Design Sprints Summit: Building Creative Capacity

Design Sprints Summit: Building Creative Capacity
Thursday, May 22, 6–8:30 pm
Van Alen Institute
303 Bond Street, Brooklyn

Celebrate our Design Sprints: Building Creative Capacity teams, who have worked over the past eight weeks to understand and address storefront vacancy in creative ways. Representing a diversity of disciplines, design advisors have graciously contributed their time, expertise, and resources to increase the creative capacity for local groups to implement vacant storefront activations and community programming.

A partnership between NYC Department of Small Business Services and Van Alen Institute, Design Sprints: Building Creative Capacity projects shine a light on how interdisciplinary teams can reinforce arts and culture’s transformative role in maintaining thriving commercial corridors. At the summit, each team will present the impactful outcomes of these design partnerships, share lessons learned for activating vacant storefronts, and showcase their unique community histories.

The presentation will be followed by a reception and light bites.

Participants

Cooper Square Committee

• Abigail Ellman, Director of Planning and Development, Cooper Square Committee
• Delphine Le Goff, Artist
• Scott Kelly, Graphic Designer

Grand Street BID

• Francesca Fernandez Bruce, Executive Director, Grand Street BID
• Yazan Mansi, Community Engagement Manager, Grand Street BID
• L&L Studio
• Yalda Keramati, Founder, ReFrame Architecture
• Sylvia Riveros, Community-engaged artist

Program Advisors

• Cat Garcia-Menocal, Creative Director, Pink Sparrow
• Stacey Geller, Founder & Creative Director, American Design Language
• Farzana Gandhi, Founder, Farzana Gandhi Design Studio
• Hilary Sample, Co-Founder, MOS