News & Events
Multispecies Lab Collective Show and Tell 2026
November 13: In person at The New School Hirshon SuiteNovember 14: Online (register for the link) The Multispecies Lab Research Collective brings together scholars, designers, artists, and practitioners exploring how human relationships with more-than-human life might be reimagined.Our annual Show and Tell is an opportunity to share ongoing research, creative practices, and works in progress. Through informal presentations and discussion, we will learn from one another's approaches, identify shared questions, and explore collaborations that can shape the Lab's collective work in the coming year. This gathering is intended for Collective members and people interested in joining. We also warmly welcome members of The New School community interested in multispecies inquiry and in becoming part of the Collective. Website: https://www.multispecieslab.net/
MFA Interior Design Radically Inclusive Interiors and Spatial Inclusion Lab | Rituals of Belonging Events
Join us for a transformative series of public events hosted by the Parsons MFA Interior Design program and the Spatial Inclusion Lab, centered on radically inclusive interiors and spatial belonging. Taking place across November 9th, 16th, and 19th with ten (10) interactive affinity events, and culminating in a public exhibition across The New School campus on December 7th, this initiative invites participants to rethink traditional interior design paradigms and explore how spaces can be shaped by inclusivity, health, and joy. MFA Interior Design graduate students are redefining interiors as “action settings,” a framework inspired by Sarah Hendren’s What Can a Body Do?. Prioritizing spatial justice and radical access, this approach evaluates interiors not by decorative style, but by their capacity to hold and facilitate interactions of care, equity, and mutual support. Through agency, love, and respect, the studio interrogates who the built environment truly serves—challenging existing architectural barriers across intersections of gender, race, disability, neurodiversity, body shape and size, mental health, culture, age, indigeneity, spirituality, and marginalized experience.This exhibition and series of spatial activations showcase graduate research centering diverse community perspectives. With student designers representing over 17 countries, the cohort values lived experience as a primary engine of design innovation—pushing beyond standard compliance and ADA requirements to celebrate a full spectrum of human identities, abilities, and embodiments. Join us to reimagine interiors as sanctuaries of inclusive belonging for all.The Spatial Inclusion Lab at Parsons addresses the intersection of:Gender, Disability, Race, Neurodiversity, Body Types & Fat Positivity, Mental Health, Spirituality, Culture & Heritage, Age, Indigeneity, Sexuality, and the Built Environment.Click here for more details on each group’s time, location, and sign ups.Faculty:Michele GormanKimberly TateJulian (Camilo) Trujillo MoralesTeaching Assistants: Omar Seda and Isac BlucherThank you to MFA Interior Design Director, Arianna Deane, Constructed Environments Dean Cotter Christian, Facilities, Safety and Space Planning Team: Directors Paul Gottlieb and Kelly Powell and Vice Dean of Infrastructure and Planning, Adam Parker.
CD Lecture Series: Betty Wang
Betty Wang is an art director, designer, and educator working across editorial, branding, and visual culture. She holds a BFA from RISD and an MFA in Graphic Design from Yale. She was previously an Art Director at Elle Magazine and Apple, and has a design practice that works with clients across fashion, architecture, art, music, and technology.https://bettywang.studio/@studiobettywang
What Are People For: NYC Premiere
Join Parsons School of Design at The New School on November 17, 2026 for the New York City premiere of acclaimed design documentarian Gary Hustwit’s (Helvetica, Objectified, Urbanized, Rams, Eno) new short film, What Are People For: Design Philosophy by Patrick Whitney.What Are People For is a multimedia project offering a 360-degree view of a system designer’s life and legacy. What Are People For serves both as a portrait of a visionary thinker and a timely meditation on the role design can play in shaping a more meaningful and democratic future.The screening will be followed by a conversation with director Gary Hustwit, producer Ashley Lukasik, and additional speakers.Tickets are free for Parsons School of Design and The New School students with a valid student ID.🎟️ Reserve your tickets here!Doors at 7:30pm 🟡 Screening at 8pm 🟡 Filmmaker conversation at 8:30pmSocial Media Tags@mur.mur.ring@gary_hustwit
In Conversation with Jessica Morgan: On Museum Administration and Building a Curatorial Career
The event will feature a conversation with Jessica Morgan, exploring her experience as a curator and museum director, the role of museum administration in shaping institutional vision, and the different paths toward building a curatorial career. Moderated by Margot Bouman, who will represent the student perspective, the discussion will address questions about entering the art world, navigating institutional structures, and developing a curatorial practice. The conversation will also include questions from students, creating an opportunity for direct dialogue between Jessica and the university community.
