When Aubrey Brown (Certificate ‘18) first visited PAFA as a potential student, he sat in on a class and met first-year student Anne Bryan.

“I remember feeling that she was somebody I wanted to get to know,” he said.

Bryan’s young life was tragically cut short when she was killed in the Salvation Army Thrift Store building fire and collapse on June 5, 2013, at 22^nd and Market Streets in Center City. Five others died and 14 people were injured in the collapse.

As a student at PAFA, faculty described Bryan as the one who pushed her teachers with probing questions to be their best and who lifted up fellow students who were struggling. Her legacy of helping others lives on through the Anne Bryan Memorial Award.

Established by Bryan’s mother, Nancy Winkler, the Anne Bryan Memorial Award assists PAFA students to realize their potential as practicing artists. Students may use the $5,000 award to develop business plans, travel, research, create a web and social media presence, rent space for a working studio or pop-up gallery, initiate an artist co-op or join a cooperative gallery, purchase material or equipment needed to create work, and produce objects for sale.

As he graduates from PAFA, Aubrey Brown receives the honor named for the first friend he made at the Academy.

“It really hit me when I heard about what happened. It was really shocking,” he said. “It really means a lot to me to get this.”

The award will help Brown as he embarks on a career as an illustrator. He plans to develop a business in selling work to publications in the field and to market actual pieces to fans at conventions and art fairs. The funds he receives will help him set up a marketing plan, create an online selling platform and social media promotion campaign, and purchase tables and display hardware that will be used at the conventions.

“Here at PAFA I’ve gotten advice from our resident illustrators, and in my classes with Jessica Abel [Chair of the Illustration program],” he said. “Between the fourth year independent study and the professional practice course, I have gained a solid understanding of the fundamentals of starting a freelance art business, and a much greater sense of control over my own career.”

In its four-year history, the Anne Bryan Memorial Award has helped young artists make a mark at the beginning of their careers. Fernando De Jesus, the first awardee, recently completed a commissioned sculpture of a glassblower, which will be placed in the town square in Glassboro, NJ in July.

Another previous recipient, Brittany Bennett, used her award to develop her practice as a scientific illustrator and led to her current life as a graduate student in Medical and Biological Illustration at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Last year’s recipient, Fang Fang Ren, used the funds to travel to Berlin to work with refugees from the Syrian crisis and to create work based on her interactions with refugee families.

Bryan’s memory will be further honored with the dedication of the June 5 Memorial Park on June 5, 2018, at the former Salvation Army site. The memorial was designed by PAFA alumnae Barbara Fox.