Advance registration is required. Schedule is subject to change.
COVID-19 Protocols: We expect all visitors on campus to be fully vaccinated and to bring a mask with them in the event that they are asked to wear one. However, visitors do not need to wear a mask to enter buildings on campus. Those who are not fully vaccinated must receive a negative COVID test result before arriving on campus. In advance of your arrival to Bard College, we ask that you kindly monitor your current health. In the event you are not feeling well, we ask that you remain at home. If you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or have been in close contact with a person with a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 in the past 5–10 days, please also refrain from coming to campus. The Stevenson Athletic Center gym facilities remain closed to visitors; at this time visitor access is limited to observing sporting events.
Friday, May 26
Registration
Pick up your tickets for the weekend’s events, a campus map, and a schedule. A limited number of on-site barbecue tickets will be available for purchase until 3 pm Saturday. $28 per person, $12 per child 4–12, free for children 3 and under.
New Annandale House
Bard Rugby Fest and Alumni/ae Games
Join the Bard College Rugby team as they host the Bard Rugby Alumni/ae Association for the annual alumni/ae games! All are welcome.
2 pm Touch Rugby Tournament
3 pm Rugby Alumni/ae Game
Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer and Lacrosse Complex, north field
Concert
Bard College soloists and composers in concert with The Orchestra Now (TŌN), Leon Botstein, conductor. No reservations required. Seating is first come, first served.
Sosnoff Theater, Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts
Saturday, May 27
Registration
Pick up your tickets for the weekend’s events, a campus map, and a schedule. A limited number of on-site barbecue tickets will be available for purchase until 3 pm Saturday. $28 per person, $12 for children 4–12, free for children 3 and under.
New Annandale House
Memory and History: The Legacy of Alfred Spitzer and Edith Neumann
German and Austrian paintings from the turn of the 20th century, a bequest to Bard College from Dr. Edith Neumann.
Levy Economics Institute, Blithewood
Brunch
For graduating seniors, their families, guests, and alumni/ae.
$15 per person, $8 per child 4–12, free for children 3 and under.
Main Dining Room, Kline Commons
Graduate Programs Brunch
For Class of 2023 graduates of the Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture; International Center of Photography–Bard Program in Advanced Photographic Studies; Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts; Bard Center for Environmental Policy; Center for Curatorial Studies and Art in Contemporary Culture; Master of Arts in Teaching Program; Vocal Arts and Graduate Conducting Programs of the Bard College Conservatory of Music; Master of Business Administration in Sustainability; Levy Economics Institute Graduate Programs in Economic Theory and Policy; Master of Music in Curatorial, Critical, and Performance Studies, The Orchestra Now (TŌN); MA in Global Studies; MA in Human Rights and the Arts; and their guests. Advance registration required. $25 per person, $8 per child 4–12, free for graduates, faculty/staff, and children 3 and under.
Blithewood south lawn
Commencement
Commencement Exercises
1 pm
Tent opens for seating
Commencement Tent, Seth Goldfine Memorial Rugby Field
2:30 pm
Academic Procession
Alumni/ae from reunion classes are invited to join the Class of 2023, trustees, and faculty in the procession to the Commencement tent. (Academic attire is required.)
Formation at Annandale Road, south of the Chapel of the Holy Innocents
Livestreaming of Commencement
Weis Cinema, Bertelsmann Campus Center, and Olin Auditorium, Franklin W. Olin Humanities Building
3 pm
Commencement Ceremony
Celebrate the Classes of 2023 and the awarding of honorary degrees. James C. Chambers ’81, chair of the Board of Trustees of Bard College, presiding, and the Right Reverend Andrew M. L. Dietsche, officiating. A professional photographer will take photos of graduates receiving their degrees. Families of graduates will be contacted by Genesee Photo Systems to purchase images. For safety reasons, standing in the aisle is prohibited during the ceremony.
Commencement Tent, Seth Goldfine Memorial Field
Commencement Barbecue
Gather with family and friends.
$28 per person, $12 for children 4–12, free for children 3 and under. Advance reservations recommended. Cash bar.
Blithewood north lawn
Dance to Eight to the Bar
Bard’s favorite graduation dance band gives it up for new graduates, alumni/ae, and families.
Blithewood north lawn
Jazzfest
Annual gathering of jazz-loving alumni/ae musicians.
Everyone is welcome.
Blum Hall, Edith C. Blum Institute, Avery Arts Center
Fireworks
Stake your spot on the lawn and lie back for the best fireworks show in the Hudson Valley.
Blithewood west lawn
Stereo Moonrise Vinyl Lounge: The Al Fresco Alumni/ae After-Party
Coming back to main campus, follow the sounds of pop, rock, soul, funk, disco, and hip-hop, courtesy of DJs ARM 18 (Andrew McIntosh ’97) and Boogie Knight (Pablo Salinas ’97). Dance with friends, relax on the benches or by the fire pits, and visit the magic bus. All are welcome. Cash bar.
Anna Jones Memorial Garden (Rain location: Fisher Studio Arts)
Sunday, May 28
Alumni/ae Memorial Service
In honor of alumni/ae, faculty, and special friends of the College who died during the past year.
Officiants: Bard College Chaplaincy
Chapel of the Holy Innocents
Alumni/ae Brunch
Join Bard President Leon Botstein and KC Serota ’04, president of the Bard College Alumni/ae Association Board of Governors, for a celebration brunch. All are welcome. Remarks at 11:30 am. $25 per person, $8 per child 4–12, free for children 3 and under. Advance registration recommended.
Kline Commons
Meeting of the Bard College Alumni/ae Association Board of Governors
New graduates and all alumni/ae interested in volunteering for alumni/ae committees and programs are cordially invited to attend.
Faculty Dining Room, Kline Dining Commons
Land Acknowledgment for Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson
Developed in cooperation with the Stockbridge-Munsee Community
In the spirit of truth and equity, it is with gratitude and humility that we acknowledge that we are gathered on the sacred homelands of the Munsee and Muhheaconneok people, who are the original stewards of the land. Today, due to forced removal, the community resides in Northeast Wisconsin and is known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. We honor and pay respect to their ancestors past and present, as well as to future generations, and we recognize their continuing presence in their homelands. We understand that our acknowledgment requires those of us who are settlers to recognize our own place in and responsibilities toward addressing inequity, and that this ongoing and challenging work requires that we commit to real engagement with the Munsee and Mohican communities to build an inclusive and equitable space for all.
This land acknowledgment, adopted in 2020, required establishing and maintaining long-term, and evolving, relationships with the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians. The Mellon Foundation's 2022 Humanities for All Times grant for “Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck” offers three years of support for developing a land acknowledgment–based curriculum, public-facing Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) programming, and efforts to support the work of emerging NAIS scholars and tribally enrolled artists at Bard.