Office for Socially Engaged Practice
The Office for Socially Engaged Practice is a hub and a resource for collaborative, engaged practices in art, architecture, and design. We bring our faculty and students together to work with communities in St. Louis and around the world.
We are dedicated to building relationships with organizations and citizens to make the St. Louis region a more vibrant and equitable place.
From long-standing programs, like the University City Public Art Series and the Alberti Program, to newer initiatives like CityStudioSTL, the Office facilitates collaborative partnerships to support education, outreach, and innovation in community-based art and design.
The Office for Socially Engaged Practice is now accepting proposals from community partners for the Summer Public Design Workshop. Proposals due Nov. 22.
CityStudioSTL
CityStudioSTL supports a series of community engagement and outreach projects that bring together students in architecture, art, and design with partners in the city of St. Louis. It is generously supported by Gina and Bill Wischmeyer, BA69/MArch71.
Minor in Creative Practice for Social Change
The minor in Creative Practice for Social Change provides students with a deeper understanding of how to use creative practices in art, design, and architecture to address systemic economic, environmental, and social challenges. Creativity is an essential component of social change, particularly in creating new systems and solutions, understanding the fundamental constraints of a challenge, and leading the process of change.
Youth Programs
Engaging youth in the St. Louis region in architecture, art, and design is an essential part of our mission. The Alberti Program and Design Connection build a pipeline of students interested in taking on the challenges of the world through creative practice.
University City Public Art
Each year, the parks, plazas, schools, shopping districts, galleries, libraries, and community centers of University City—Washington University’s neighbor to the north—fill with works by Sam Fox School art and design students as part of the University City Public Art Series.
Socially Engaged Courses and Academic Programs
Each semester, the Sam Fox School offers dozens of courses, workshops, and projects that meaningfully engage with communities. Students can also earn a minor in Creative Practice for Social Change.
Resources and Opportunities for Faculty
Resources and Opportunities for Students
News and Events
Featured news
Collaborative, Mellon-funded project to highlight St. Louis arts and culture
Featured news
Assistant Professor Kelley Van Dyck Murphy’s temporary public art installation, created with students in spring 2024, on view in innovation district.
Featured news
Kemper Art Museum explores history, contradictions of urban renewal, midcentury modernism
Featured news
Four students from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts — Quinn Adam, MArch/MLA ’27; Mason Burress, MArch’25; Zach Toth, MArch ’26; and Jessie Price, BS ‘24 — have been awarded fellowships.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Learn more about our commitments, efforts, and resources towards creating a more equitable and inclusive community.
Through our work, we ask “how can art, architecture, and design confront the historic roots of St. Louis’ specific legacies of racism, sexism, displacement, exclusion, and political division, and imagine a different future?”
Are you in the St. Louis region and interested in working with students or faculty from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts? Get in touch with us through the form below.