Four Bard College Faculty Awarded New York State Council on the Arts Grants
Clockwise from left: Mara Baldwin, Gwen Laster, Tania El Khoury, and Jacqueline Goss.
Four Bard College faculty members have been named as recipients of grants from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) for 2026. NYSCA Support for Artists grants were awarded to Mara Baldwin, visiting artist in residence in studio arts; Tania El Khoury, distinguished artist in residence in theater and performance and director of the Center for Human Rights and the Arts; Jacqueline Goss, professor of film and electronic arts; and Gwen Marie Laster, visiting artist in residence in music. The NYSCA grants are intended to increase access to arts funding and recognize the substantial economic and social impact of New York state’s arts and culture sector.
Baldwin will be awarded a grant in support of her new work for an exhibition from May through June of 2026 at the Garrison Art Center, where she has been selected as a visiting artist. Her work will explore the figure of the “Rover,” from a Girl Scout camp song of the same name that, for Baldwin, evokes the pull between conflicting desires for connection to oneself and community. Baldwin notices that the Rover wanders alone while still being connected to their people and is curious about the plausibility of loneliness as being essential to understanding and knowing oneself. Baldwin’s installation will feature drawings, collage, and papier-mâché sculpture to visualize the Rover’s path and to explore the inner workings of imagination and solitude. The grant will also help fund the production of two related artist publications, which will be printed through the support of the Women's Studio Workshop in Rosendale, New York, where Baldwin was a fellow in 2023.
El Khoury's Mise en Abyme is an intimate interactive installation staged on a small desk inside public libraries. Guided by sound, scent, and touch, participants discover excerpts of books and hidden messages left by previous readers. The work traces how literature shapes culture and the ongoing history of banned and censored books. It also considers loneliness as a defining epidemic of the twenty-first century, and how it surfaces within late-stage capitalism. Mise en Abyme is a love letter to public libraries, to daily acts of resistance, and to knowledge shared as a public resource.
Goss will receive a grant in support of a short experimental narrative film project that takes inspiration from a 1970s conceptual artist. The work engages with larger questions about artistic life, visibility, and the uneven ways certain artists and forms gain recognition—themes that will be framed within the vibrant and important social and cultural climate of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Laster’s grant will support the creation of new music for her work titled “Is My Black Still Beautiful: Reflections on a Childhood in Detroit,” a mixed-media staged play with original music, storytelling, dance, and projected visuals. The work explores the global complexities of Colorism, a discriminatory practice within one’s own ethnic group based on a person’s complexion and skin tone, through the lens of a Black girl reared during the post–civil rights movement in Detroit. The music spans various genres from contemporary classical to Motown, blues, soul, R&B, and jazz—both free and traditional. “Is My Black Still Beautiful” will premiere in late fall 2026 and early 2027 at the Philipstown Depot Theater and Mabou Mines, NYC.
Post Date: 12-09-2025
Baldwin will be awarded a grant in support of her new work for an exhibition from May through June of 2026 at the Garrison Art Center, where she has been selected as a visiting artist. Her work will explore the figure of the “Rover,” from a Girl Scout camp song of the same name that, for Baldwin, evokes the pull between conflicting desires for connection to oneself and community. Baldwin notices that the Rover wanders alone while still being connected to their people and is curious about the plausibility of loneliness as being essential to understanding and knowing oneself. Baldwin’s installation will feature drawings, collage, and papier-mâché sculpture to visualize the Rover’s path and to explore the inner workings of imagination and solitude. The grant will also help fund the production of two related artist publications, which will be printed through the support of the Women's Studio Workshop in Rosendale, New York, where Baldwin was a fellow in 2023.
El Khoury's Mise en Abyme is an intimate interactive installation staged on a small desk inside public libraries. Guided by sound, scent, and touch, participants discover excerpts of books and hidden messages left by previous readers. The work traces how literature shapes culture and the ongoing history of banned and censored books. It also considers loneliness as a defining epidemic of the twenty-first century, and how it surfaces within late-stage capitalism. Mise en Abyme is a love letter to public libraries, to daily acts of resistance, and to knowledge shared as a public resource.
Goss will receive a grant in support of a short experimental narrative film project that takes inspiration from a 1970s conceptual artist. The work engages with larger questions about artistic life, visibility, and the uneven ways certain artists and forms gain recognition—themes that will be framed within the vibrant and important social and cultural climate of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Laster’s grant will support the creation of new music for her work titled “Is My Black Still Beautiful: Reflections on a Childhood in Detroit,” a mixed-media staged play with original music, storytelling, dance, and projected visuals. The work explores the global complexities of Colorism, a discriminatory practice within one’s own ethnic group based on a person’s complexion and skin tone, through the lens of a Black girl reared during the post–civil rights movement in Detroit. The music spans various genres from contemporary classical to Motown, blues, soul, R&B, and jazz—both free and traditional. “Is My Black Still Beautiful” will premiere in late fall 2026 and early 2027 at the Philipstown Depot Theater and Mabou Mines, NYC.
Post Date: 12-09-2025