We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024–25 Social Practice CUNY Fellowship: an interdisciplinary group of 32 visual and performing artists, writers, organizers, educators, documentarians, media-makers, and scholars from across CUNY for their commitment to cultivating social change through art. Read more about this year’s Fellows here!
We are so excited to welcome Catherine LaSota as our first Associate Director of Social Practice CUNY. Catherine’s background in directing multidisciplinary academic institutes, organizing creative communities, and her own training as a creative writer, sculptor, and musician represents a synthesis of SPCUNY’s goals to foster artist leadership and engage in conversations across disciplines. Introducing the Associate Director role also offers SPCUNY a significant chance to increase our public presence both within CUNY and beyond.
Social Practice CUNY is pleased to announce the appointment of Queens–based artist Natalia Nakazawa as the 2023–24 Social Practice Scholar-in-Residence. A socially engaged practitioner focusing on issues of community activism and educational uplift, Nakazawa brings years of experience relevant across SPCUNY’s intersecting commitments and priorities: the desire to support interdisciplinary creators working at the intersection of art and social justice; the hope to train a future generation of arts leaders able to bring diverse perspectives to institutional work; and the commitment to new strategies of pedagogy engaged with the vibrant life of New York City.
Social Practice CUNY is pleased to announce the appointment of Tom Finkelpearl as the inaugural Social Practice Teaching Scholar-in-Residence for Spring 2023. As part of his role, he will draw on his extensive New York experience as the former commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs, as well as his Queens-specific knowledge from his time at the Director of the Queens Museum, to amplify Social Practice CUNY’s connections and engagement with the larger cultural landscape and fabric of our complex urban environment.
“apex has me out here in a little apartment along a dirty little canal in a neighborhood I would equate to today’s Williamsburg, Brooklyn. And that’s where things get a little tricky for me—you know I’m not supposed to be making art out here, but if you know one thing about me, you probably know I make work about public policy and development along dirty urban waterways.”
