Photo
Urbanism
Program
Founded in 2001, our Photo Urbanism program offers fellowships to local photographers to create a new body of work illuminating the public spaces of NYC. In 2011, we adopted a new curatorial approach to the program, by linking the fellowship more directly to an active Design Trust project. By focusing the fellowship on a particular public space issue, we give the photographer access to communities and sites they would be unable to enter alone. In turn, the photographer’s artistic vision brings a new perspective, informing and illuminating the potential of our city’s undiscovered and under-used public spaces.
Neighborhood
Commons
Design Trust for Public Space and the New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) have partnered to launch Neighborhood Commons: Plazas, Sidewalks & Beyond, a project that explores opportunities to improve the current model of public space governance and programming. The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated, more than ever before, the unique and key role that small businesses play in the livelihood of our neighborhoods and public spaces. With the crisis hitting commercial corridors and main streets hard, Neighborhood Commons is a timely initiative that will provide small business and place-based organizations with tools and strategies to recover as community anchors that support our main streets.
The Design Trust for Public Space is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the future of public space in New York City. Our projects bring together city agencies, community groups and private sector experts to make a lasting impact–through design–on how New Yorkers live, work and play.
NeON photographers are graduates of a citywide photography workshop. Photographers receive professional photography training in classes designed to introduce participants to the history of photography, technical skills, and the art of visual storytelling.