Arthur Ou
Arthur Ou is a Taiwanese-American artist and educator based in Queens, New York. His work is held in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Queens Museum. He has held solo exhibitions at venues including Eleni Koroneou Gallery in Athens, Greece (2019), Kathryn Brennan Gallery in New York (2017, 2015, 2013), IT Park Gallery in Taipei, Taiwan (2010, 2005), and Taipei Fine Arts Museum (2000). Ou’s work has been included in group exhibitions at the Grazer Kunstverein, Austria, LAXART, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit, the Presentation House in Vancouver, and the Queens Museum. His work was also included in the 2012 Daegu Photography Biennial, and the 2006 & 2023 Taipei Biennial. His work has been written about in Artforum, Art in America, the New York Times, and the New Yorker, and has appeared in Aperture, Blind Spot, Camera Austria, and The Photograph as Contemporary Art. He has written critical texts in Aperture, Art in America, Foam, and Osmos. Ou’s publications include The World Is All That Is the Case, an artist book published by Roma Publications. From 2019-2020 Ou was a faculty fellow in the Graduate Institute of Design, Ethnography, and Social Thought (GIDEST). He received a Guggenheim fellowship in 2024. Ou is the 2025-2026 William and Flora Hewitt arts fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.Part of the Fine Arts Visiting Artist Lecture Series
Climate Action Town Hall Fall 2026
To follow up on President Towers’ announcement, we would like to invite you to a virtual Climate Action Town Hall on Thursday, November 19, 2026, to present some of the plan specifics, share some exciting upcoming programs, and to hear your thoughts about how we can advance Climate Action at The New School! This will be the first in a series of meetings, both virtual and in person, to engage with our community as we finalize our Climate Action Framework for release in April 2027. Join Bhawani Venkataraman, Vice President for Climate and Environmental Justice and Associate Professor of Chemistry; Ashley Kossakowski, Director of Energy Management & Sustainability; Mike Harrington, Director of Sustainability Engagement; and Vitória Souza e Robles, Energy and Sustainability Student Specialist, to learn and discuss how we can create a community of climate citizens at TNS!Zoom meeting link: click here
Media Works! Alumni Spotlight on Lukas Brasiskis
Join us for a lively discussion with MA Media Studies alums who have made their mark working in diverse media-related fields. Learn about their journeys from The New School to the careers that sustain them. Pathways to success might surprise you! Moderated by Media Studies director, Amir Husak.Featuring: Lukas Brasiskis, MA Media Studies 2011, Curator / Writer / ResearcherLukas Brasiskis is Curator of Video and Film at e-flux, New York, where he programs e-flux Screening Room and the e-flux Film online platform and edits e-flux Film Notes. He was Artistic Director of the 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale and co-curator of the 14th Shanghai Biennale, Cosmos Cinema, and has guest-curated for the Museum of Modern Art, Anthology Film Archives, the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius, Tramway in Glasgow, among many other institutions. He holds a PhD in Cinema Studies from NYU and teaches at Columbia University and CUNY.Zoom link
Seeing Around Corners: Observations, Research, and Designing for the Future with Todd Bracher
How do designers design products that are relevant now and have the potential to remain relevant in the future? How do designers adapt to rapidly evolving technological, cultural, and economic conditions? And how do designers maintain a commitment to their own design philosophy while managing client expectations and constraints? Join us forSeeing Around Corners: Observations, Research, and Designing for the Future with Todd Bracher. Strategic designer Todd Bracher will open the evening with case studies from his new Phaidon monograph, Observations, Research, and Design. Drawing on 25+ years of multidisciplinary work, which includes collaborations with global brands such as 3M, Herman Miller, and Humanscale, Bracher reveals how a science-based approach can translate research and observations into products and solutions with high-stakes enterprise value and social impact. A panel discussion will follow featuring Inna Lobel (frog), a leader pioneering physical AI and intelligent hardware, alongside Rama Chorpash (Parsons). Together, they will explore how to turn deep observation and research into real-world impact.Bios:Todd Bracher is an industrial designer with more than 25 years of practice and over 200 products in production. His clients include Herman Miller, Knoll, Fritz Hansen, Cappellini, 3M, and Humanscale. He holds two dozen patents and is a three-time International Designer of the Year. His work rests on a principle he calls Design