“The Parallels between Art, Design, Culture + Tech” with Michele Washington

Presented by the Columbia University School of Professional Studies and Office of Government and Community Affairs.

Join Bundles Community Scholar Michele Washington for a discussion about BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) creative thinkers and the intersections of how they work. She will also address areas that overlap with other disciplines, as well as the ways that they are working outside traditional boundaries of creative practices. This live session will be part of Ms. Washington’s Curious Stories podcast series that will feature a cross-selection of interviews with architects, urban designers, product designers, designers, experience designers, plus futurists, innovators, and makers of color.

Michele Y. Washington is a designer, researcher, and strategist who has worked on a wide variety of community-based projects. These include City as Living Lab, the daylighting project in the Bronx; Leadership Summit, a civil rights advocacy organization; Cornell University, Social Design MBK project with Peter Robinson on Black male mobility; and Empowered to Run, a nonprofit start-up platform to educate people interested in running for office. Ms. Washington is on the faculty at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she teaches in the Graduate Exhibition and Experience Design Program and often speaks about 20th century African American designers. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Design Criticism from the School of Visual Arts and a Master of Science in Visual Communications from the Pratt Institute. Additionally, along with Gail Anderson, chair of the School of Visual Arts Design Program, and the Poster House staff, she helped launch the CMYK council of BIPOC designers/educators. 

Columbia University A’Lelia Bundles Community Scholars Program

The Columbia University A’Lelia Bundles Community Scholars Program, administered by the Office of Government and Community Affairs and the School of Professional Studies, enables independent scholars to pursue their lifelong learning aspirations, whether it be completing an independent project or attaining skills in a particular area. The program helps to foster and deepen ties between the University and the many independent members of the cultural and intellectual community surrounding it.  The program was named in honor of longtime University Trustee A’Lelia Bundles in 2020.