New York City Commissioner of Culture Laurie Cumbo, who was a visiting assistant professor from fall 2001 to fall 2009 in the Arts and Cultural Management program at Pratt Institute, spoke about Broadway Week on Eyewitness News Mornings. Cumbo was also featured in Our Time Press. “Economically, cultural institutions are great drivers for the economy,” she said. “So if neighborhoods really want to thrive, it’s critical that they have a cultural institution there.”
The Daily Hub
A roundup of ideas and projects from around the Institute
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Zakariya Abdul-Qadir, MFA Fine Arts, Painting/Drawing ’25 is featured in the Art Newspaper about an exhibition at Haul Gallery. “The exhibition’s only painting, Zakariya Abdul-Qadir’s Bound by threaded dreams (2025), a rough-hewn portrait of a seated man, utilises unstable materials in a bid to render the work less desirable to acquire. The artist used non-archival paint applied to an unprimed support made from two canvases stitched together like the seam on a baseball; each element will hasten the work’s deterioration over time. The painting nonetheless sold during the opening (for $300), but its impermanence undermines its potential to be an asset whose value appreciates in perpetuity.”
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Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Practice Carlos Motta received a Ruth Award, which recognizes “extraordinary, critically engaged artists who approach their practices with continuous inquiry, imagination, and rigor.” The $100,000 award notes that “alongside videos and sculptures, the multidisciplinary artist produces social spaces for conversation that bring solace and knowledge to participants and audiences.”
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Cofounder and CEO of Acelab, Vardhan Mehta, BArch ’18, made Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for transforming construction with AI.
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Associate Professor in the School of Information John Lauermann was invited to join the editorial board at the journal Urban Geography.
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¡LLÁMENME ROBERTO! (Call Me Roberto!), a nonfiction picture book illustrated by Professor of Undergraduate Communications Design Rudy Gutierrez, was named to the Bank Street Mejor Libro Infantil/Best Spanish Language Picture Book List 2025.
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An exhibition by John Lehr, associate professor of photography, was reviewed in Whitehot Magazine and Collector Daily.
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The Mellon Foundation included Adjunct Associate Professor of Undergraduate Architecture Scott Ruff in an article about preserving the Coles House and Studio by architect Robert Traynham Coles. Ruff co-leads the Coles House Project. “This is a demigod as far as I am concerned . . . and there’s an opportunity to continue his legacy?” said Ruff. “Even though I have so many other things I’m doing, why wouldn’t I drop almost everything else and say, yes, this is important?”
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David Burney, academic director of urban placemaking management; and visiting associate professor in the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, published an opinion piece in Common Edge about public housing in Manhattan.
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Visiting Assistant Professor of Film/Video Suneil Sanzgiri’s film, Two Refusals (Would We Recognize Ourselves Unbroken?), was reviewed in Dissent. Another film by Sanzgiri, What is Owed?, was featured by Prism in an article about the stakes of climate change. What is Owed? “interrogates the systems of power at the heart of climate change’s energy imbalance.”
More Pratt Institute News
Pratt Students Respond to W.E.B. Du Bois
Celebrating shared threads of inquiry, current Pratt students engaged with the groundbreaking work of W.E.B. Du Bois.
Pratt Architecture Graduates Are Building the World Around Us
From Pratt Institute News
For over 70 years, Pratt Institute has been preparing architects to shape the world we live in, from the homes and schools that anchor neighborhoods to the parks, infrastructure, and civic spaces that bring communities together.
Pratt Alumni Reunite on the Court for Annual Basketball Game
From Pratt Institute News
Alumni Bernard Chang and Kadir Nelson were both honored during the event for their ongoing dedication to Pratt’s basketball program.