cultureNOW dedicates itself to celebrating our cities through an appreciation of each city’s unique urban fabric: its history; its architecture; its art; and its people. What are the stories that illustrate our collective history?  What parts of our history are hidden or erased by time?  What motivated its architects and builders to shape our city the way it is?  What are the plans and dreams for the city that have yet to happen?  Powered by a network of professionals – scholars, historians, educators, curators, architects, artists, and planners –cultureNOW provides the tools to explore our city through exhibits, maps, tours, symposia, events, and podcasts.  By stepping beyond museum walls to celebrate the city’s vast cultural heritage and environment, it provides inspiration to imagine the future.

cultureNOW was established in 2002 following the 9/11 attacks and tragic loss of life and infrastructure as part of New York/New Visions, a pro-bono coalition of design professionals. cNOW mapped the cultural and historic sites of Lower Manhattan to encourage people to visit and revitalize the neighborhoods adjacent to Ground Zero, and to serve as a source document for the replanning efforts that followed.  Ten years later, following the devastation of Superstorm Sandy in 2012, cNOW was tapped by FEMA to assess the storm’s damage and put together a list of damaged or inundated cultural assets within the flood-zone boundary.  Over the past two decades, cultureNOW has collaborated with a wide range of New York City institutions and agencies in shaping and contributing to some of the most popular civic programs including Open House NY, Archtober, Summer Streets, Shared Streets, and Jane’s Walks.  

cultureNOW has also expanded beyond New York to Los Angeles and Boston.  

Physical Maps: The core of cultureNOW's programs are the Maps that we create. Each map is a snapshot of a community at a moment in time. And each begins with a research effort to ascertain the unique aspects for a community. It involves gathering information, physically visiting the community and meeting the people. It develops into a printed map. Multiple maps have been produced of New York City showcasing its communities of Lower Manhattan and Harlem, its art, its waterfront and its history as well as in Los Angeles and Boston.

Mapping Technology: cultureNOW began creating a digital library of images, podcasts and stories in 2009 which have formed the core collection of the Museum without Walls.

Exhibitions: cultureNOW has organized exhibitions in New York (Mapping the Cityscape 2011), Boston (BostonNOW Maps to Apps (2012-2017) and Los Angeles (2013). It also participated in many exhibitions. Maps have been exhibited at Columbia University, the Center for Architecture, Federal Hall National Memorial and the New York Historical Society. Maps are in the permanent collection of the Oklahoma National Historical Monument, the New York Historical Society, and the Library of Congress and the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

Education is the cornerstone of personal and societal growth,

Manhattan to Google Earth which we have documented by produced printed maps, exhibitions, tours, programs and publications.

Internships: CultureNOW has maintained a project based internship program for students since 2002.

Design Charrettes:   CultureNOW views culture as the glue which defines communities. cultureNOW grew out of the New York New Visions pro bono initiative to replan New York City post 9/11. The maps have been used widely and were distributed at all the formal and grass-roots planning focus groups such asImagine New York. cultureNOW participates in many design charrettes such as Listening to the City and most recently for AmeriCorps in Harlem.

Lectures & Symposia:  There have been multiple lectures and symposia. It organized one of the first simultaneous programs ever hosted concurrently in 2013 with a group of interns in three cities: New York, Los Angeles and Boston called Coast to Coast to Coast which featured live presentations. 700 people attended in total.

cultureNOW also created the Cocktails and Conversations Series of Friday night dialogues on Architectural Design at the Center for Architecture in 2012 which has been running monthly since then. That led to a book of the first 40 conversations published in 2018.

Cultural Tourism Partnerships:  CultureNOW partners with other cultural organizations in events such as Archtober, open house New York, and Summer Streets with the NY City Department of Transportation. For the National Park Service, cultureNOW has provided over 650,000 free maps which were given out at every site in New York City. It also partners with community initiatives such as the City of Inglewood’s Public Art Education Project.

Tours: cultureNOW has many tourism initiatives. It has developed its own walking tours of culturally interesting parts of New York City such as its midtown tour for the Municipal Art Society’s Janes Walk, its lower Manhattan tours for open House New York. Beginning in 2010 it conceived of the Architectural Boat Tour of Manhattan in partnership with the NY Chapter of the AIA and Classic Harbor Lines which has been continuously running since then.

Cultural Connections: cultureNOW has been exploring multiple cultural connections. An early project, Artists in Place was for people who view art to meet people who make it. Originally held as part of Open House New York in 2008, it led to cultureNOW recording hundreds of podcasts of artists, architects, and other stakeholders sharing their visions about their work and the city they live in. This is a collection that has grown to over 2000 audio recordings.

Websites: Since 2002 cultureNOW has collaborated with lowermanhattanmap.com and lowermanhattan.info to provide interactive websites.