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My name is Lingyi Kong, a designer, educator, and creative technologist currently teaching communication design at Parsons. I am honored to self-nominate for the position of Emerging Professional Director on the CAA Board. My practice focuses on building systems that integrate creative technology with platform development to support more equitable, future-oriented art&design education and professional communities.

In my view, innovation in art and design does not happen in isolation; it is built within communities that are critically engaged, resourced, and structurally connected. Over the past year, I have contributed to AIGA and Design Incubation by developing tools, workshops, and public programs that support early-career practitioners navigating structural inequities. As a peer reviewer and presenter at Design Incubation Colloquia, SECAC, and CBAA, I have shared research on AI integration in design education and the methodological hybridity essential to our field—studio-based teaching, colloquia, and collaborative critique.

In this moment of accelerating transformation driven by AI and emerging technologies, artists are often structurally excluded from shaping the conversation. Yet I believe this absence is not only a dilemma—it also presents an opportunity for meaningful change.This gap reflects a systemic lack of access to resources, support, and shared language for those in the visual arts. Through my roles across organizations, I have worked to address this imbalance—reducing inequality, clarifying the role of creative practitioners in AI discourse, and expanding access to knowledge and tools.

I view platform-building not merely as infrastructure, but as a long-term, strategic act of care—one that acknowledges systemic disparity, fosters participation, and elevates emerging voices. In times of disruption, CAA is uniquely positioned to provide continuity, critical reflection, and shared direction across the arts and humanities. If selected, I hope to contribute by strengthening CAA’s open-access initiatives, co-developing cross-institutional resources for early-career artists, designers, and scholars, and advancing the integration of creative technologies into knowledge-sharing platforms, pedagogical practices, and public-facing programs. My goal is to help shape inclusive, actionable frameworks that ensure CAA remains a vital commons for the next generation of cultural practitioners.

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