Of the common questions asked in the tradeshow, exhibitions, and events industry the most asked is this: how do we let people know we exist? Furthermore, how do we inspire and help cultivate the community to help it grow? Education has often been the answer sought, whether that is in mentorship or training programs. Of these programs, one has stood out and in 2025 it celebrated a pivotal milestone.
For 20 years, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Exhibitions & Experience Design program has played a key role in providing mentorship and setting the standards of education for event design professionals.
Brenda Cowan, professor for the Exhibition & Experience Design program says, “The start of the program was so long ago and in some ways it all still feels so new, like we’re just getting started. It is an incredible, dynamic, living thing we created. I am always so grateful that I’ve been entrusted to join in its nurturance, with my incredible partner Christina [Lyons].”
Despite its legacy, there are many in the industry who may be unfamiliar with not only the Capstone Event but the masters program.
At the 2025, 20th Year Capstone Event, Ed Rodley, the co-founder and principal of The Experience Alchemists offered two queries and three advices to the students. While the ideas were given to the 2025 class, the sentiments themselves apply to the program overall and its impact on the events and exhibitions industry.
Query: What does evolution require of us to help the institutions that we love?
“The mindset, skills, and tools you uniquely bring to the table are experiences that many organizations need. What new things will you champion? What wisdom will you provide?” – Ed Rodley
In 2003, the program was conceptualized amongst Experiential Designers and Producers Association (EDPA) members Larry Kulchawik, Adam Beckett, Norm Friedrich, Stacy Barnes, Gwen Parsons, Mark Johnson, and Rob Cohen. Mark Johnson, CEO of Star, says, “Before the program formally launched, there were important early discussions that helped shape its direction. Those conversations were foundational in aligning industry needs with an academic partner that could support a forward-looking, design-driven curriculum.”
FIT was chosen because it’s a public institution in New York City, which is one of the world’s culture zeitgeists with unmatched and unlimited access to design, culture, retail, community, and experiences that are all influential on the experiential and event industry. As a public college, FIT aligned heavily with the EDPA’s mission to broaden access and opportunity to individuals across backgrounds. The school had a strong undergraduate program in interior design and spatial design with a heavy emphasis on retail, which meant it was already equipped with individuals who had the expertise to help shape the program in events.
By 2005, the first class of seven students were accepted and graduated by 2006. Since its inception, the program has gained a robust following and support network. In a press release from October 1st, 2025, students have partnered with experts not only in the tradeshow and event industry but with museums and other public facilities including but not limited to, “the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and National Museum of American History, The New York Public Library, Gotham Park, the National Justice Museum, UK, and Wildlife Conservation Society.” (FIT Master of Fine Arts press release released October 1, 2025).
Advice: Recognize that the opposite of tradition is design.
“What tradition do you want to hold up and say, does this still fit our needs, or is it time to let things go? To break with tradition is to design new ways of being in the world.” – Ed Rodley
In the 20 years that the program has existed over 100 students have graduated. Some have pursued careers in museums, retail, film, and art, but many have continued on to work in experiential and event design. Many alumni have went on to join companies who are members of the EDPA. Notable members of the second cohort include Katina Rigall of Classic Exhibits, who now acts as a member of the advisory board for the program.
Rigall moved from the west coast to NYC with two suitcases and a dream. She said, “The program was in its infancy, so I witnessed shaky first steps and incredible growth at the same time.”
Rigall built relationships with the EDPA and Society for Experiential Graphic Designers (SEGD) which she has maintained to today and thrived. She is only one of the many success stories of the program.
Joseph Delaunay, graduate of the 2022 cohort, works at Access TCA. He describes the program as unique, challenging, and rewarding. “I’ve been through a wide range of spatial design and fine arts classes, but this program has a special blend of multidisciplinary concepts. Each class felt like an open melting pot of ideas and perspectives. This created a healthy environment for expression and critique. It made the sleepless nights all the more worth it to bring my ideas to a welcoming cohort.”
Sven Johnson, graduate of the 2026 Cohort, recently accepted an offer with Star Exhibits. He joined the program as a way to pivot from his previous career in architectural and interior illustration. Excited to learn the ways that his background in architecture can be applied to tradeshows, Johnson says that the most important thing he learned in the master’s program was, “how experiences, activities, and objects that people connect to emotionally, have a real ability to create a story in a spatial environment– one that people will deeply feel and remember.”
The program has gone on to foster lasting relationships and allows for students to advance not only their study but careers with a defined path.
Mark Johnson says, “For two decades, the FIT program and EDPA have shared a relationship built on trust, respect, and genuine care. The collaboration has produced not just graduates, but friendships, professional growth, and meaningful impact.”
Advice: Remember that everything is a designable surface.
“When I remember that everything is a designable surface, from meetings to problem solving, I gain the freedom to think. It drove the responsibility of design, because if everything can be designed then the choice to do so is a conscious path towards change.” – Ed Rodley
The master’s program is a two year intensive where students are placed into a series of courses learning topics ranging from visual design to how to use the latest software. They are taught to conceptualize, market, and execute a design. Each student leaves the program with a technical tool kit and a portfolio highlighting their expertise and inspiration as a designer.
The curriculum has had to evolve to match the rapidly changing industry, design trends, and methods that audiences engage with exhibits and events. Despite this, some things have stayed the same. Students have studio work each semester and master 3D concepting and 2D graphics. They design a tradeshow exhibit, retail showroom, museum exhibition, and traveling exhibit. Then in their last year, they create a thesis project.
According to Rigall the 3D and 2D skills she obtained have been the foundation of every project she designed over the last 19 years. Rigall said, “The program was incredibly practical, like an intensive bootcamp that propelled me into the design career I currently have.”
