About Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute
200 Willoughby Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11205

Pratt Institute, located in Brooklyn, New York, is one of the most prestigious art, architecture, and design schools in the world. And New York City is home to more artists than any other city in the world.  Founded in 1887, Pratt Institute prepares its more than 3,000 undergraduates for rewarding and successful careers in art, design, fashion, architecture, and writing.

With a 25-acre tree-lined campus in Brooklyn and a campus in Manhattan, the art and literary capitals of the world, as well as an upstate Utica, New York, extension campus, Pratt offers students state-of-the-art facilities with the best possible equipment, materials, software, fabrication facilities, printing, and space for them to work, as well as access to museums, galleries, restaurants, vintage shops, and all that Brooklyn and Manhattan have to offer.

The Institute’s historic, landscaped campus in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn is home to all of the Bachelor Degree programs except Construction Management, which is located on the Manhattan campus, where all of the Associate Degree programs are also located.

A wide variety of majors and concentrations—from traditional arts to the most contemporary digital arts and design—enables students to explore all their interests with minors, including a new entrepreneurship minor, and electives in different departments, leading to extraordinarily complex work that is influenced by different disciplines. Pratt’s programs are consistently ranked among the best in the country. Pratt’s faculty and alumni include the most renowned artists, designers, and scholars in their fields. 

As one of the world’s multicultural epicenters for arts, culture, design, technological innovation, and business, New York City provides Pratt students with an exceptional learning environment that extends beyond the Pratt campuses, from internships at design firms and art galleries to museums and concert halls.

The mission of Pratt Institute is to educate artists and creative professionals to be responsible contributors to society. Pratt seeks to instill in all graduates aesthetic judgment, professional knowledge, collaborative skills, and technical expertise. With a firm grounding in the liberal arts and sciences, a Pratt education blends theory with creative application in preparing graduates to become leaders in their professions. Pratt enrolls a diverse group of highly talented and dedicated students, challenging them to achieve their full potential.

A DISTINGUISHED FACULTY

Pratt’s more than 1,000 faculty members are award-winning professional artists, designers, architects, and writers who mentor their gifted students to achieve comparable success. These faculty members expect that Pratt students will meet the same high standards upheld in their professional work. With different views, methods, and perspectives, they all share a common desire to develop each student’s potential and creativity to the fullest—to graduate competent and creative professionals who will shape the world to come. Faculty serve as important connections when students are ready for employment or internships.

Cultural Partnerships in New York City

The Institute has created partnerships with a number of major cultural institutions so students may take advan­tage of the vast opportunities in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Students participate in collaborative work as part of their curriculum or through class visits. On their own, Pratt students may visit free of charge.

The Brooklyn Museum has an impressive permanent collection that includes the Egyptian art collection and the Asian collection. The museum puts on several contemporary—and often local—art exhibitions each year. The “First Saturday” of each month is a day of special events when the museum is free to the community.

Open year-round, the adjacent Brooklyn Botanic Garden features one of the most impressive Japanese gardens outside of Japan, capturing nature in miniature: trees and shrubs, carefully dwarfed and shaped by cloud pruning, are surrounded by hills and a pond. The Cranford Rose Garden features 5,000 bushes of 1,200 varieties of roses.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music, popularly known as BAM, is at the vanguard of theater offerings. Productions ranging from performance art and independent films to stylized Shakespearean productions are available to Pratt students at discounted rates.

In Manhattan, Pratt students also enjoy visiting these institutions where admission fees are waived: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; the Frick Collection; the Museum of Arts and Design; the Museum of Modern Art; The Jewish Museum; and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Minors and Combined Degrees

Students interested in taking electives in departments outside their majors have a wealth of options. Additionally, Pratt offers a variety of minors. See our Pratt Academics page for a full list of minors. First-year and transfer applicants may apply to the combined undergraduate/graduate degree (BFA/MA) in Art and Design Education (art teacher certification).

Study Abroad Programs

Pratt’s study abroad provides firsthand exposure to some of the most vibrant international centers of art, design, and architecture. Programs include Copenhagen, Havana, Rome, Tokyo, and Venice.

For more information on individual programs, contact Maria Soares, Director of Study Abroad and International Partnerships, at msoares@pratt.edu,
or go to Study Abroad.

Exchange Programs

Pratt maintains school exchange programs with some of the best schools of art, design, and architecture in the world. Pratt currently exchanges with 15 partner schools in different countries. The Institute’s emphasis on diversity and the global exchange of knowledge is reflected in the selection of distinguished schools in the Netherlands, Germany, England, Israel, Italy, Australia, Japan, Korea, Scotland, and Sweden. They include Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts Berlin, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Bauhaus University, and Musashino Art University. Pratt students spend a semester at the partner institution taking a program of classes in fine arts and design or architecture uniquely tied to the history and traditions of the country. These exchanges are arranged on a semester basis for qualified students. For more information, go to our Office of International Affairs page.

If you are a Pratt student and you are interested in an exchange program, contact Maria Soares, Director of Study Abroad and International Partnerships, at msoares@pratt.edu.