For four years, seniors at Pratt Institute expected to showcase their work at a juried show in Manhattan, an end-of-the-year tradition that attracts hundreds of art professionals who could be their potential bosses. But this year, some students say the best they can expect is a last-minute show held at the school gym in Brooklyn — and even that may not happen.

Every May, more than 300 graduating students are selected to showcase their portfolio of work in the exhibition in the Manhattan Center in midtown. Called Pratt Design, formerly known as the Pratt Show, the annual exhibit has been the high point of senior year for three decades. But in late January, Pratt’s provost sent an unexpected and unwelcome email informing students that the Brooklyn-based school would no longer hold its annual show.

Students say they believe money woes are behind the show’s cancellation. “There are budget cuts happening this semester and in the years to come,” said Schuyler Klein, the president of the Student Government Association. “So it’s not just because they felt like it.”

In protest, students have started a petition on change.org titled “Objections to the Pratt Show Cancellation.” In the first 24 hours, the petition received over 1,000 signatures and by the end of Wednesday, was half way to the students’ goal of 5,000 signatures. Nearly two dozen students also held a sit-in protest Wednesday morning in North Hall, the location of Provost Peter Barna’s office. Later, the students cornered Barna as he was leaving for the day and gave him a list of demands. He said he would read them later, said one of the students, Nichole Jackman, 23, a senior communications design major.

“One of the reasons why I was drawn to Pratt was because of the Pratt Show,” said Jackman. “It’s something that’s been on the minds of the students since freshman year.”

In his Jan. 21 email to students, Barna said that “the Institute will not organize this annual event and instead will encourage departments to present work from graduating students on the campus (Brooklyn and Manhattan) or in off-site venues of their choice.”

Barna’s email also stated that he intended “to work with each of the affected departments to provide support for a new vision of outreach and inclusive exposure for the excellent work of their scholars.” In a second email Wednesday morning, he said that Pratt was simply changing the venue and format of the show into a series of smaller shows in Brooklyn, which will be titled Pratt Shows 2015. Barna could not be reached for comment.

Klein said the student government was completely unaware that such a decision was being considered. “There was no real transparency with the administration,” said Klein.

Barna will host an open forum on Feb. 24 with other Pratt officials to discuss the decision but has declined any other meetings with students.

Alumni say canceling the show could hurt seniors’ chances of getting jobs. “The Pratt Show has equity as an annual event in New York’s advertising, editorial illustration, architectural and industrial design industries,” said Kenny Eicher, a Pratt alumnus and vice president of The CSI Group. “Pratt’s administration risks damaging their relationship with their prestigious alumni network and NYC’s design industry as a whole.”

The switch to a Brooklyn location is a problem, alumni say. “Many art directors and book editors live uptown or in the Tri-State area, so an event at Pratt after work would not be convenient for them,” said Annie Ericsson, a Pratt alumna and designer at G.P. Putnam’s Sons and Nancy Paulsen Books. “Unless you live off the G train, people really have to make an effort to travel to the Brooklyn campus.”

“It will become an internal event for professors and parents, which would be really unfortunate,” said Eicher. “The power of the Pratt Show was that it was an external event.”

Originally published at columbiajournalist.org on February 19, 2015.