Welcome to Art & Design Alumni Association
About Us

The Art and Design Alumni Association is an organization comprised solely of volunteers. No one is paid a salary, although we are allowed, by law, to hire an Executive Director and have a paid staff. We, like you, are graduates of SIA and A&D who come from a variety of backgrounds and professions and meet on a monthly basis.
000Our purpose is to help the students of the High School of Art and Design, not only with scholarship awards at graduation, but also as a sponsor of student art competitions and student activities; to offer career guidance by arranging for alumni to come in to various classes to speak about their work and careers; to help with portfolio grading at the end of the school year; to set up mentoring programs; and to encourage the donation of goods and services to the school.
000We receive most of our funding through membership dues, and although we have been the recipient of donations from various corporate sponsors, our primary support comes from you, our alumni, who join the Association.
000We do not have massive funds, but we have learned to be resourceful. We were able to have Tiffany & Co., which has hired many graduates from our school over the years, contribute to our Alumni Art Show in 1991 and to the student fashion show in 1995. The Alumni Association raised unprecedented funds for that event by creating a program for the fashion show and selling ads in the program. We also procured numerous art books, art magazine subscriptions, and museum gift memberships for door prizes at our art reception, received donations from the Strathmore paper company for our invitations, and also arranged a rent-free fundraising event at Kodak's ICP gallery, in exchange for a technical demonstration.
000The Alumni Association has long been a grass-roots organization and has an erratic history. Many of us recall ads in our yearbooks saying, "A dollar will be a lifetime membership", and saw years go by following graduation without a word of contact. But the tide began to change in the mid-1980s. A new group of volunteers emerged. The group included two faculty members, and they worked hard to re-establish the association. A 25th anniversary celebration was held at Art & Design in 1985, bringing together many graduates who had not been seen or heard from in decades. And in October 1990, a major fundraising was held at the National Arts Club, where more than 370 alumni attended, some of whom flew in from across the country for the event. The president of the association then retired and passed the baton on to a new group of volunteers.
000In an effort to catch up with years of struggle and turnover, we chose to make the effort to become a tax-exempt, not-for-profit corporation. We sought the help of the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts for the process, and with input from the Stuyvesant High School Alumni Association, received our Letter of Determination in August 1995.
000On October 4, 2001, the Art and Design Alumni Association held the largest reunion in alumni history in honor of our school's 65th birthday, the Grand Reunion.Over 600 alumni and faculty attended. It was a major undertaking and one that required many hands and hearts to become a reality.
___In the fall of 2011 our school will celebrate its 75th birthday, and the Alumni Association plans to hold another major fundraising celebration. We hope to see you there, and we hope you will help support our work to assure the future of the High School of Art and Design.
Alumni Association Scholarship Program
Since June 1990 the Alumni Association has given cash awards at graduation: to a student who has consistently excelled in art and to a student who has consistently excelled in architecture. Our first awards amounted to just $25 each. They have since been increased to $300 or more, thanks to your support. Click here to view the scholarship awards.