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ASLA launches new program to boost representation of women of color in landscape architecture

2022-03-11T12:48:00-05:00

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Fund has launched a new program to support women of color obtain landscape architecture licensure and increase racial and gender diversity within the field.

In its inaugural year, the Women of Color Licensure Advancement Program will provide 10 women of color with a two-year, personalized experience that includes up to $3,500 to cover the cost of sections of the Landscape Architectural Registration Exam (LARE), along with exam preparation courses, resources, and mentorship from a licensed landscape architect.

According to data from the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Board (CLARB), only seven percent of landscape architects are non-white and only 30 percent are women. It is clear that obtaining licensure can have huge ramifications. The ASLA notes that a report by The Alliance for Responsible Professional Licensing found that among highly complex, technical fields, such as landscape architecture, a license narrows...

Theaster Gates teams up with Prada to launch incubator for emerging designers of color

2021-09-02T17:01:00-04:00

Theaster Gates is teaming up with Prada to launch a program that will support and invest in up-and-coming artists and designers of color.

Dorchester Industries, the design and manufacturing arm of Theaster Gates Studio, in partnership with Gates’ Rebuild Foundation and Prada Group, announced the launch of the Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab. Based on the South Side of Chicago, it is a three-year program that will serve as a platform for artists of color by creating opportunities to amplify their work, invest in their development, and expose them to organizations looking to work with diverse talent.

Designers in the areas of fashion, furniture, industrial and graphic design, and the arts will be trained, funded, and mentored through design awards and public programming. It will provide a platform for exhibitions, performances, and public dialogue, creating “a nucleus of design intelligence on the South Side,” as stated on Gates’ Instagram.

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Majority of new hires in America are people of color

2019-09-10T18:03:00-04:00

The surge of minority women getting jobs has helped push the U.S. workforce across a historic threshold. For the first time, most new hires of prime working age (25 to 54) are people of color, according to a Washington Post analysis of data the Labor Department began collecting in the 1970s. Minority hires overtook white hires last year.

Despite the wider trend in the American workforce, the architecture industry continues to lag in terms of diversity and gender inclusivity.

A 2018 National Council of Architectural Registration Boards report, for example, shows that although the ethnic and racial diversity within early career professionals continues to rise—roughly 45-percent of new AXP participants identified as non-white in the survey—the numbers drop off precipitously among higher ranks.

NOMA equips young students of color for an architectural future

2019-08-14T10:00:00-04:00

...Project Pipeline is designed to nurture the next generation of design professionals from middle school all the way through higher education and beyond...the ultimate goal of the initiative is to create a network of minority professionals across the country who will support one another and lift up the next generation in turn.

The 2019 SoCal NOMA Project Pipeline Architecture & Engineering Summer Camp put on by the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) included students between the ages of 10 and 16, and took place on three consecutive Saturdays in July, according to the Los Angeles Sentinel.

“Every year, we try to choose an exciting project that’s going on in the community at a place in the community that’s highly visible, that is accessible to our campers and that is in a community that they all live in,” said the camp's director, Eletrice Harris. This year, the students were tasked with creating "designs for the upcoming streetscape project, Destination Crenshaw, a 1.3-mile open-air museum that will celebrate and revitalize the art, culture, and spirit of Black Los Angeles."

Moreover, Professor Nina Briggs, who was a guest speaker at the camp, emphasized the importance of "designing for people," a valuable lesson for young aspiring practitioners. In the long run, NOMA's goal in this prog...

Harvard GSD launches new fellowship in partnership with Perkins+Will to support students of color

2016-11-04T15:32:00-04:00

Architecture is often criticized for its lack of diversity, and many feel that education is a key way to address the issue for the future. In that vein, Harvard's GSD announced yesterday the establishment of the Philip Freelon Fellowship Fund, designed to "provide expanded academic opportunities to African American and other under-represented architecture and design students at the GSD."

At the announcement, Philip Freelon of Perkins+Will noted the significance of such fellowships in encouraging (and attracting) diversity at the GSD: “As the design profession continues to attract a more diverse talent base, this gift will provide students of color with financial assistance that could make pursuing an advanced degree at the GSD possible. It’s an important step in broadening the GSD’s reach.”

GSD Dean Mohsen Mostafavi thanked Perkins+Will and Phil Freelon, referring to how “the creativity, dynamism, and success of our GSD community are enriched by and even contingent on an increasingly ...