The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) unveiled today the names of 34 program participants selected to participate in its 2024 Culture and Community Design (CCD) program. The Culture and Community Design program runs from August through mid-December.
This is the second class of the immersive program where participants will examine the space between community building, arts and cultural work, and urban planning. The 2024 class is comprised of artists, organizers, local officials, and planners, who will work with two community organizations, serving underrepresented populations, to design projects and planning initiatives focused on arts and culture.
CCD is a component of ARC’s Culture, and Creative Placemaking Strategic Plan, which provides a blueprint for integrating arts and culture into ARC’s planning work to help build a thriving and healthy region. The program will be co-led by Rosten Woo, a Los Angeles-based artist, designer, writer, and educator. Woo produces civic-scale artworks and works as a collaborator and consultant to a variety of grassroots, non-profit organizations, and local governments such as Los Angeles Poverty Department, the Black Workers Center, as well as the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County.
His work has also been exhibited internationally at art and design institutes and can be found at public housing developments and shopping malls, on tugboats, and in parks. Woo is also the co-founder and former executive director of the Center for Urban Pedagogy, a New York-based, non-profit organization and winner of a national design award for institution achievement.
“We have a wonderful cohort excited about how to think of arts and community engagement in planning,” said Roshani Thakore, head of Community Engagement & Culture at ARC. “Over the past two years, we’ve been refining our community engagement and culture class. We can’t wait to see how the diversity in perspectives and experiences will shape their projects and ultimately the ecosystem of arts, culture and creative placemaking across the region.”