in Context: form follows function, function follows context. Phaidon published his monograph, Observations, Research, and Design, in 2026. A Pratt graduate and Fulbright Scholar, he earned his master’s at the Royal Danish Academy and spent a decade working in Copenhagen, Milan, Paris, and London before returning to New York.Inna Lobel is a design and innovation leader focused on shaping next-generation products and experiences. She leads frog's Physical practice across North America, spanning physical experience design, industrial design, and engineering. Her work focuses on translating emerging technologies into products people want and value, from early opportunity definition through development and launch. She has partnered with organizations ranging from early-stage startups to Fortune 50 companies. Before joining frog, Inna was a senior member of Apple's Product Design team, where she worked on early-stage product concepts and brought products to market. She is an inventor on multiple patents, a graduate of the MIT Media Lab, a recipient of the 2022 Women in Innovation Rising Star Award, and teaches entrepreneurship and human-centered design at NYU.Rama Chorpash is a generalist industrial designer and tenured associate professor who founded the MFA Industrial Design program at Parsons School of Design. His work, known for challenging frameworks of practice, has been exhibited coast to coast from the New York Museum of Modern Art to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. A Fulbright Specialist Alumnus, Chorpash’s projects have appeared in Scientific American, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. Elle Décor recognized him as one of the ten most influential people in design. Upcoming work includes participating as a jury member for the Spark Design Awards and acting as the external assessor for Lasalle College of the Arts / University of the Arts, Singapore. During his Spring 2027 Sabbatical, he aims to enhance his practical research on “manufacturing-in-place” by designing products that explore the tensions and interactions between local product development and global pressures.
MFA Photo Fall 2026 Open Studios
Parsons MFA Photography is thrilled to announce their Fall 2026 MFA Open Studios. We welcome members of the public and The New School Community. Our vibrant community of graduate students will open their creative spaces and be available to answer questions and discuss their work. Open Studios provides a rare opportunity to view works in progress and meet these artists in an informal setting. Visitors will gain insight into the diverse practices within our studio art program that embraces interdisciplinary experimentation, intellectual rigor, and innovation.We look forward to you joining us for this event.
In Conversation with Tiffany & Co.
Join us for a screening of the official Tiffany & Co. holiday short, “You & Me,” starring Amanda Seyfried, for which Lindsey Wood oversaw the creative development and execution of the campaign.Wood will discuss the business strategy behind the film and the craftsmanship that went into its cinematic storytelling.After the screening, she will take the audience behind the scenes of the campaign and the holiday marketing strategy at Tiffany & Co.Whether you’re headed toward brand, creative, production, constructed environments or design, you’ll come away with a clearer view of how business strategy and human craftsmanship work together to bring a campaign to life.Doors open at 1:00 p.m. The program begins at 1:30 p.m.
Design and Technology Cloud Salon: Colleen Macklin
Colleen Macklin is a game designer and a Professor in the school of Art, Media and Technology at Parsons School of Design. She’s interested in how games model and reveal ideologies through systems. At Parsons, she is the founder and co-director of PETLab, a design research lab that develops games for experimental learning and social engagement. PETLab projects include disaster preparedness games and sports with the Red Cross, the urban activist game Re:Activism and the physical/fiscal sport Budgetball. She is a member of the game design collective Local No. 12, known for the videogame Dear Reader and the social card game, The Metagame. She has co-authored (with John Sharp) Games, Design and Play: A detailed look at iterative game design (Addison Wesley Professional, 2016) and Iterate: Ten Lessons in Design and Failure (MIT Press, 2019). Colleen has a BFA in Media Arts from Pratt Institute, and an MA in International Affairs from The New School.The Design and Technology programs at Parsons present Cloud Salon, a lecture series that invites artists, designers, technologists, and industry professionals to present projects and to engage in direct conversations with participants. This semester Cloud Salon will focus on featuring full-time faculty at The New School with a creative practice at the intersection of Design and Technology.
