Partnerships Documentaries
Partnerships Documentaries visually capture the dynamic collaborations between RISD and its partners, highlighting the innovative, cross-disciplinary work that emerges from these relationships. From global design competitions to AR/VR platforms and biomimicry research, these films showcase how students, faculty, and external partners come together to generate new knowledge, engage diverse cultures and practices, and explore bold, future-focused ideas. Through these documentaries, we share stories of learning, collaboration, and creative exploration—demonstrating how RISD partnerships build on complementary strengths to imagine and realize more sustainable, equitable, and inspired futures.
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Emmett Till Memory Project
Academic and Creative Partnerships and Amy Devers
In July 2024, RISD alum and faculty member Rene Payne 83 GD and a team of alum, faculty and students joined the Emmett Till Memory Project (ETMP) an immersive storytelling project designed to commemorate the murder of Emmett Till, honor the legacy of Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, and pursue racial reconciliation. The ETMP website and mobile app focus on preserving and protecting the sites in Chicago and Mississippi where the tragedy unfolded. Watch and learn more about the collaboration behind this urgent act of visualization, storytelling, and care. See how design helps communicate and buttress a chapter of history that is crucial to understanding the American experience.
Creative and web efforts were led by Payne, Zoë Pulley MFA 23 GD, and Jonathan Chen 23 SC, with support from the extended team at Payne’s firm included by Favor. Countless other collaborators, affiliates, advisors, and supporters were involved in the realization of this project. Please see https://www.etmp.site/about for a list of partners working together to honor the Till legacy.
About RISD Academic and Creative Partnerships
The Emmett Till Memory Project is exemplary of partnerships we value most at RISD: creative cross-pollination that elevates the curiosity, empathy, practice, and ambition of all participants. Our hands-on approach to learning and making leads to engagements with organizations focused on art, technology, fashion, music, architecture, design, transportation, and more. Academic and Creative Partnerships build on these collaborations to generate opportunities for ongoing innovation.Producer: Amy Devers
ETMP Site, Assets, and Drone Photography provided by: Included -
Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Terra Carta Design Lab: RISD Winners Announced
Academic and Creative Partnerships and Amy Devers
In September 2023, RISD became one of only four international design schools to join the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Terra Carta Design Lab. Established to discover student-led, high-impact solutions to the climate crisis, the Terra Carta Design Lab was launched by His Majesty King Charles III, in his former role as the Prince of Wales, and Sir Jony Ive in 2021, in partnership with the Royal College of Art.
Finalists from each school were announced in June 2024, including 10 student and alum-led RISD teams with projects that addressed topics including supply chain traceability, biomaterial innovation, sustainable food practices and interdisciplinary environmental education. In December 2024, two winners from each school were selected, and each received £100,000 in funding and mentorship to further develop their innovations. Watch to see which of RISD’s project teams were given top honors and learn more about how RISD partnerships elevate the curiosity, craft, practice and ambition of all their participants.
Producers: Sara Ossana, Amy Devers
All team assets provided by individual teams.
SMI Hampton Court Palace photography: Harvey Williams-Fairley
See more at risd.edu/terra-carta-design-lab -
Regeneration Studio: A collaboration with RISD & Hyundai Motor Group
Academic and Creative Partnerships, Amy Devers, Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab, and Hyundai Motor Group
Learn about the impact of RISD’s ongoing collaboration with the Hyundai Motor Group (HMG). Now in its fifth year, the partnership—called the Regeneration Studio—brings together the staff expertise and scientific resources of RISD’s Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab with a group of faculty and student researchers and Hyundai, Genesis and Kia designers. Together, they use biodesign to explore themes of universal significance, from adaptive ecologies to sustainable living to future structures.
New York footage provided by: The Studio at SANDOW Design Group
Producer: Amy Devers -
Terra Carta Design Lab: RISD Participates in the Sustainable Markets Initiative
Academic and Creative Partnerships and Amy Devers
In September 2023, RISD became one of only four international design schools to join the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Terra Carta Design Lab. Established to discover student-led, high-impact solutions to the climate crisis, the Terra Carta Design Lab was launched by His Majesty King Charles III, in his former role as the Prince of Wales, and Sir Jony Ive in 2021, in partnership with the Royal College of Art.
10 student and alum-led teams from RISD advanced to the final stages of the competition in June 2024, and ultimately two winners from each school were awarded £100,000 in funding and mentorship to further develop their innovations. Watch to learn more about the projects put forward by RISD’s participants and how our unique approach to learning and making results in creative cross-pollination that elevates the curiosity, craft, practice and ambition of all involved.
New York footage provided by: The Studio at SANDOW Design Group
Producers: Sara Ossana, Amy Devers
See more at risd.edu/terra-carta-design-lab