Cocktails & Conversation: Sandra Bloodworth with David W. Dunlap

Cocktails & Conversation is a series of dialogues about design that brings an architect together with a critic, journalist, historian, or colleague to discuss current architecture and urban design issues. For this program, Sandra Bloodworth, former Director of MTA Arts & Design, will discuss how New York’s transit system was transformed into a public museum with over 400 commissioned artworks. She will be joined in conversation with David W. Dunlap, former reporter at The New York Times and curator of the Museum at The Times, over a custom-crafted cocktail to be enjoyed by all attendees.

Speakers:
Sandra Bloodworth, Advisor, Bloodworth Arts International; Former Director, MTA Arts & Design
David W. Dunlap, Curator, Museum at The Times; Former Reporter, The New York Times.

About the Speakers:
Sandra Bloodworth is the former Director of MTA Arts & Design. During her tenure spanning over three decades, her department commissioned over 400 permanent artworks transforming New York’s transit system into a public museum, along with sponsoring the Music Under New York and Poetry in Motion programs. Educated at the University of Mississippi and Florida State University, she is the co-author, with Cheryl Hageman, of Contemporary Art Underground: MTA Arts & Design New York published in 2024. Sandra was honored with the Municipal Art Society’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal in 2024 and was the recipient of the Gari Melchers Medal from the Artists’ Fellowship in 2015. Also in 2015, Sandra received the George S. Lewis (now the Service to the City) Award from AIA New York. She is the former Vice President of the Design & Culture Platform for the International Association of Public Transport and is currently an Advisor for Bloodworth Arts International.

David W. Dunlap is the curator of the Museum at The Times in the headquarters of The New York Times. He joined the newspaper in 1975 and covered the built environment of New York City as a metro reporter and columnist for much of his career. From 2003 to 2017, his principal beat was the redevelopment of the World Trade Center. His book credits include From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship; On Broadway: A Journey Uptown Over Time (winner of an AIA International Book Award in 1991); and, as photographer, The City Observed: New York, with Paul Goldberger.