Faculty of Systems & Cultures Visioning Workshop
The newly formed Systems and Cultures community will come together for a one-day visioning workshop to collectively imagine and shape our future. Through facilitated, participatory discussions, we will explore shared priorities, challenge assumptions, and develop ideas to inform our strategic direction and next steps.
RUFF CUTS 3 - FALL 2026
This event will be on campus. Registration is required. We are excited to announce the third RUFF CUTS of the Fall 2026 Semester, which will take place on Friday, December 04, 2026 from 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm at Room UL102 in the University Center, 63 Fifth Avenue. About RUFF CUTS Ruff Cuts is a monthly student-run series in which current students and alumni screen and discuss works-in-progress films. Presenters receive feedback on their work from the audience in attendance made up of fellow students as well as faculty members and invited film professionals. We usually screen an average of 7-10 films on a first come, first served basis. Deadline: Please submit your works-in-progress to ruffcuts@newschool.edu by Wednesday, December 2, 2026.Presented by the School of Art, Media, and Technology's MA Media Studies Program at Parson's School of Design.
Innovation Science Fair Fall 2026
Come check out incredible projects from the BBA program! The Fall 2026 Innovation Science Fair will have two sessions:Wednesday, December 9th at 12:30pmFriday, December 11th at 12:30pmWe look forward to seeing you there!
FutureWorks: Design in Progress
FutureWorks is the BBA’s annual open house, bringing students, faculty, alumni, and industry professionals together around works-in-progress by students from Parsons’ BBA Strategic Design & Management program.Explore emerging student research and discoveries, meet the talented designers behind the work, discuss the questions they’re exploring, and be inspired by the opportunities they make possible.Then join us for good food and even better conversation with the next generation of designers, question-askers, and future-finders.About the BBA Strategic Design & Management:The BBA Strategic Design & Management program at Parsons School of Design offers a world-class business degree from the #1 design school in the country. We prepare emerging designers to take on wicked problems that cross industries, geographies, disciplines, ideologies, and communities. We help students understand that all problems exist within dynamic contexts and systems and that responsible action requires learning from and designing with diverse stakeholders, not just shareholders.Our students, who come from all over the world, learn to match design thinking to design doing, to think both logically and associatively, to visualize their discoveries, to present and communicate in compelling ways, and to be critical and deliberate in how they choose to respond to today’s challenges and opportunities. In their time at Parsons, they also take courses in branding, design history, product and service development, innovation, law, finance, ethics, and team dynamics.
- The New School’s Archives and Special Collections Exhibit Highlights Outstanding Theses by Mid-20th Century Students Affected by Conflict and Displacement
- Parsons M. Arch Students Create Sustainable ADU’s for Design Workshop Course
- Mayor Zohran Mamdani Joins Tishman Center’s Climate Desk Live Event to Discuss Effects of Climate Change on New York City
- New School Undergraduates Imagine a Future to Run Toward
- Unknown Migrants Exhibition Recognizes the Undocumented Individuals Overlooked by 9/11 Memorial
- Aashita Verma, MFA Design and Technology ‘26, Designs Stamp for New York City Passport Program
- Julia Sonnevend, Associate Professor of Sociology and Communications at Parsons, Named Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Communication
- Henry VI at The Public Theater Showcases Collaboration Between Parsons and Performing Arts
- The New School’s Spring 2026 Semester in Books
- Parsons Healthy Materials Lab Showcases Healthy, Climate-Positive Products and Ideas at International Contemporary Furniture Fair
- The New School’s 90th Commencement Celebrates the Achievements of the Class of 2026
- Daniel Jonas Roche, Parsons Faculty Member, Co-Writes New Book on Antifascist Architecture
