Pratt Institute's facilities team has engaged an independent contractor, specializing in disaster recovery. Pratt administrators and staff members have been working around the clock with the contractor since Friday to secure and weatherproof Main Building and to begin the clean up and restoration process. The building remains closed, however, artwork and other personal items will be professionally removed, stored, tagged, and distributed by the appropriate departments as soon as possible. An official ruling on the cause of the fire in Main Building has not yet been determined. It is expected that the probable cause will be announced within the next two weeks once the investigation is completed. The Institute will provide the Pratt community with updates as they become available.

Assistance to Affected Students

Pratt's first priority in all of its planning is to ensure that those students who have been most affected are working again as soon as possible, particularly the students who lost studios and work. The Institute will provide Utrecht gift cards to each of the senior fine arts students with a studio on the sixth floor of Main Building as well as to junior and sophomore students who had supplies in classrooms and lockers on the fifth floor. Utrecht also will provide additional gift cards to seniors and will donate a significant amount of materials to be distributed by the Fine Arts department.

Class, Studio, and Office Relocations

Pratt Institute staff worked tirelessly through the weekend to relocate 40,000 square feet of needed space in just a matter of days. Thanks to their efforts, all Pratt classes were held Monday as scheduled in their new spaces. The Institute has also designated space for the offices that were affected and those relocations were assigned and communicated over the weekend. Pratt is in the process of finalizing space designs for relocating the senior fine arts studio spaces with the goal of getting studios ready for students as quickly as possible. The Institute will continue to explore other options for a longer-term solution.

Donations

As Pratt's fire recovery process continues, many students, faculty and staff, parents, alumni, and friends have inquired about making a contribution in support of this effort.  Tax-deductible contributions can now be made on the Institute's secure giving website at www.pratt.edu/give. Donations made to the Recovery Fund will be directed first to cover the immediate needs of students and faculty who experienced losses as a result of the fire. Over the longer-term, this Fund also will help in the rebuilding efforts to restore Main Building.

Also, the Institute will continue to pursue inquiries about additional in-kind contributions of supplies and materials as well as other offers. All inquiries and offers of gifts in-kind should be directed to mainrecovery@pratt.edu, and these efforts will be coordinated for distribution by the Fine Arts department according to demonstrated needs of those affected by the fire.