Throughout the years, we have attempted—when budgets and resources have allowed—to create opportunities for fellowships and residencies. We did not intend for the fellowships and the residencies to be perpetual endeavors, not even necessarily sustained over extended periods, but as bursts of opportunities for colleagues and our creative practitioners.
This has included an early Fuse Fellow, the Interdisciplinary Fellow, and a residency sponsorship at the Center for Book Arts. The Fuse Fellows program was intended to host one scholar/artist/academic researcher whose work was directly related to interdisciplinary and integrative learning. Prof. Nancy Budwig was the inaugural Fuse Fellow. As the pandemic hit, we put a pause to this Fellowship and hope to relaunch it, perhaps with different functions. The Fellow was invited to share their work with various groups within the Pratt community, and conduct workshops around integrative learning, especially with the PIC faculty.
The Center also endeavors to provide residency opportunities for students, as well as faculty, by partnering with various institutions. The sponsored residency at the Center for Book Arts in NY, for example, provided an opportunity for one student and one faculty member with demonstrated interest in the book arts—and active in the Book minor (for students) or teaching in one of the departments with courses in the book minor (for faculty)—to apply for the residency. Experience in book arts was not necessarily required, as cross-disciplinary practitioners were encouraged to apply and engage with the offerings, the workshops, and the resources of the CBA.
Always excited about possibilities and, simultaneously, aware of budgetary limitations, we continue to explore sponsorships of residencies for our faculty, staff, and students, in addition to partnering with other entities and units to support or generate fellowships.