Classes are designed around advanced tools while looking closer to sustainability and business areas such as project management and business development. They offer courses in social action as well as a course that looks into the psychology of experience and how people experience spaces.
“We run industry sponsored projects where students work directly with companies and sites where the students create a project with a real client, real brief and show hall regulations and parameters. Students are learning how to navigate site regulations, budgets as well as understanding materials and fabrication methods for the show site,” explains Christina Lyons, chair of the program.
Delaunay highlights that the most important thing he learned at the program was not a technical skill but what it meant to be an exhibition and experience designer. “I thought I knew due to my skills in spatial design and the fine arts, but I was missing what made us different from architects. I learned to look at a space through the visitor’s journey as a human experience of emotion and storytelling.”
Students work as teams on projects with multiple designers while consulting with their instructors and outside mentors. For Delaunay this gave him confidence in a professional setting to discuss with designers in the field and feel like an equal.
The diversity of the program in terms of backgrounds, world views, and skills allows students to grow in new ways. Delaunay said, “It opened my mind to many perspectives and made me consider the iterative process of design with all its players.”
Mark Johnson further emphasizes this point as a foundational keystone of the program, “The program intentionally brings together students and faculty from multiple design disciplines, breaking down silos that often exist in our industry. This cross-pollination of ideas, tools, and approaches fuels innovation and encourages experimentation—exactly what experiential design requires.”
Starting in 2026, the Master of Arts program will transition to a terminal Masters of Fine Arts degree. Transforming from a three semester program into a four semester program, the program will become more intensive and provide a variety of new experiences including enhanced studio experiences, additional internship opportunities, professional speaking engagements, publishing opportunities, grant acquisition assistance, and additional qualifications for research and job positions. Students will be pushed to dive deeper into the perspectives surrounding design and expand not only their foundational knowledge but accomplish expanded research into their fields of interest.
Advice: Understand that it’s not what you know, but what you are willing to learn that will make your career.
“Being okay with not knowing, but moving ahead, is scary. Dreams cause anxiety, but that which scares you should not hold you back. Get over it and do it anyway.” – Ed Rodley
The FIT program is the only graduate program and one of three college level degrees in the country. While its impact on the industry cannot be understated, there is far more work to be done to develop more programs and more schools. Education is something that must be continuously pushed and advanced if the impact is to be increased. There is no easy way to become a viable and actionable career path to students, and it’s only by awareness and supporting programs like FIT that the industry can be seen.
For FIT, the master’s program has not had it easy either. The partnership between the university and the EDPA has required ongoing funding and scholarship support, volunteers, mentors and advisors, speakers, and advocates. Despite these challenges, FIT and the EDPA have risen to the occasion. Additionally, each year at ExhibitorLIVE the students are supported in attending so that they may present their portfolio on the conference show floor, which has resulted in internships and future jobs.
The EDPA and FIT’s future is bright. Described as a “love affair” the two plan to continue their partnership and grow it together. Whether through mentors and funding or connections to the real-world, the relationship between the two organizations will take the students beyond and push them further.
Query: How will you be a good ancestor?
“Being a good ancestor is recognizing that design won’t always fit perfectly. It is being mindful about knowing where things will end up. It is recognizing behavior and choosing not to behave badly. It is noticing the downstream effects of our actions and adjusting accordingly.” – Ed Rodley
Annually, the FIT Exhibitions & Experience Design program hosts its Capstone Event the second week of December. This networking event is an opportunity for industry professionals to scout out new prospective hires, while providing key insights and feedback to the masters students.
The event itself allows the community to get involved with the students in a more intimate way. Each new connection is one that allows the student to develop their network of support and grow as designers. Cowan says that these relationships and the EDPA scholarships, “drive admissions, keep students invigorated and supported throughout their studies, and attract new applicants to the program.”
At its core, however, the program and the Capstone Event center around one word: storytelling. Beyond technical work or introspections on design the students are nurtured into storytellers. They are asked how design tells a story, how that story can be perceived, and, most importantly, how to leave a lasting impression on all those who interact with their designs.
There is a lot that can happen in 20 years. The entire world has changed, and it will once again in the future. Yet, with the continued support of the industry, programs like FIT can continue to grow and flourish. With each new voice, and each graduating student, the impact with continue to swell until it becomes undeniable. The program and ones like it will continue to assist in promoting and supporting the events and exhibitions industry, making sure that others know that it exists until it is no longer invisible.
As Ed Rodley suggested, the best lessons learned are not those that experts can impose but the advice paid forward by those who have been cultivated by the caring hands who helped them. When asked what they could tell future students, the former students became ancestors said this:
“Take advantage of living in New York, see all the sites, eat all the food, experience everything you practically can.” – Katina Rigall, MA 2007
“Have faith in your skills as a designer.” – Joseph Delaunay, MA 2022
“Consider your audience, specifically in terms of what motivates you.” – Sven Johnson, MA 2026.
“[The industry has] seeded and cultivated a deeply connected and continuously relevant connection with FIT, that will outlive us all,” Dana Esposito, executive vice president of BlueHive Exhibits, says it best, “This program encourages education, networking, growth, support, future workforce, mentorship, and friendships and relationships built on trust. We have created the best kind of legacy.”
To help be a mentor, or fund the scholarships and students, contact your local EDPA chapter. To learn how to become a judge for the FIT Capstone Event or if you’d like to advance your education visit https://www.fitnyc.edu/academics/academic-divisions/graduate-studies/exhibition-design/ or contact gradadmissions@fitnyc.edu.
