Get Involved
The Office for Socially Engaged Practice offers a variety of ways to connect the WashU community with the St. Louis region, including conferences, grants and awards, partnership opportunities, and more.
We invite you to get in touch with us to explore opportunities relevant to your goals.
Community Members
Community members can connect with us to bring their projects to life through partnership with WashU faculty and students. Submit a Community Request Form to get started.
Creative St. Louis Opportunities
Creative St. Louis Opportunities is a platform for designers, artists, architects, and other creative people to find out about the opportunities and needs of the St. Louis community, as well as resources such as grants and relevant events.
The Summer Public Design Workshop invites community organizations, neighborhood groups, and nonprofits looking to advance their mission and vision through a design project to submit project ideas for a collaboration with the Sam Fox School at WashU.
Faculty
Schedule a consultation with the Office for Socially Engaged Practice to talk about potential partnerships for your socially engaged work.
Invite the Office for Socially Engaged Practice to lead a workshop with your class about best practices for working with and in communities.
Apply for funding to support your socially engaged courses and research.
Students
The Alberti Program: Architecture for Young People
Serve as a teaching assistant or aftercare assistant in this architecture and design summer program for St. Louis students grades 4 through 8.
Apply for grants, awards, and fellowships to pursue socially engaged work in St. Louis.
Apply to receive a travel stipend and ticket registration for the Black in Design conference, organized by the Harvard University Graduate School of Design African American Student Union and recognizing the contributions from the African diaspora to the design fields.
The Office for Socially Engaged Practice supports student participants and faculty representatives at this interdisciplinary convening for future leaders hoping to use design as a tool for social equity and positive change in and with historically marginalized communities.
Upcoming Events
Nov 11 at 12pm • Olin Library, Room 142
Engaged City Community Fellows Introduction
Join us for a special lunchtime session where our three inaugural Engaged City Community Fellows will introduce themselves and share more about their work, creative practices, and visions for the Engaged City project.
This is an opportunity to get to know the fellows, hear about the questions and ideas driving their work, and learn how they plan to engage with our communities in the months ahead.
The 2025-2026 Fellows are:
Muhammad “Mvstermind” Austin — Music industry visionary and STL CITY SC’s Director of Musical Experience, known for bridging artistry and entrepreneurship through his work with Mvstercamp.
Damon Davis — Acclaimed post-disciplinary artist and co-director of Whose Streets?, whose work explores identity, power, and mythology across visual art, film, and music.
Paulette Sankofa, Ed.D. — Founder of Aging Well Renaissance, artist, and author whose quilting, writing, and filmmaking honor elders, uplift cultural traditions, and foster community wellness.
These three fellows are the inaugural cohort of the 2025–2026 Engaged City Community Fellows in Residence. This fellowship is a major initiative of the newly launched Engaged City project, a multi-year effort to collaboratively map and celebrate the cultural life of St. Louis. The Engaged City project is a partnership between the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity (CRE²), the Center for the Humanities, and the Office for Socially Engaged Practice.