About Us

Left-right: Krypton Neon studio tour hosted by NYCxDESIGN, Xin Min at the NYCxDESIGN and ARTS THREAD 2021 Emerging Designer Residency at Hudson Yards, DLV Designs studio tour hosted by NYCxDESIGN, 2021 NYCxDESIGN Festival out-of-home campaign, Jean Bertrand Uwilingiyimana at the Chassie design studio as part of NYCxDESIGN’s Self-Guided Journeys

NYCxDESIGN promotes New York City as a design destination and serves as a supportive network to its powerful multi-disciplined design sector.

Our internationally renowned Annual Design Festival, established in 2013, showcases the immense talent and diversity of the city’s designers, makers, and manufacturers, along with cutting-edge design businesses and districts, and world-class cultural and academic design institutions. The Festival attracts 300,000+ national and international visitors to the city, generating significant economic activity across the boroughs with hundreds of events about design and innovation, creativity, culture, inclusivity, sustainability, and resiliency. As a non-profit organization, NYCxDESIGN also runs an impactful year-round program increasing diversity, equitable opportunity, and inclusion within the city’s design professions. We educate the city’s young adults about design and inspire them to become the city’s designers of tomorrow.

Donate to NYCxDESIGN

Your donation enables NYCxDESIGN to create more equitable opportunities in design, provide platforms to promote important work, foster a diverse next generation of designers, and define the future of design locally and internationally.

Why New York?

In New York City, design is palpable. With an abundance of makers, manufacturers, urban planners, interior designers, graphic artists, architects, and so much more, New York City is making its mark as one of the most influential design capitals of the world. Housing the largest concentration of designers, creative talent, and design studios than any other metropolitan area in the US, the city’s world-renowned arts and design scene continues to set the tone for the global creative community. 

New York City’s design landscape encompasses over 60,000 designers, nearly 8,000 design firms and over 1,000 museums, galleries, and world-renowned institutions. The city also boasts ten of the nation’s best design and architecture schools, graduating twice as many design and architecture students as anywhere else in the country. 

Board of Directors

Chair

Erica Holborn

CEO, SANDOW Design Group

Director

Amaechi Uzoigwe

Manager, Run The Jewels

Director

Elan Cole

New York City Tourism + Conventions

Director

Sonia Park

Vice President, New York City Economic Development Corporation

Director

Benjamin Prosky

President, Classical American Homes Preservation Trust

Staff

Executive Director

Ilene Shaw

Producer

Bethany McHugh

Associate Producer

Michael Ruocco

Digital Strategist

Mirella Pontoriero

Frequently Asked Questions

NYCxDESIGN organizes moments throughout the year for designers to showcase and highlight their work through concentrated celebrations that activate the five boroughs with design. Year-round, NYCxDESIGN amplifies the voices of New York City designers through The Magazine, the first edition of which features dozens of contributions from NYC designers, as well as NYCxDESIGN’s podcast hosted by Debbie Millman entitled The Mic. These platforms highlight NYC’s most creative minds and provide ongoing opportunities for the creative community through Open Calls. In 2021, NYCxDESIGN launched The Breakout Grant, focusing on entrepreneurship in independent design. The grant seeks to fund independent designers or design businesses that embody the entrepreneurial, creative, and innovative spirit of New York City, with a foundational commitment to diversity, inclusivity, and sustainability. NYCxDESIGN hosts Emerging Designer Residencies to support the work of designers in early stages of their careers. NYCxDESIGN’s first Emerging Designer Residency took place in summer 2021 in collaboration with ARTS THREAD at  Hudson Yards. 

 

We invite all members of the design community to organize design events as part of the NYCxDESIGN Festival. Group exhibitions, open studios, public installations, panels, virtual events, and more are welcome to be part of New York City’s official celebration of design. Event registration for the 2023 Festival will be open in the coming weeks.

The NYCxDESIGN Festival is also referred to as New York City Design Week, NYCxDESIGN week, etc. We embrace all names! The heart of the matter is that the NYCxDESIGN Festival is New York City’s official celebration of design.

Click here to download NYCxDESIGN’s Form 990.

Media Partners

Steering Committee

Contact Us

 

By filling out this form you will also be opted into NYCxDESIGN newsletters and marketing emails. You can opt out at any time.