Students and faculty at Parsons The New School for Design were denied access to parts of the university’s Times Square building for three weeks this February due to filming for the reality television show, Project Runway. Though most of the show's filming is done when school is not in session, filming has taken place for three weeks in February every season, each time causing parts of the building to be blocked off.
The building is primarily used for students and teachers of fashion design. According to Mark Hannah, Director of Academic Communications at Parsons, the floor which was blocked off contains only an auditorium and a common seating area for students.
“No classrooms or studios or other students rooms are affected. The only use students have on this floor is sitting in the entrance lobby,” said Mr. Hannah. “Since there are no classes on this floor the filming did not affect any classes.”
Students and faculty who use the building regularly, however, described the situation differently. According to Janelle Abbott, a sophomore who is studying fashion design at Parsons, the filming spread further than the auditorium and common room on the second floor.
“They took up like a floor and half,” claims Abbott. “They took over the auditorium and common room on one floor and three classrooms on other floors.”
The blocking off of student space seems to have annoyed a number of students and faculty. As acknowledged by Mr. Hannah, the common area for students was blocked off, a lobby where many relax or do homework in between classes. While Abbott says that she generally uses the space just once a week, many students use it frequently. Danielle Frankel, also a student of fashion at Parsons, is one of these students, and found the filming to be a nuisance.
“There are tables set up on that floor that we use to do work during breaks and there is only one other small area in the [building] that students can sit at tables, so that was annoying,” states Frankel.
The floor is used by students for other purposes as well, despite Mr. Hannah’s claim that the second floor’s only student-used area is the common room.
“Some people were upset because there is a lightbox there, one of the few in school, and they couldn’t use it,” says Frankel.
Other uses of the floor include the seating area in the auditorium, where most filming takes place; one teacher, who wished not to be identified, teaches her classes there and claims that the filming has affected her ever since the show began. Although the professor describes the show’s production crew as very nice and respectful, she finds the filming bothersome and described one incident where she had to teach a class in a small section on the side of the auditorium because the rest of the room had been set up for the show’s filming.
The administration is apparently oblivious to this, as Mr. Hannah stated that “there is no programmed student usage of the floor.”
Besides the crew’s infiltration of the auditorium, she claims that teaching on the third floor can be difficult during filming, as the sound booth is located on this floor and foot traffic can distract students.
“We are still a school and my number one concern is for the students to have zero distractions during my class,” she stated.
Other complaints included the fact that filming blocked students off from using the stairways. Abbot explained how students have to walk a few feet across the second floor to get to the rest of the stairs, but were stopped by production members.
“They made you go back down and stand and wait for the elevator,” says Abbott. Usually, she said, she takes the stairs, and loses time when she is forced to take the elevator.
“Really snobby girls were telling me I couldn’t use the stairs,” she claims. “I was like, ‘But this is my school!’”
The occurrence of such inconveniences in the building have naturally led to discussion about Project Runway’s affect on Parsons. The show is a competition reality show, where fifteen or so fashion designers are selected every season and compete in challenges. The last few designers are given the opportunity to present a fashion line at New York Fashion Week; the ultimate winner usually wins money and some sort of a contract to help them launch their own fashion label.
The show has been filmed at Parsons since it started in 2004, and the show’s contestants and hosts frequently make references to the university.
“I think it is a very good show and great publicity for our school,” states the Parsons teacher. “To the outside world, we are in the coolest place to be!”
Mr. Hannah also described Project Runway as having a positive affect on Parsons’ reputation.
“[The show] exposes Parsons internationally and that attracts students from around the world. We think this is a good thing,” says Mr. Hannah.
But the students don’t necessarily agree that Project Runway has helped Parsons, despite bolstering its reputation.
“I don’t think the association is good because it raised tuition. Also, many more people want to study fashion now, because of the show. There isn’t enough room though, so during foundation year [teachers] actively try to deter students from the fashion program,” states Abbott.
Frankel agrees, recalling how, during the freshman foundation year at Parsons, faculty tried to make the fashion major sound intimidating to students, even saying during orientation that a large percentage of would-be fashion students would drop out before graduation.
Regardless of the show’s affect on the Parsons reputation, however, the actual filming of the show seems to be the more pressing issue to students and faculty.
“One of the ladies who was on the production crew rudely told me that I could not be [on the second floor],” says Frankel. “I felt like saying, ‘This is my school!’ It was like someone telling me I couldn’t be somewhere in my own home.”
There also seems to be an apparent disconnect between the administration and those who regularly use the building, as Mr. Hannah’s description of the situation, which stated that filming does not take over any student-used areas besides the common area, greatly differs from the accounts of students and teachers. According to them, the auditorium is often used as a classroom, and production also took over a number of classrooms and other student facilities, like the light box, in addition to blocking the stairways.
Because the tuition for Parsons is so expensive, many students felt that the floor restrictions were unfair, especially because Project Runway doesn’t provide Parsons students with anything in return.
“Project Runway really should do something for Parsons students, like a seminar with [the show’s host] Tim Gunn. They should give something back,” says Abbott. “Or, maybe if I paid another $30,000, they would let me take the stairs.”
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