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Transdisciplinary Design graduate students in the field for Revitalize NYC (Eduardo Staszowski)
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NEW YORK, NY (April 30, 2014) – National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced that Revitalize NYC a collaboration between The New School and No Longer Empty, a NYC based not-for-profit arts organization, is one of 886 projects nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. Revitalize NYC is recommended grant to explore ways to foster community collaboration by activating neighborhood sites in New York City neighborhoods that are in transition, such as those suffering from impending gentrification, through participatory inquiry, artistic engagement and design-based curatorial activities.
A joint project uniting The New School with No Longer Empty, Revitalize NYC is currently completing its first year in Manhattan’s Lower East Side before shifting focus to Harlem’s Sugar Hill area in June 2014. Planned programs include site-specific initiatives that examine issues of urban spatial justice; the accessibility of public services; and alternate urban economies. Revitalize NYC is part of The New School’s Collaboratory, a Rockefeller Foundation supported initiative exploring how The New School can enhance its engagement with diverse communities and be a hub for social justice and social innovation in New York.
“A true joint effort by urban policy experts, designers, artists, curators, educators and community activists, Revitalize NYC is the type of unique – and uniquely effective – project that could only be undertaken by the interdisciplinary approach embraced by The New School Collaboratory,” said Michele Kahane, one of the Collaboratory leaders and Professor of Professional Practice at The New School’s Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy.
“Revitalize NYC is an experiment of how art and design can positively impact cities by driving change from the ground up,” said Parsons DESIS Lab Director Eduardo Staszowski. “Partnering with No Longer Empty has allowed us to amplify the community-building power of art and design, and foster research processes and civic engagement initiatives that are co-investigated and co-designed with local participants in order to create sustainable structures for community-based artistic initiatives, capacity building, and innovative public action.”
"'We are thrilled about this collaboration. Just as No Longer Empty takes art out of the institutional framework, our collaboration with The New School takes students out of the classroom and directly engages them in the urban fabric,” says Manon Slome, President and Chief Curator of No Longer Empty.
Revitalize NYC is a collaborative project involving the following faculty members: Lara Penin (Parsons, School of Design Strategies), Vyjayanthi Rao (The New School for Social Research, Anthropology), Eduardo Staszowski (Parsons, School of Design Strategies), Melanie Crean (Parsons, School of Art, Media, and Technology), Nitin Sawhney (The New School for Public Engagement, School of Media Studies), Nidhi Srinivas (The New School for Public Engagement, Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy).
Art Works grants support the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and enhancement of the livability of communities through the arts. The NEA received 1,515 eligible applications under the Art Works category, requesting more than $76 million in funding. Of those applications, 886 are recommended for grants for a total of $25.8 million. For a complete listing of projects recommended for Art Works grant support, please visit the NEA website at arts.gov.
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