Prudence Katze

Prudence Katze arrived in New York from Memphis, TN in 2004. Since then, she has graduated from the Cooper Union, and has been working with projects that examine our urban ecology. She started working with CUP as an Education Intern in 2009 and has assisted Hatuey Ramos-Fermin with both the “I Heart East New York” and “Who Benefits from Community Benefits Agreements at the Kingsbridge Armory” Urban Investigations. Prudence also taught a workshop with students from the Resilience Advocacy Project, and produced the resulting book “The Road to Cash Assistance.”

Stephen Kwok

Stephen Kwok makes live performance, experimental events, and installations. He holds a Masters of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California. He was an artist-in-residence at Delfina Foundation’s Performance as Process Programme in London, and has exhibited his work at Haus der Kulteren der Welt (HKW), The Center for Performance Research, American Medium, Julius Caesar, Chicago Cultural Center, Gene Siskel Film Center, and the Lawndale Art Center in Houston.

April Lee

April Lee is an artist and education practitioner, researcher, and consultant. She has worked in the curatorial and education departments of cultural institutions such as Dia Art Foundation, the Hammer Museum, the Honolulu Academy of Arts, and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, as well as with community-based arts and education organizations in the U.S. and abroad. Her fields of interest include artistic research, and cultural, global, and ethics education. Recently, she completed a master’s degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and consulted on the development of a world-class school in Bhutan.

Jeff Maki

Jeff Maki is an artist-programmer in New York City and a principal collaborator with Publicworks Office. Jeff writes about the legibility of urban infrastructure and advises public and private organizations on the future of digital cities.

Nupur Mathur

Nupur Mathur is a Brooklyn based digital media artist, designer and educator. She works at the intersection of social practice art, research and visual media. In her work she uses archives both analog and digital to create works that reveal hidden histories, complicate myths and challenge our assumptions around borders, femininity, sexuality and identity. As a designer she works with individuals, cultural or academic institutions on large multimedia projects and exhibitions that bring awareness or criticality to the challenging social issues of our times. As an educator she works with young people to use art and design to tell stories using a variety of media such as video, photo, collage, and drawing.

Nupur is founding member of the artist collective ‘Radha May,’ and an alumna of the Rhode Island School of design with an MFA in Digital + Media.

Amanda Matles

Amanda Matles is a New York City based artist, educator and doctoral student of Geography at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She studies and collaborates with urban agriculture, food sovereignty, and related social justice movements. Amanda currently works with Paper Tiger TV and The CUNY Space Time Research Collective. Amanda’s first project with CUP, called “Chew On This” in 2006, was a Harlem investigation into the global flows of food. Since then, Amanda has worked with Human Geography classes at Academy of Urban Planning in Bushwick leading students in collaborative mapping and neighborhood investigation projects that examine the social, political and structural forces that shape the urban landscape.

Caits Meissner

Caits Meissner is a New York City-based writer, multidisciplinary creator and educator. She is the author of the illustrated hybrid poetry book Let It Die Hungry (The Operating System, 2016), and The Letter All Your Friends Have Written You (Well&Often, 2012), co-written with poet Tishon Woolcock. She has taught, consulted and co-created extensively for over 15 years across a wide spectrum of communities, with a special focus on imprisoned people, women and youth. Caits holds a BFA in Communication Design from Pratt Institute, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the City College of New York. She currently serves as the Prison and Justice Writing Program Manager at PEN America.

Ruddy Mejia

Ruddy Mejia was born a Bronxite and an artist – his use of watercolor and ink allows him to translate his passion of movies, books, music, comics and graffiti into pieces of artwork that document, question and demand deep observation from its public. The fulfillment of his artistic expression and experiences inspires him to help provide opportunities that guide and support others through creativity.

Mejia has worked as an Teaching Artist Assistant for The Bronx Museum’s Teen council, the Center for Urban Pedagogy and is currently teaching students from k-5th grades at Bronx house Inc. In addition, he works with Free Arts NYC as a Program Associate and Volunteer Mentor to children and families though the Parents And Children Together with Art program.

