Utica museum and Pratt Institute extension campus announces new name

MARCH 28, 2023. UTICA — Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute today announced that the Utica museum and arts organization will now be Munson and shared the first steps in a master plan to redesign its 10-acre, 25-building campus in the city’s downtown. 

Currently known as PrattMWP, the college of art and design at Munson will become Pratt Munson starting with the incoming class of the 2023-2024 academic year in August. Since 1999, Munson has partnered with the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn as an upstate extension campus to offer the same Pratt foundational curriculum.

“Munson is a cultural heart of the region and a vibrant arts destination. Our dynamic brand and bold blueprint for the campus were developed over several years. These changes build on our vision and strengths to prepare us to better serve the region for generations,” said Munson President and CEO Anna Tobin D’Ambrosio. 

Brooklyn design agency Order worked with Munson and its community to learn its history, mission, and vision to create a vibrant identity that honors the legacy of the 104-year-old organization and represents a lively outlook.

In addition to shortening the name, Order’s brand identity for Munson includes a new palette derived from lively color combinations found in archival Munson publications, and a custom revival style typeface inspired by the hand-lettering original to the 1960 Museum of Art building. 

International architecture and urban design firm Cooper Robertson, headquartered in New York City, assessed Munson’s campus and created a long-range plan for upgrades. The firm’s proposals for Munson include reimagined public green spaces, a potential cafe in the Museum, and a maker’s studio and updated studio classrooms for Munson’s School of Art.

Munson houses a permanent collection of more than 12,000 works, such as Hudson River School paintings, including Thomas Cole’s “The Voyage of Life”; 20th-century paintings by artists like Georgia O’Keeffe, Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock; and contemporary painting, sculpture and video. 

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Munson is an internationally recognized fine arts center in Utica, New York serving diverse audiences through a renowned Museum of Art, live performances and events, community arts classes, and PrattMWP, the upstate extension campus of the prestigious Pratt Institute.