Summit: District Design Fellowship
Join us to celebrate the culmination of our District Design Fellowship, developed in collaboration with the NYC Department of Small Business Services’ Building Creative Capacity initiative.
Since October 2025, three NYC community leaders have partnered with designers to create “Buy Local” campaigns that celebrate neighborhood identity and harness the power of art and design to boost visibility and foot traffic for small businesses.
Hear from our Fellows about their experiences, their Buy Local toolkits, and their urban design visions for their corridors. You'll also have a chance to meet the design advisors who made this work possible.
Light refreshments will be provided.
Questions about the event? Contact Joseph Messana-Croly, Program Manager, Van Alen Institute at [email protected].
District Design Fellowship teams:
Melrose, Bronx
Fellow: Jamila Diaz of WHEDco
Design Advisors: BD Feliz, Perkins Eastman, and Zhiyao Zhang
Port Richmond, Staten Island
Fellow: Evelin Caballero Omana of La Colmena
Design Advisors: ORG, Thought Matter, and Rosanna Valencia
Upper West Side, Manhattan
Fellow: Becca Bran of LandmarkWest!
Design Advisors: Brynn Anderson, Buro Happold, and Pentagram
Learn more: https://www.vanalen.org/project/district-design-fellowship/
NOTICE OF ACCESS, FILMING, AND PHOTOGRAPHY
Van Alen is committed to ensuring that all of our events are inclusive and accessible for all participants. Van Alen Institute is on the ground floor and ADA-accessible. If you require accommodations or have any questions about access needs, please email [email protected] and we will do our best to support your participation.
When you attend this event, you enter an area where photography, audio, and video recording may occur. By entering the event premises, you consent to such recording media and its release, publication, exhibition, or reproduction.