Profile: Tyler Prendergast

An illustration of one person standing with their arms outstretched and one person sitting at a computer. The words "Staff Profile" are above their heads.

Tyler Prendergast is the communications manager for Emerson’s Engagement Lab (ELab). For those who aren’t familiar with the ELab, most of the work takes place within Social Impact Studios, classes in which Emerson students and faculty collaborate with community-based organizations to develop a deeper understanding of social issues and co-create narrative interventions and solutions through art, media, and communications. The ELab facilitates two to four Social Impact Studios per semester; about 70 Emerson students and 30 community partners have participated since the first Studio took place in Spring 2022. The ELab team also runs the Social Impact Design minor and the Media Design graduate program. 

Additionally, the ELab hosts public events to showcase the projects that are co-created within each studio and cultivate a greater awareness of its projects both on campus and in the broader community. “Our team at the Engagement Lab is incredibly dedicated, intelligent, and driven to make a tangible impact in the lives of those who are most affected by issues like gun violence and climate change,” said Prendergast.

Within the ELab, Prendergast’s primary role is to support the two social impact initiatives: Transforming Narratives of Gun Violence and Transforming Narratives for Environmental Justice (which is launching this fall). Both initiatives are focused on collaboration with local community-based organizations in Boston but have the larger goal of sharing their collaborative model with institutions and organizations across the country. 

On a day-to-day basis, Prendergast manages the ELab’s social media accounts, designs print and digital promotional materials, and coordinates newsletter publications with the rest of the team. This summer, Prendergast has been working with colleagues to redesign the ELab’s website to better showcase its robust history of civic engagement and research projects, as well as the projects created in each semester’s Social Impact Studios. During the school year, Prendergast also manages a team of student communications assistants, whose roles include writing, video editing, and more. “Collaboration is at the core of everything we do, and that is true both in our work with external partners, faculty, and students and also as a close-knit core staff—it’s been clear since I started that my voice is valued in our discussions, and I particularly love the feeling of coming to consensus on a solution after problem-solving together as a group!” said Prendergast. 

Prendergast grew up in Saugus, Massachusetts, and graduated from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts with a double major in English/communications and fine & performing arts. Prior to starting at Emerson in October of 2022, he was Company One Theatre’s marketing and communications manager and was very involved with Boston’s professional theater scene. 

Prendergast now lives with their partner (who happens to be an Emerson alum) and loves to see plays—particularly new work by young local playwrights that pushes the boundaries of the theatrical form, like those celebrated by Company One Theatre, Fresh Ink Theatre, and The Theater Offensive. He tends to read anything by Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, Akwaeke Emezi, N.K. Jemisin, Carmen Maria Machado, and Ali Smith. He also enjoys writing and staying on top of all things RuPaul’s Drag Race!

Camryn Ciancia ’24