The Bushwick Starr × Parsons

Design, Engagement & the Arts · Parsons School of Design · Spring 2026
With Nana (Najun) Liu, Silvia Castro and Ren Hasuda · In partnership with The Bushwick Starr

The brief

The Bushwick Starr is a nonprofit theater in Bushwick, Brooklyn, a neighborhood where 61% of residents are Hispanic or Latino and 63% speak a language other than English. As rents rose 68% between 2000 and 2014, new galleries, bars and venues opened, while many longtime Latinx and African American residents were priced out. Working directly with the theater, we visited the space and collaborated with its Director of Education around one question: who is still missing from the room?

Research

Drawing on our conversations with the theater, its strategic plan, the city's Bushwick cultural inventory and neighborhood data, we found that the barriers are structural, not a lack of interest. People pointed to time (41%), cost (28%) and not knowing what's happening (28%), along with language, accessibility and caregiving. They also engage most where it already feels familiar: block parties and parks, far more than formal venues.

Insight

Bushwick doesn't lack culture. The gap is in participation design: a mismatch between how culture is offered and how people can realistically take part, including how information reaches people across languages. We focused on local families, who are highly culturally active but have the least time and flexibility.

The concept

The Home – Gathering is a free, drop-in neighborhood event for families, held monthly in libraries, parks, community centers and school yards. It runs for two to three hours with no fixed start time, no tickets and no registration. Three open stations invite families to share stories through visual prompts, make things together through a seasonal mural, installation, tiles and story cards, and move and play to dances from different cultures. A food corner run by local, minority-owned vendors brings culture to the table. Everything is bilingual, step-free and built so anyone can join or leave at any time.

Outcome

We presented the final proposal in May 2026 with a full operating plan for the theater: design principles, a station-by-station format, accessibility standards and a budget of $1,700–4,200 per event, with a 12-event series starting at about $20,400.