Nadia Elokdah

I am an urbanist, designer, and cultural producer and currently serve as Vice President & Director of Programs for Grantmakers in the Arts, the only national association of public and private cultural funders. Prior to that, I served as Special Projects Manager with the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs I had the privilege of coordinating and co-authoring the City’s Monuments Commission and CreateNYC the first-ever comprehensive cultural plan for NYC. In this role, I led hundreds of engagements with a broad cross-section of the peoples, communities, and stakeholders city-wide.

I attended university in my OG hometown, Philadelphia, in 2010 (BArch, Temple University) and my adopted hometown, New York City, in 2015 (MA, Parsons School of Design Strategies at the New School). I am devoted to engagement in culturally responsible and equitable design practice with an emphasis on inclusion, exemplified in collaborations with the International Design Clinic, a community youth center in North Philadelphia, and Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, a cultural nonprofit dedicated to presenting and teaching Arab culture through the arts.

Other endeavors include publications, serving as an adjunct lecturer at Parsons School of Design and Temple University, and research, community engagement, and public policy as a founding partner of the all-women-led design collective, in.site collaborative. I currently serve on the steering committee of the Women of Color in the Arts Non-Black POC Solidarity! into Action Committee where we work to understand our role in dismantling White Supremacy, Native invisibility, and anti-Blackness throughout the arts.

For more detailed professional history, please see curriculum vitae.

Publications

Identity Crisis: Creating a Contemporary Bathhouse in Cairo, Lambert Academic Publishing, Germany | 2010

“The Situationist Proxy,” in Theoretical Encounters: Seminar in Architecture Theory, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia PA | 2009

Michelle L. Johnson, Lindsay K. Campbell, Erika S. Svendsen, and Heather L. McMillen, “Mapping Urban Park Cultural Ecosystem Services: A Comparison of Twitter and Semi-Structured Interview Methods,” Sustainability 2019, 11, 6137; Field Researcher.

Kelly-Golfman, R., Watch, Act, Vote: The impact of Theatre of the Oppressed NYC Legislative Theatre on New York City policy and Civic Engagement, Interview, Theatre of the Oppressed NYC Report, 2018

“Diversity Politics and Engaging Pluralism as Transformative Urban Practice,” TRULAB [Laboratory for Urban Transformation] | 07 May 2015

“The New School and the Pedagogy of Alternative Urban Practices,” Panel Discussion, Association of American Geographers Annual Conference in Chicago, April 2015

“Designing for an Equitable New York” | Policy Recommendations Book Developed by the graduate students in Theories of Urban Practice, Design & Urban Ecologies, and Design Studies Programs | School of Design Strategies, Parsons School of Design | 2013

Inam, A. “Unveiling Vegas: Urbanism at the nexus of private profit and public policy,” Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 9:3, 216-236 | July 2015 [Research Assistant]

Exhibitions

PHLA City Panorama | Philadelphia Assembled | Philadelphia Museum of Art | February - December 2017

Actionable Theory | Parsons Festival 2015 Wanted Design + Parsons School for Design | Industry City, NYC | May 2015

We Went Looking for Home but We Found [Creative Director and Curator] Al-Bustan Seeds and Culture + Art in City Hall | City Hall, Philadelphia, PA | February-April 2015

Perpetual Renewal: INVESTIGATING URBAN RENEWAL IN THE LOWER EAST SIDE | Parsons The New School for Design + 596 Acres | Governor’s Island, NYC | August 2014

Alumni Accreditation Exhibit | Temple University | Philadelphia, PA | February 2011

Al-Quds/Jerusalem 2015 | 2010 Annual Meeting Research Center for Islamic History, Art & Culture | Jerusalem | 2010

Mourning, Recognition, and Tribute_Evoking Space | Temple University | Philadelphia, PA | September 2009

reclaimedSKY | idcSP08US | May 2008

Reimagining Ibn Battuta | Al-Bustan Annual Fundraiser | University of Pennsylvania | December 2007

Partners + Collaborators

Women of Color in the Arts, Monument Lab, Hub.UP [Hub for Urban Practices], in•sitecollaborative, TRULAB: Laboratory for Urban Transformation, School of Design Strategies at Parsons, The Laundromat Project, Theatre of the Oppressed NYC, The Sphinx Organization

Research + Interests