action Club and a member of Flux Factory, where he runs the residency program.  As a CUP teaching artist, he explored vacant property in Flatbush with middle school students, street-level banking mechanisms, and affordable housing placement with high school students.

Lizania Cruz

Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, Lizania Cruz is a New York-based designer working in fashion, advocacy, and the arts. She brings a decade of design experience to her current work at the branding studio Language Department. Her clients have included established brands, like Anthropologie, startups, and nonprofits, such as the American Cancer Society. Her work has been recognized by AIGA, the Type Directors Club, and Communication Arts. Lizania recently launched her own jewelry line called Bagavundas.

Ingrid Haftel

Ingrid 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.

Mark Torrey

Mark Torrey was 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 was a CUP staff member 2011-2020.

Students from Air it Out

CUP and CUP teaching artist Heidi Neilson worked with students from Lyons Community School in Brooklyn on “Air it Out,” a City Studies about NYC’s air pollution. Those students were Jonathan Bryant, Jordan Byrdsell, Monica Castro, Kamani Harrell, Elijah Harris, Devale Johnson, Marcell Lopez, Matthew Lopez, Jahquon Mackey, David Mahon, Lleymi Martinez, Shearod Meadows, Devante Mitchell, Isaiah Morales, Jayda Nadal, Isabel Negron, Andrew Ruiz, Francisco Santos, Ebanny Santiago, and Destiny Soto.

Pema Domingo-Barker

Pema was CUP’s Program Assistant for youth education programs. She previously worked at the Queens Museum and was a Public Allies New York fellow. Pema grew up in Bangkok and went on to study art at the University of Washington and the University of the Arts London.

Sam Holleran

Is an artist, designer, and writer. Sam was CUP’s Communications Coordinator from 2011 to 2014. He attended the the Cooper Union where he was the recipient of the Herb Lubalin Fellowship for Typography and the Benjamin Menschel Fellowship for Creative Inquiry. Sam has worked extensively in printmaking; his fields of interest include: photogravure, letterpress, Ukiyo-e, and silkscreen.

Heidi Neilson

Heidi Neilson is an artist addressing topics such as weather, fake snow, and the debris in earth’s orbit. Her work, often collaborative and publishing-based, has been supported by the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Center for Book Arts, The Drawing Center, I-Park, the International Print Center New York, the Islip Art Museum, Kala Art Institute, LMCC, the Lower East Side Printshop, Provisions Library, the Queens Museum of Art, Visual Studies Workshop, and Women’s Studio Workshop. She is a member of the ABC Artists’ Books Cooperative, co-founded SP Weather Station, and her work is included in over 60 museum and university collections. As a teaching artist with CUP, she explored air quality with middle school students in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to produce ‘Air It Out.’

Fatima Abdul-Nabi

Fatima was born and raised in NYC and is interested in all things urban. When not working, she likes to explore and relax in different parks around the city. Fatima is completing her bachelors in urban studies at Barnard College and is teaching this fall’s class on disaster planning. 

Students from Are You Ready For A Ruckus?

Students from College Now at New Design High School and the Urban Assembly Academy of Government and Law who worked on an Urban Investigation about disaster preparedness. Those students were: Christy Chavez, Oscar Fermin, Diosa Melenciano, Rosa Melenciano, Christian Ogando, Christopher Santos, Jeffrey Salazar, Tajanay Sajous, Malik Tucker; with help from Magdiel Ciego, Kymani Hanley, and Danielle Hernandez.

John Dalessi

John is a researcher-as-artist who has called Brooklyn his home since 2001. 

He is most interested in creating and experiencing works of art that challenge ideas of social/political formation by way of critical theory. John works in a variety of media, including pen & paper, digital, video, sound, and performance. Some of his influences include: Vito Acconci, Barbara Kruger, the Fluxus movement, Nam June Paik, and Mark Lombardi. 

John has a B.A. in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. His other interests include: postcolonialism, post-9/11 national security, and psychoanalysis.

Sam Holleran

Is an artist, designer, and writer. Sam was CUP’s Communications Coordinator from 2011 to 2014. He attended the the Cooper Union where he was the recipient of the Herb Lubalin Fellowship for Typography and the Benjamin Menschel Fellowship for Creative Inquiry. Sam has worked extensively in printmaking; his fields of interest include: photogravure, letterpress, Ukiyo-e, and silkscreen.

Valeria Mogilevich

Valeria 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.

Pilar Finuccio

Pilar Finuccio is a Community Education Program Manager at CUP.  She is a visual designer and researcher with a commitment to creative practice and social justice. She spends her time advocating for the creation and preservation of communities, exploring methods of collaboration, and working on her listening skills. Before joining CUP, she was a Design Research Fellow at Public Policy Lab, a Communications Designer for The Department of Small Business Services’ Neighborhood Development Division, and the In-house Graphic Designer for O, Miami Poetry Festival. She received her MFA  in Design for Social Innovation from the School of Visual Arts and her BFA in Graphic Design from North Carolina State University’s  College of Design. When she’s not at CUP, she’s selling vegetables for Conuco Farm at the Ft. Greene Farmers Market or fixing something her dog, Roz, chewed.

Immigrant Defense Project

IDP was founded 15 years ago to respond to the devastating 1996 immigration laws that have placed millions of immigrants at risk of detention and deportation for virtually any interaction with the criminal justice system. Since then, the deportation apparatus has expanded greatly. A key tool in the mass deportation system is the collaboration between police and jails with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to identify people for deportation. IDP works to end this collaboration and transform unjust deportation policies. They also educate immigrant communities, criminal defenders, and others on how to protect and expand immigrant rights. IDP is working with CUP on a website about how immigrants that have been arrested can protect themselves from ICE.

Melisa Tekin

Melisa Tekin is a graphic designer based in Queens, New York. She holds a B.A. in Urban Economics and Marketing, and a BFA in Graphic Design. Melisa works with community advocacy organizations, small businesses, and corporate clients to help them build and maintain a compelling visual identity for their brands. Melisa believes that good design is an important marketing tool, and aims to bridge the divide between good design and pressing issues in her community through her work. tekindesigns.com