CUP’s core staff supports the organization from day to day, but CUP projects are designed and implemented by teams of artists, designers, educators, activists, and researchers.
Stella Bugbee is a creative director specializing in identity and publication design. Studio projects might range from logos, web sites and books, to self-published projects and collaborations. In addition to running her studio she teaches Advanced Publication Design to seniors in the degree program at Parsons School of Design. Prior to founding a company of her own in the summer of 2005, Stella founded Honest with Cary Murnion and Jon Milott while the three were attending Parsons School of Design. After five years at Honest, she left to work for The New York Times Magazine and then went on to be a Design Director with the Brand Integration Group at Ogilvy and Mather.
Stella’s work has been featured in Print, Res, How, Step, Black Book, Nylon and Eye. Stella Bugbee has worked on Building Codes, Important Housing Rights, and Code City.
closedevelops research, tools, training materials and opportunities for partnership that bolster nonprofit organizations’ ability to support the voice and power of the people they serve.
closeLisa Burris began with GOLES as the PHROLES organizer in June 2005. She has been a life-long resident of Public Housing and began working with PHROLES as a steering committee member, eventually becoming the co-chair of the committee. Lisa graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from New Paltz College in 2003 and since has dedicated herself to creating social change. After college, Lisa worked teaching independent living skills to aging out foster children. She is a member of the United Nations Youth Council and co-founded Cultural Unity an organization in New Paltz dedicated to increasing cultural awareness and creating unity through education. Her organizing experience, incredible passion to create change, and first hand knowledge of public housing issues have prepared her for the challenges of organizing around public housing issues. She is bilingual in English and Spanish. Lisa Burris has worked on PHTV: What’s up with Public Housing?
closeBorn and raised in Northern Italy, Michela Buttignol is a New York-based freelance illustrator whose technological fortitude has enabled her to branch across a variety of mediums. In 2011, she moved to New York to become a freelance illustrator, and since has been featured in The New York Times, American Illustration 31, 3X3 Annual N.10, Illustration Age, Brain Pickings and she just got selected for Illustrators 57 by the Society Of Illustrators in New York. The Fox Is Black described Michela’s style as dark and mysterious, yet still retaining an aspect of cheekiness.
closeFounded by Asian women as the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence in 1986, CAAAV is one of the first pan-Asian grassroots organizations in the U.S. to educate and provide advocacy on behalf of victims of hate crimes. CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities works to build grassroots community leadership and power across diverse low-income Asian immigrant and refugee communities in New York City to fight for institutional change towards racial, gender and economic justice. CAAAV is currently working with CUP on an Issue of Making Policy Public that focuses on rent regulation rights In New York’s Chinatown.
closeAlex is a designer and arts educator. Since receiving her BA in Architecture from UC Berkeley, she has continued to seek opportunities that allow her to integrate her background in education, architecture, dance, art, and culture to engage deeply in embodied modes of learning, knowing, and making. At CUP, she is so excited to support programming that aligns with her experience in community-based education and interest in the built environment. Specifically, she hopes to learn more about CUP’s methods for facilitating meaningful connections between designers, the public, and other policy stakeholders.
closeKevin Cadena is a Colombian-American designer, creative technologist, community organizer and artist who is currently based in Queens, NY. Kevin intersects these mediums together in different ways to critique, enforce or speculate on culture, conventions, and ethics in his environment. Kevin graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2016 with a BFA in graphic design and since then, he has worked with many different organizations ranging from research labs and design agencies to museums and co-working spaces. In his free time, he enjoys supporting local music, playing video games, watching basketball, and organizing his room.
closeClaudia Calhoon is the Director of Health Advocacy at New York Immigration Coalition, leading development and execution of city and state campaigns to improve health access, coverage, and delivery for immigrant communities. She has provided leadership to a diverse array of public health and non-profit settings including the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, the Open Society Foundations and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cuenca, Ecuador. Claudia is currently enrolled in the Doctorate of Public Health Program at CUNY Graduate Center. She received a MPH from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and a BA in American History from Earlham College.
closeJustin Cassano is an animator and designer based in Brooklyn, New York. With a background in traditional animation and an aesthetic rooted in strong design, Justin aims to create work that satisfies and engages viewers. Visit justincassano.com to see what he’s been up to lately.
closeZoe Celeste is CUP’s Intern with the New York Arts Program. She is a visual artist from Wisconsin and a senior philosophy student at Kalamazoo College. She is passionate about art’s ability to make learning accessible and invigorating. With her last two years of college online, she is excited to support learning environments outside of the classroom that give students ownership of their education. She loves that CUP makes complex issues accessible and of real use to the people involved. Her favorite phrase is “separated but not separate”.
closeThe Center for Court Innovation helps the justice system aid victims, reduce crime, strengthen neighborhoods, and improve public trust in justice. The Center combines action and reflection to spark innovation locally, nationally, and internationally.
