SVA Galleries
My Role
Researcher
Strategist
Team
Chris Leow
Fiona Szeto
Naomi Shah
Yue Li
Time
3 months
Description
A service design initiative to reposition the SVA Chelsea Gallery as a student-centered resource—bridging gaps between departments, improving visibility, and fostering more meaningful student engagement.
Context
I joined this project as part of a cross-functional team tasked with understanding how students perceive and interact with the SVA Chelsea Gallery. While the gallery holds prestige, many students feel disconnected from it—citing limited relevance, poor communication, and a hard-to-access location.
As a researcher and strategist, I helped reframe the gallery’s role through user interviews, systems mapping, and co-creation—leading to a five-year roadmap focused on accessibility, collaboration, and student growth.
The Brief
From our conversation with
Tyson Skross, Director, SVA Galleries
01.
The gallery’s exhibitions reflect
the college’s activities rather than curatorial decisions. Student work is selected through alumni-juried calls for entries, the gallery organising rather than curating the shows.
02.
The gallery faces challenges with varying department workflows, where some prioritize program promotion over student involvement, while others maintain tight control due to size and time constraints. In turn, leading to limited student interactions.
03.
The gallery’s audience includes the SVA community and local institutions, but its academic affiliation and limited resources often lead to perceptions of it as a student-focused venue, limiting broader recognition.
04.
Frequent turnover for student exhibitions limits the gallery’s ability to establish itself as a consistent destination for art compared to
other institutions. Making it hard to get press attention.
05.
Exhibitions with established curators or artists draw better responses than internal shows, reflecting resource limits compared to larger institutions like the Whitney or MoMA.
06.
The gallery aims to gather more direct feedback from students on their experiences, both in working with us and in how we can better serve them moving forward.
Research
The Galleries Desire
The gallery aims to evolve into a dynamic resource hub—a space where students not only showcase their work but also engage in learning, collaboration, and discovery, much like a library fosters knowledge and exploration.
Insight 01:
Some departments within the SVA community gain more direct advantages from the gallery, particularly those with a focus on exhibitions and art practice. That said, others have opportunities of, finding value in the gallery’s resources, creativity, and connections.
Insight 02:
While the Chelsea location may feel somewhat disconnected from other SVA buildings, its prestige is undeniable. Being in the heart of the art world offers invaluable opportunities for showcasing work and engaging with the art community.
Insight 03:
Feedback, mostly verbal and shared at the front desk, from friends and family are generally positive. Student feedback is filtered through departments, which address concerns with students and families. Common frustrations include location and accessibility. Routine visitors are rare.
Insights
Projects
About
5 Year Plan
We uncovered clear problems and promising directions for change. But transforming the gallery into a truly student-centered resource would take more than quick fixes. To guide this long-term effort, we organized our plan into three phases—short-, mid-, and long-term—based on urgency, effort, and potential for sustained impact.
Co-design
After outlining the five-year roadmap, we conducted a co-design session with the gallery’s leadership team. Guided by the HMW (How Might We) framework and grounded in insights from the student community, our design process focused on identifying actionable short- and mid-term directions. During this collaborative process, we emphasized two key questions: “Why is it important?” and “What’s stopping us?”—to ensure that each proposed idea addressed both impact and feasibility.
Solution Buckets
This process led us to six strategic solution buckets—each grounded in student insights and supported by clear design principles and actionable proposals.
Together, these six areas represent key opportunities for the gallery to become more student-centered, accessible, and engaging. The final proposal has been formally submitted to the SVA Chelsea Gallery leadership, and we look forward to seeing these ideas shape meaningful changes in the near future.
