Photo by Miriam Quiñones
Van Cortlandt Park Alliance (VCPA) and Design Trust for Public Space NYC are calling on architects, artists, and designers to reimagine the African Burial Ground located in Van Cortlandt Park through a Design Ideas Competition.
As reported previously, Van Cortlandt Park Alliance officials said Van Cortlandt Park is home to an Enslaved African Burial Ground that has been identified as the likely burial site of enslaved Africans and Indigenous peoples who lived, worked, and died on the Van Cortlandt family plantation, “providing its historical prosperity and economic prominence in New York City.”
Stephanie Ehrlich, executive director of VCPA, said, “Reimagining the Enslaved African Burial Ground must begin with recognizing painful history and the people whose labor and lives shaped this land.” She added, “Van Cortlandt Park Alliance’s role is to make space for dialogue, creativity, healing, and ultimately, for the community’s vision to take shape. We eagerly await the next part of the process.”
According to VCPA, while NYC Parks recognized the site officially on Juneteenth 2021 with signage, the space remains largely unmarked. With generous funding from the Mellon Foundation, VCPA officials said it has partnered with the Design Trust for Public Space and Liminal sp “to create a community-informed design for a new memorial that connects Bronx neighbors and visitors to the history of the space, confronts its painful legacy, and invites opportunities for gathering, educating, and healing.”
Meanwhile, Matthew Clarke, executive director of the Design Trust for Public Space, said, “Public spaces are an important venue for memorial and historical reckoning.” He added, “As cultural records are being erased and rewritten across the country, it’s imperative that New York City creates and preserves places of memory. Reimagining the Enslaved African Burial Ground at Van Cortlandt Park belongs to the past, present, and future.”
Firms and individuals are being invited to submit their qualifications for a Request for Qualification (RFQ) to create a memorial proposal, according to officials at Design Trust Public Space NYC and Van Cortlandt Park Alliance.
Immanuel Oni, creative director of Liminal sp, said that to reimagine is to heal. “As a space doula, I believe that envisioning beyond what is seen, beyond loss, beyond the visible landscape, is an act of collective repair,” she said. “The late Sobonfu Somé stated the future of our world depends greatly on how we tend to our grief. This ideas competition is a way forward in transforming this future into one of beauty, memory, and possibility.”
Taking guidance from the project’s engagement with the local Bronx community, its legacy council, and descendants, “the Reimagining Design Ideas Competition will create a new vision for the grounds, connect neighbors and visitors to the history of the place, and invite new opportunities for gathering, educating, and healing,” according to officials.
For her part, NYC Parks Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa said, “The creation of a memorial at the Enslaved African Burial Ground in Van Cortlandt Park will incorporate the community’s vision in order to amplify the legacy of those buried there and provide a space for reflection and healing.”
She added, “We’re grateful for the recent collaborative efforts to raise awareness of the site’s history and look forward to seeing the designs submitted as this project enters its next phase.”
A series of events connected to the project have been held throughout this past summer and fall to raise more awareness of the site, VCP officials said. In addition to redefining memorial and mourning, the programming also created opportunities to survey the surrounding community, informing a Design Ideas Competition that aligns with the needs of the neighborhood and descendants.
“Standing at the burial ground, I am reminded that those buried here built the infrastructure and economy we rely on today, but their stories have been silenced for centuries,” said Alice Michelle Augustine, legacy council member and founding director of campus honors and scholar engagement at Lehman College.
“The next phase of this project is a turning point. It signals our community’s commitment to restoring dignity and investing in histories long ignored. I want to know their names,” Augustine added. “I want to celebrate their lives. And most importantly, I want my students to understand the greatness of those who came before them.”
Three winners will be selected and invited to create design materials, and will be compensated with a $20,000 stipend and opportunities to speak at public events.
Judith Insell, executive director of Bronx Arts Ensemble, said, “As an African American woman, born and raised in The Bronx, and the executive director of a Bronx arts and culture institution, I am truly honored to be a part of the Reimagining the Enslaved African Burial Ground project as it endeavours to frame and preserve the important stories of the enslaved people that held a major role in the development of one of the Bronx’s public treasurers, Van Cortlandt Park.”
Learn more about the selection process, and apply at the following link: https://bit.ly/REIMAGININGRFQ. The deadline for submissions is Dec. 17. A virtual public information session will be held Dec. 1, finalists will be notified by mid-February 2026 and asked to begin the design process throughout Spring 2026.
Read more about the history of the African Burial Ground here and here.
Van Cortlandt Park Alliance is the sole nonprofit partner working with NYC Parks for Van Cortlandt Park. VCPA’s mission is to preserve, support, and promote the ecology, recreation, cultural arts, and history of Van Cortlandt Park. VCPA was formed in 2019 by merging two preexisting nonprofits whose 35 years of combined history lay the foundation for excellence in educational programming, cultural events, advocacy, and restoration projects.
VCPA’s Enslaved People Project (EPP), in coordination with local nonprofits, the park’s community, and NYC Parks, has been working to share untold stories and the unvarnished history of Van Cortlandt Park, once a plantation, through cultural programs and events, ceremonies, classes, virtual walking tours, and new signage.
Design Trust for Public Space is a non-profit organization that unlocks the potential of New York’s public spaces. Officials said its unique model catalyzes design ideas into action for a more just and equitable city. They said as a “leader” of the public space movement, the Design Trust brings together city agencies, community groups, and private sector experts to develop collaborative projects and new research to improve the well-being of residents and create systemic change throughout the five boroughs.
They said that with longtime partner, Liminal sp, the Design Trust is working with the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance on the design ideas competition and related project activities. They said it is connecting the important needs of this project with the broader design and community development communities.
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