Karen Marie Miller

Karen Marie Miller is a licensed architect in Chile and holds a master’s degree in Urban Planning & Design from CUNY. Since 2005, she has worked as project architect and project manager on many NYC residential projects. She has volunteered with CUP as guest teacher, photographer, model maker, transcriber and general helper.

Nontsikelelo Mutiti

Nontsikelelo Mutiti is a Zimbabwean-born artist and educator working across disciplines to produce work that occupies the forms of fine art, design and social practice. Mutiti received a diploma in Multimedia from the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts (2007) and an MFA with a concentration in Graphic Design from Yale School of Art (2012). As well as producing self initiated work and collaborative design commissions Mutiti currently holds position in the New Media Department at Purchase College and is a co-founder of the Zimbabwe Cultural Centre in Detroit. She was the teaching artist for the City Studies “Voters Rule”.

Heidi Neilson

Heidi Neilson is an artist addressing topics such as weather, fake snow, and the debris in earth’s orbit. Her work, often collaborative and publishing-based, has been supported by the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Center for Book Arts, The Drawing Center, I-Park, the International Print Center New York, the Islip Art Museum, Kala Art Institute, LMCC, the Lower East Side Printshop, Provisions Library, the Queens Museum of Art, Visual Studies Workshop, and Women’s Studio Workshop. She is a member of the ABC Artists’ Books Cooperative, co-founded SP Weather Station, and her work is included in over 60 museum and university collections. As a teaching artist with CUP, she explored air quality with middle school students in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to produce ‘Air It Out.’

Vivianne Njoku

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, raised in and around Washington, DC, and currently residing in Brooklyn, NY, Vivianne A. Njoku/Van Alexander is a multi-media artist working most prominently in video, drum kit, performative storytelling and education. She is an inspired and engaged member of her communities locally, globally and everything in between. Her personal work is driven by obsessions and textures, particularly at the intersection of the two. Despite the ever-changing inspiration and context for Njoku’s work, most recently she has found this intersection most fascinating as it relates to exploring notions of representation. Professionally, Ms. Njoku has spent numerous years providing her services as a video artist for festivals, musicians and non-profits, as well as instructing youth in video production and progressive arts. Most notably, Vivianne spent a number of years as a Teaching Artist with the Tribeca Film Institute, Reel Works Teen Filmmaking, and Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls. The common thread in Ms. Njoku’s past and present work is providing youth with the tools to empower themselves to become critically-engaged citizens who strive for a just, democratic society. Vivianne’s work and performances have been showcased at arts festivals, multi-media venues, and creative spaces across the country and internationally, including Artomatic in Washington, DC; Galapagos Art Space in New York City; and Toronto Pride in Canada. Ms. Njoku holds a Masters Degree in Art Education from New York University and is licensed through the state of New York as Visual Arts Instructor for all grades. Currently, she teaches 12th grade Media Arts at the International High School at Union Square.

Douglas Paulson

Douglas Paulson is an artist who explores the ways people construct cultural moments and spaces through collaboration.  Douglas has organized and participated in expansive projects, adventures, and shows across the U.S. and Europe, and loves asking the question: “What art are you for?”  

He is the New York wing of the international collective Parfyme, initiator of an informal collaborative group Action Club and a member of Flux Factory, where he runs the residency program.  As a CUP teaching artist, he explored vacant property in Flatbush with middle school students, street-level banking mechanisms, and affordable housing placement with high school students.

Alexandra Woolsey Puffer

Alexandra Woolsey Puffer is an artist-designer in New York City and principal collaborator with Publicworks Office. Her interests include social systems and symbolic capital.

Kevin Pyle

Kevin Pyle is a comic artist. His books include Blindspot, Lab U.S.A. and Prison Town. He is also a co-editor of World War 3 Illustrated, America’s longest running political comics anthology. Kevin Pyle was the teaching artist on “Prison City Comix.”