FAQ
In addition to the five days of workshops and programming, the registration covers the cost of housing for five students Monday night through Thursday night. Additionally, it includes breakfast and lunch each day, along with a keynote reception, and a faculty dinner for the faculty representative.
Registration does NOT cover the cost of travel for students and faculty members. Universities typically cover the cost of travel for students, so that costs and paying-out-of-pocket fees does not become a barrier to participation.
Students who depart after Friday will need to arrange and pay for their own accommodations. We are looking into providing housing Sunday night for early arrivals.
Each school goes about a slightly different way to select participants. Some programs have an application process, other nominate participants. Either way, diversity tends to be an important part of the selection process and universities are mindful to send a group of students that are from a wide range of majors, programs, ethnicities, backgrounds, incomes, genders, sexual orientations, disabilities, and beyond. Design Futures welcomes people from many lived experiences.
In addition to the educational investment in young leaders in the field of community-driven design and for faculty members to expand their capacities around the work of community-engaged design, Design Futures offers an incredible networking opportunity for students and faculty to meet peers from across the country, explicitly focused on community power and how that manifests in design practice.
Beyond capacity building, many universities have leveraged this convening as a recruitment method for future graduate students towards their programs.
Other opportunities include learning from local organizations during local day and witnessing and touring local best practices of community-engaged design.
Universities can add individual faculty or student spots to their membership (+$1,100 / individual).