Bard Alumnae Awarded Guggenheim Fellowships for 2026
L–R: Alva Rogers MAT ’12 (photo by Dawoud Bey), and Sadie Wechsler ’07.
Two Bard College alumnae, Alva Rogers MAT ’12 and Sadie Wechsler ’07, have been awarded 2026 Guggenheim Fellowships by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Rogers was awarded as a fellow in Drama and Performance Art, and Wechsler was awarded as a fellow in the field of Photography. Chosen through a rigorous application and peer review process from a pool of nearly 5,000 applicants, 2026 Guggenheim fellows were tapped based on both prior career achievement and exceptional promise, and each receives a monetary stipend to pursue independent work at the highest level under the freest possible conditions. Edward Hirsch, president of the Guggenheim Foundation, wrote that this “new class of Guggenheim Fellows is representative of the world’s best thinkers, innovators, and creators in art, science, and scholarship,” adding that the Foundation is “honored to support their visionary contributions.”
MAT Alva Rogers ’12 is a dramatist, vocalist, puppeteer, and founder of Alva Puppet Theater. She creates theatrical work that fearlessly addresses the often hidden, unacknowledged emotional and physical labor of people of color, particularly women. Rogers’ work has been presented on stages including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Joseph Papp Public Theater, Here Arts Center, Dixon Place, Seattle Repertory Theater, Actor’s Express Theater, The O’ Neill Puppetry Conference and others; exhibited in selected museums and festivals including the Museum of Modern Art, The Brooklyn Museum, Walker Art Center, The New Museum and the Spoleto Festival, USA. She has been the recipient of grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Jim Henson Foundation, Meet the Composer, and received fellowships in performance and playwriting from The New York Foundation for the Arts and a New York Dance and Performance Bessie Award.
Sadie Wechsler ’07 is an artist working primarily with photography. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally and was included in Format Festival England and Beijing and Out of Sight Seattle. She has been included in group shows at SAD gallery, Johalla Gallery, Aperture Gallery, Belfast School of Art, Photoville, and Newspace Center for Photography, and has had solo shows at DeSoto Gallery and Gallery 4Culture. Wechsler has received the smArt Ventures Grant from the City of Seattle, Arts3C, and Make Learn Build Grants from the Regional Arts and Culture Council. She has been an artist in residence at PLAYA at Summer Lake, Anderson Ranch Art Center, the Arctic Circle Expedition, and the USCG Healy. Her work can be found in the collections of the Yale University Library, the Hammer Art Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Frye Art Museum, and the King County Portable Collection.
Post Date: 05-05-2026
MAT Alva Rogers ’12 is a dramatist, vocalist, puppeteer, and founder of Alva Puppet Theater. She creates theatrical work that fearlessly addresses the often hidden, unacknowledged emotional and physical labor of people of color, particularly women. Rogers’ work has been presented on stages including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Joseph Papp Public Theater, Here Arts Center, Dixon Place, Seattle Repertory Theater, Actor’s Express Theater, The O’ Neill Puppetry Conference and others; exhibited in selected museums and festivals including the Museum of Modern Art, The Brooklyn Museum, Walker Art Center, The New Museum and the Spoleto Festival, USA. She has been the recipient of grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Jim Henson Foundation, Meet the Composer, and received fellowships in performance and playwriting from The New York Foundation for the Arts and a New York Dance and Performance Bessie Award.
Sadie Wechsler ’07 is an artist working primarily with photography. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally and was included in Format Festival England and Beijing and Out of Sight Seattle. She has been included in group shows at SAD gallery, Johalla Gallery, Aperture Gallery, Belfast School of Art, Photoville, and Newspace Center for Photography, and has had solo shows at DeSoto Gallery and Gallery 4Culture. Wechsler has received the smArt Ventures Grant from the City of Seattle, Arts3C, and Make Learn Build Grants from the Regional Arts and Culture Council. She has been an artist in residence at PLAYA at Summer Lake, Anderson Ranch Art Center, the Arctic Circle Expedition, and the USCG Healy. Her work can be found in the collections of the Yale University Library, the Hammer Art Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Frye Art Museum, and the King County Portable Collection.
Post Date: 05-05-2026