What’s Hunter College’s connection to the late, great actor and humanitarian Grace Kelly?
Our many, many alumni winners of the Princess Grace Awards, which seek to identify and elevate emerging talent in theater, dance, and film through game-changing grants.
The latest is Integrated Media Arts alum Haisi Hu MFA ’25, winner of the Princess Grace Award for Animation for her thesis project, Unplug, which explores the psychological and social effects of humanity’s disconnect from nature. The award, issued by Princess Grace’s eponymous foundation, comes with $15,000 and often includes other opportunities, such as residencies.
“The Princess Grace Award has been a transformative milestone, elevating my place in the artistic community and connecting me with a larger cohort across film, theater, and music,” Hu said. “With its support, I can continue developing animation projects and sharing them with wider audiences. I am especially grateful to my Hunter College community, whose support of my thesis project and invaluable guidance made this recognition possible.”
The awards underscore Hunter’s role as an anchor institution providing high-impact training and opportunities for its diverse students.
“Hunter has a long history with Princess Grace, which has recognized the work and future potential of our Integrated Media Arts graduates since the early days of our program. It’s a reflection of the creativity and social engagement of the students we attract, as well as the unique interdisciplinary experience they have during their time here,” said Integrated Media Arts Chair Kelly Anderson.
“Congratulations to Haisi, whose incredible animation work is so deserving of this award!”
Hu expands traditional animation by mixing Claymation and hand drawings, creating surreal worlds in which she explores quintessential human dramas. Born in China, she immigrated to America as a teenager. She teaches animation to high-school students and works as a film technician at Cooper Union School of Art, where she got her BFA. Her Claymation films are shown internationally and locally, including Animation Nights New York and Brooklyn Film Festival.
Hu joins at least 10 other Hunter alumni who have won the award since 2009, nine from Integrated Media Arts.
They include:
- Lauren Holmes MFA ’23, who won the 2024 Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship,
- Wendy Cong Zhao, who won the 2023 award for film and animation,
- Kate Lyn Matthews IMA ’22, who won the 2022 Wendy Ferguson Film Honor of Distinction
- Megan Rossman MFA ’18, who won a 2017 Princess Grace Graduate Film Scholarship
- Iva Radivojevic MFA ’14, who won two Princess Grace Awards, including the 2017 Princess Grace Special Project Award.
- Lindsey Cordero MFA ’17, who won the 2015 Princess Grace Film Honorarium,
- Alexander Ramirez-Mallis MFA ’15, a part-time faculty member who won the 2014 film honorarium,
- Esy Casey, who won the 2012 award for documentaries, and
- Kalim Armstrong MFA ’11, a former Hunter adjunct instructor, who won the 2009 documentary award.
“Princess Grace’s jurors are clearly prescient in their selections. Every one of our past winners has gone on to make their own distinctive contribution to the documentary and narrative filmmaking fields,” Anderson said. “We are so incredibly grateful for their early career support for these vital members of the independent media community.”
