Dr. Mary McBride, chair and professor of creative enterprise leadership, highlights the critical challenge of our time in a recent article for Soda Zine, Engineering the Unsettled: Why Positive Turbulence Is Our Century’s Greatest Design Task. She emphasizes the power of positive turbulence as an opportunity to creatively design a future grounded in collaboration, equality, and hope. Dr. McBride calls on leaders and innovators to harness this moment of uncertainty to move beyond despair and build a more inclusive and hopeful world through design and leadership.
The Daily Hub
A roundup of ideas and projects from around the Institute
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Dana-Marie Bullock, MFA ’25, is a 2025 Silver Art Resident. “At Silver Art Projects, the selected artists will be given the opportunity to expand their practice and amplify their work without the impediment of expensive New York City studio space.”
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Eugene Kim, MArch ’26, is a recipient of the 2025 Center for Architecture Design Scholarship. “This recognition means a lot to me, especially as I continue to explore what it means to design with empathy, clarity, and purpose that I have been pursuing since the first day I decided to pursue spatial design,” he told the School of Architecture News Page.
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Danielle Shumskas, BFA Fine Arts (Painting) ’25, was chosen for the Byrdcliffe Artists-in-Residence program, which provides exceptional artists with “uninterrupted creative time” at the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony in Woodstock, NY.
![A headshot of a woman with long brown hair, looking at the camera. She stands in front of a white wall.]()
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“Unveiling” by Alanna Fields, MFA Photography ’19, was listed among the “Queer Standouts” at Contact Photography Festival 2025 by Yohomo. “Her interest reaches backward to a time before she was born—long before our contemporary moment, in which queer identities and iconography are increasingly detached from their origins, commodified, and casually tried on at will.”
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Professor of Fashion Design and Black Dress exhibition co-curator Adrienne Jones spoke to Essence about this year’s Met Gala, its theme “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” and the history of Black fashion design and styling. “There’s more than three colors in the crayon box,” she said. “Where was the vibrancy? I think of African tailors, of Caribbean elegance—rich color, texture, vibrance. That’s what I wanted more of.”
![Portrait photo of a woman with dark skin, long dreadlocks swept to one side, and wearing round glasses. She is dressed in a fitted black blazer with multiple buttons and patterned blue-and-white pants. She accessorizes with layered silver bracelets, hoop earrings, and a long pendant necklace. The background is a concrete wall, suggesting an urban setting, and she looks confidently toward the camera. Photo credit: Anthony Artis.]()
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Nidhi Jairam, BID ’28, was awarded second place in the 2025 IESNYC Student Lighting Competition. Honorable mentions were awarded to Estefania Martinez-Aleman (Fefi), MID ’26, George Batska, BID ’27, and Zara Braun, BID ’27.
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President Frances Bronet is featured on the 2025 Power Players in Arts & Culture list by PoliticsNY and amNewYork. She reflects on the civic and economic role of the arts in New York City and the ongoing Pratt Shows 2025. “It’s my favorite time of year – Pratt Shows season. These public exhibitions showcase the culminating work of our graduating students across disciplines. Vibrant, urgent, and thoughtful, the shows celebrate years of creative inquiry, imagining new futures, and offer a glimpse into what matters most to the next generation of artists, designers, architects, and creative thinkers.”
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Hyperallergic reviewed Part II of Pratt’s Fine Arts MFA thesis exhibition Inside/Out. “The spatial fissures in the work of Pratt’s 2025 MFA graduate students resonate in what feels like an increasingly disjointive time,” writes Daniel Larkin. “By challenging viewers’ perception of space to gesture towards these indeterminate horizons, these artists open up a new view to think through these perilous times.”
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Adeeba Rana, MSLIS ’13, was interviewed by New York’s PIX11 about the reopening of the The Bedford Branch Library, where she is the branch manager. “Bed-Stuy is full of artists and thinkers and makers, and really this community flourishes when there’s a library space to help those things happen.”
More Pratt Institute News
Workplace Ready: Project SEARCH Interns Graduate
New York City high school students received career training through Project SEARCH, a national program focused on workforce-readiness for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Pratt Names Courtney Knapp New Chair of the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment
From Pratt Institute News
An award-winning scholar and professor in the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment’s Urban and Community Planning program, Knapp will assume the role on July 1, 2025, succeeding Eve Baron, who is stepping down to join the full-time faculty.
Alumni Harvey Fierstein and Paul Tazewell Shine at the Tony Awards
From Pratt Institute News
Esteemed writer and actor Harvey Fierstein was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the theater; Oscar-winning designer Paul Tazewell won for Best Costume Design in a Musical.