Clara Amenyo

Clara was the Program Manager for CUP’s Public Access Design program from 2012 to 2014. Before coming to CUP, she worked in Structured Credit for Barclays Capital. Clara has a Bachelor of the Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.

Yeju Choi

Yeju Choi is a graphic designer / creative director / design educator working and living in New York City. Originally from Seoul, South Korea, she studied graphic design at Yale University (MFA) and Seoul National University (BFA). Since 2000, she has worked in various parts of graphic design, such as Art Director at Barneys New York, Graphic Design Director at WXYArchitecture + Urban Design, User Interface Designer at LG. Currently, she is running her own design studio NowHere Office in Chinatown and teaching graphic design at Yale University School of Art, and Stern College for Women at Yeshiva University. www.yejuchoi.com

Yeju was a 2013-2014 Pubic Access Design Fellow.

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.

Oscar Nuñez

Oscar was a Community Education Program Manager at CUP. He is a graduate of the City and Regional Planning Master’s Program at Pratt Institute with a concentration on Community Development. While completing his studies at Pratt, Oscar worked and interned in various local community organizations and groups, including CUP, on issues dealing with planning, design, and community education and engagement. Previously, he received a B.A. in Sociology and Latin American Studies from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.  Originally from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, he moved to Washington, D.C. at a young age. He is fluent in English, Spanish, and French and can give pretty good directions in Portuguese.

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.

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.

Mads Lynnerup

Mads Lynnerup responds to politics and everyday life using a range of media including silk-screen, drawing, video, sculpture, and performance. His work has been exhibited at venues such as SFMOMA, MoMA PS1, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Mori Art Museum to mention a few. He resides in Brooklyn, NY and Copenhagen and holds an MFA from Columbia University, NY.

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.

Students from Store Stories

Students from the BCCP collaborated with CUP and Mads Lynnerup on “Store Stories.”

Ro Garrido

Ro Garrido is a Youth Education Program Coordinator at CUP. Ro was born in Lima, Peru and grew up in Jackson Heights, Queens. Ro is a self-taught, multidisciplinary artist and educator whose work grapples with memory and intimacy. They work with mixed media, sculpture, fiber, archives, installation and community engagment. Ro’s work has been featured at the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, Goddard College, and Flux Factory. Ro was a 2014 Create Change Fellow and 2016 Commissioned Artist with The Laundromat Project. Ro is currently a 2018-19 Engaging Artists Fellow at More Art and a 2019-20 Artist in Residence at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. Ro has a BA in Individualized Studies with a focus on Visual Art and Mental Health from Goddard College.

Fielding Hong

Fielding is a Youth Education Program Manager at CUP. He has over 10 years of experience as a youth educator working at the intersections of history, the arts, and social justice. Fielding has worked as both a high school history teacher in Philadelphia and a museum educator in New York. He holds a B.A. in Film Studies from Wesleyan University, a teaching degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master’s in Culture and Gender Studies from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. 

Fielding Hong

Fielding is a Youth Education Program Manager at CUP. He has over 10 years of experience as a youth educator working at the intersections of history, the arts, and social justice. Fielding has worked as both a high school history teacher in Philadelphia and a museum educator in New York. He holds a B.A. in Film Studies from Wesleyan University, a teaching degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master’s in Culture and Gender Studies from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. 

Stephen Kwok

Stephen Kwok makes live performance, experimental events, and installations. He holds a Masters of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California. He was an artist-in-residence at Delfina Foundation’s Performance as Process Programme in London, and has exhibited his work at Haus der Kulteren der Welt (HKW), The Center for Performance Research, American Medium, Julius Caesar, Chicago Cultural Center, Gene Siskel Film Center, and the Lawndale Art Center in Houston.