PRATT LAUNCHES ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Alumni tour the studio and workshop facilities at 3RD WARD during the launch of the Pratt Alumni Association.Pratt has officially launched its Alumni Association, allowing all degree-holding Pratt graduates to receive discounts and benefits at select Pratt facilities and New York City cultural institutions.

Among the key benefits Alumni Association members receive is a 15 percent discount on a membership to 3RD WARD, an art and design studio for creative professionals in East Williamsburg; 3RD WARD membership includes admission to courses, the use of photo studios, a professional wood and metal shop, a digital media lab, a jewelry studio, shared and private workspaces, and more.

The Alumni Association launch took place last month at 3RD WARD, where about 75 alumni networked over cocktails and light refreshments while enjoying music by DJ Derrick Adams (B.F.A. Art and Design Education ’96). They were also taken on guided tours of 3RD WARD’s 20,000-square-foot facility.

The Alumni Association offers other benefits to Pratt graduates, including a discount on courses given by Pratt’s Center for Continuing and Professional Studies, discounted membership at Pratt’s athletic center, and free entry to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Museum, Museum of Arts and Design, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Pratt’s Office of Alumni Relations staffed a table where graduates could log into and explore alumni.pratt.edu, get information about the new and improved alumni benefits and services, and enter a raffle for an iPad.

For more about the Pratt Institute Alumni Association, visit alumni.pratt.edu.

Photos: Kevin Wick

MEDIA COVERAGE SURVEY RANKS PRATT TOP ART AND DESIGN COLLEGE

Pratt Ranks 14th Overall in U.S. and 5th in New York State

For the second consecutive time, Pratt Institute has been ranked number one among the country’s colleges of art and design for the quantity and quality of its coverage in global print and electronic media, on the Internet, throughout the blogosphere, and in social media outlets, according to the Global Language Monitor’s (GLM) TrendTopper MediaBuzz^TM Winter/Spring 2011 Rankings, which also lists Pratt as 14th among all colleges in the entire U.S. and fifth among all colleges and universities in New York State for its overall media presence. Pratt was the only college of art and design in the country out of the top 20 listed in the college category.   

Pratt was awarded the distinction of “Top Art and Design School” according to GLM's “Best of Class” rankings, which list schools that are either first in the overall rankings or first in a specific classification, an honor first bestowed on the Institute by GLM in its July 2010 rankings. 

The Institute was ranked 14th among all colleges in the U.S. for its overall media presence, up from 16th in the July 2010 rankings. Pratt was ranked higher than any other college of art and design, including Cooper Union (26), School of the Art Institute of Chicago (36), Rhode Island School of Design (43), School of Visual Arts (51), California Institute of the Arts (101), California College of Art (125), and Corcoran College of Art and Design (153). There were a total of 153 institutions of higher education included in the rankings.

Pratt was also ranked fifth among all colleges and universities in New York State for its overall media presence. Columbia University, Cornell University, Juilliard School of Music, and Vassar College were ranked first through fourth, respectively.

“In the rapidly changing communications and media environment of the early 21st century, you cannot rely on television surveys, at-home interviews, newspaper clippings, or television mentions to measure the worth of a brand,” write the editors of the report. “Today the methodology must encompass the Twitters and YouTubes of the world as well as the tens of millions of blogs, the billions of Web pages, as well as the top global print and electronic media.”

GLM began its rankings system several years ago after noticing a number of biases built into supposedly non-biased studies that resulted in college and university rankings. The organization created the TrendTopper MediaBuzz Analysis in order to measure a college’s value according to its brand equity, which it defines as the value a consumer bestows upon a product. Rankings come out twice a year.

GLM used its Predictive Quantities Indicator software that utilizes a proprietary algorithm for the TrendTopper MediaBuzz Analysis. Its mathematical model allows GLM to make statistically significant comparisons among the various measurements and allows it to gauge the relative values differing institutions are assigned by consumers as well as measures of how that value changes over time.

PRATT SHOW OPENS MAY 10 AT MANHATTAN CENTER

View of the 2010 Pratt ShowPratt Institute will present Pratt Show 2011, an annual juried exhibition of exceptional design work by over 300 of Pratt’s graduating students from May 10 through May 13 at The Manhattan Center located at 311 West 34th Street. The show will be open on Tuesday, May 10 from 9 AM to 5 PM; Wednesday, May 11 and Thursday, May 12 from 9 AM to 9 PM; and Friday, May 13 from 9 AM to 1 PM. Pratt Show 2011 is free and open to the public.

There will be a special champagne reception for design industry professionals from 6 to 9 PM on Tuesday, May 10. Tickets to the reception are free but required for entry, along with business credentials. There will be a reception for friends and family of participating students from 6 to 9 PM on Wednesday, May 11.

Inside The Manhattan Center, Pratt Show 2011, juried by Pratt faculty, will feature the best work by students in various programs at Pratt including advertising, digital arts, fashion, graphic design, illustration, industrial design, interior design, jewelry design, and package design. Pratt Show 2011 is designed to give industry professionals and the public a chance to see the best work of students in Pratt’s design programs, many of whom will go on to become masters in these industries. In 2010, nearly 1,000 design professionals attended the exclusive Pratt Show reception due to its reputation for displaying the latest new talent in art and design in New York City. 

The Manhattan Center is convenient to Penn Station and Madison Square Garden and is easily accessible by subway and car. The closest subways are the A, C, E, 1, 2, 3 at 34th Street stations. There are parking lots on 33rd and 34th streets near Eighth and Ninth avenues.

For those who cannot attend the Pratt Show and want to see the outstanding work of graduating students and alumni, Pratt has set up a link on its website at pratt-talent.com, a searchable database of some of the best portfolios in the world. For more information on Pratt Show, call 718-636-3506 and press 2 for reception.

Photo: Amanda Adams-Louis