NEWS

SPCUNY announces the launch of How Do We ______ in Public?, a new, free public programming series of four experimental events taking place across New York City throughout 2026. Organized by the SPCUNY core team of artists, educators, and scholars (Chloë Bass, Tom Finkelpearl, Catherine LaSota, Nicolás Dumit Estevez Raful Espejo Ovalles Morel, Jacquelyn Marie Shannon, Gregory Sholette, and Cory Tamler), the series expands SPCUNY’s existing work and reaffirms its commitment to strengthening socially engaged artistic practice, especially at a moment when culture faces sustained attacks and freedom of expression is increasingly constrained. The first event, "How Do We Study in Public?", will take place on Feb. 12 at Creative Time HQ. Click to read more about the series.

Across disciplines and NYC boroughs, the 2024–25 Fellows are experimenting with new forms of civic life, cultural organizing, and creative resistance. From experimental comedy shows and participatory games to immersive archives, local ecologies, and public rituals, the projects explore social practice not as a medium, but as a mode of relation. This year's projects map a vibrant and growing field of socially engaged art within and beyond the CUNY campuses. Join us in reflecting on this work as well as looking forward to where it is headed.

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.

Issue 35 of Create News features some select reflections on the state of socially engaged art education from SPCUNY, who were invited to contribute to this publication alongside those involved in the new MA/MFA Art and Social Action at NCAD, in which Create is a partner.

"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."

Just released: a music video and a limited edition cassette of a sound art performance that took place as part of encounter 4 of Nora Almeida's SPCUNY Project. Artist Martin Bisi says: "Each encounter involved transforming the contested area through uses other than those intended by public officials. Our performance would be to transform the location with sound. Objects from the location were integrated into it, like the large piece of scrap metal that Bradford Reed is dragging. Other instruments were self-made from discarded materials in our landscape." By Brad Cohan for Rock & Roll Globe. Photo: Sleeping Giant Glossolalia 2022.

"Not only does ‘UnHomeless NYC’ call into question the exceptionality of artistic practice – the making of art for art’s sake – but, by inviting a broad spectrum of participants, it goes to demonstrate how collective and cross-disciplinary collaboration is necessary to ensure that no one is without a place to call home." By Andreas Petrossiants. Pictured: Miguel Robles-Durán and Cohabitation Strategies, How to Begin Again, 2021. Courtesy: Kingsborough Art Museum, New York; photograph: Brian Edward Hack.