The Center for Court Innovation worked with CUP on the I Got Arrested, Now What? MPP.
closeCenter for Family Life, a program of SCO Family of Services, is a neighborhood-based family and social services organization with deep roots in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Our mission is to promote positive outcomes for children, adults and families in Sunset Park through the provision of a comprehensive range of neighborhood-based family and social services. We partner with the community to provide access to resources and opportunities for personal growth and the development of interpersonal relationships that sustain and nurture families, support youth to develop into confident, capable adults and enrich the quality of life for neighborhood residents.
CUP worked with the Center for Family Life to create Plan for Your Child’s Future!, an illustrated workshop tool. This two-part tool, consisting of a poster and handout, explains the steps a parent can take to make a plan for their children in case they’re detained and deported. CUP also worked with CFL to make We Own It, a fold-out poster that breaks down how worker co-ops work. https://sco.org/featured-programs/center-for-family-life/
closeThe Center for NYC Neighborhoods promotes and protects affordable homeownership in New York so that middle- and working-class families are able to build strong, thriving communities. Established by public and private partners, the Center meets the diverse needs of homeowners throughout New York State by offering free, high quality housing services.
closeAgustín is a Community Education Program Manager at CUP. Agustín has always been passionate about art and design: how it can embody care, spark joy, suspend time. He renovated homes for a living before understanding that what he loves the most about design is its capacity to bring people together in shared knowledge around a common goal. Shifting the goal from buildings to social justice led him to CUP! Agustín holds a Bachelor of Architecture (University of Texas at Austin) and a Master’s in City Planning (MIT). Outside of CUP he’s probably working on design projects with friends and family.
closeJanet is a graphic designer, raised in China and now based in New York. She attended Parsons The School of Design and holds a BFA in Communication Design and minor in Data Visualization. She has worked with commercial clients as well as those in the arts and culture industry. Outside of the office, she enjoys fostering cat and dogs for the ASPCA. Janet is passionate for design and social issues and believes that good design is key to successful communication and education.
closeWith a background in graphic design and urban planning, Candy Chang likes to make city information more accessible and engaging through design and the creative use of public space. She worked with CUP to design the Vendor Power! MPP.
closeMelissa Chavez is a graphic designer living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She currently works as an Associate Design Director at Vault49 after spending 8 years at the design agency Turner Duckworth. Born and raised in the Midwest, Melissa has also worked on both coasts of the states, bringing a wide range of perspectives to her work. Samples of her work can be found at http://www.melissa-chavez.com/.
closeWas it ‘Choice or Chance’, that the lure of finding the Great Reuben would lead Aaron to the ‘Core Curriculum’ of the Big Apple? Interspersed between prowling deli-lined alleys of Gotham at night, he found refuge in the welcoming arms of CUP, who guided him through a maze of public policy and planning issues, as he used ‘21st Century Skills’ to cut and paste the pieces together. What will happen next? Down which road will this lead him? ‘Are You Ready for a Ruckus?’ Follow him on his next great adventure!
closeChloe x Albane is a design partnership started in 2017 in Brooklyn by two NY French transplants Chloé Maës and Albane Jerphanion. While evolving as designers in bigger agencies, they started working together on side-projects in order to regain involvement in the creative process. Their personalities and skills are complementary, spanning from ideation to production, web design to large-scale way finding, and illustration to brand identity. Stronger together, they aim to work on hand-picked projects and collaborations that involve smart ideas and passionate people. chloemaes.com/albane/
closeD Wang Zhao (赵梦仪) is a queer, gender non-binary, second generation Han Chinese immigrant from Anishinabek and Odawa and Peoria territories (known as Mid-Michigan). They use they/them/their pronouns. They are currently transitioning on testosterone with the understanding that their journey has no end goal. Based in Lenape territory (known as Brooklyn, NY), they are a multidisciplinary designer and illustrator who is passionate about understanding the intersections of fashion, media, design and business so they can hack the system in order to give space and opportunities to marginalized folks. On the side, they make comics, care for their house’s chickens, and dream about ways queer, trans, immigrant, disabled, creatives of color can help each other thrive.
Website: www.dwangzhao.com
Chloe Chang (张洛书) is a designer, researcher and strategist with 6 years of experience working in advertising and human-centered design firms. She lived in Beijing for 12 years before moving to Brooklyn in 2009 to study Communication Design at Pratt Institute, and has made her home here since. She has experience in branding and marketing from her early advertising days, but is now focused on bringing design-led strategy and research methods to mission-driven spaces and initiatives. Most recently, she has been part of the team at design studio Openbox, designing greater low-income access to Neighborhood Trust’s financial services, creating opportunities for student-led education at the Williamsburg High School of Arts and Technology, and researching how community engagement in urban development projects in the Lower East Side can be more inclusive and beneficial to the communities who live there.
Website: www.chloechang.design
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