Blithewood on the Bard College campus. Photo by Pete Mauney ’93 MFA ’00

Bard College Receives $25 Million Endowment Gift from Gochman Family Foundation Supporting Renamed American and Indigenous Studies Program

Bard College is excited to announce a transformational $25 million endowment gift from the Gochman Family Foundation, which will substantially advance its work deepening diversity and equity in American Studies with a Center for Indigenous Studies, faculty appointments and student scholarships, and the appointment of an Indigenous Curatorial Fellow at Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS Bard). An additional $25 million matching commitment by Open Society Foundations as part of Bard’s endowment drive will create a $50 million endowment supporting Native American and Indigenous Studies in undergraduate and graduate academics and the arts. The College’s American Studies Program will be renamed American and Indigenous Studies to more fully reflect continental history and to place Native American and Indigenous Studies at the heart of curricular innovation and development.

Dawn Lundy Martin. Photo by Shannon Greer

Distinguished Writer in Residence Dawn Lundy Martin Joins Bard Faculty as Full Professor

The Division of Languages and Literature is pleased to announce the tenured appointment of Dawn Lundy Martin to the faculty of Bard College as Distinguished Writer in Residence in the Written Arts Program at the rank of full professor. Her appointment begins in the spring 2023 semester. Dawn Lundy Martin is an American poet, essayist, and memoirist.

Sonita Alizada ’23 performs at the third annual Women in Conflicts event. Images courtesy European Council

Bard Senior Sonita Alizada Calls for Global Action Supporting Women and Girls in Conflict Zones, Joins European Council Event in Conjunction with UN General Assembly

Sonita Alizada ’23, Bard College student, international rapper, and human rights activist, participated in the European Council event “Women in Conflicts: Young Voices for Change” on Wednesday, September 21, performing original songs and speaking on a panel of youth advocates. The event featured young women survivors, activists, policymakers, and leaders working in conflict and post-conflict regions. Cohosted by UN Women, Nadia’s Initiative, and the Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation, the third annual “Women in Conflicts” event took place in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.

Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford ’07. Photo courtesy of Floating Museum

Art Collective Codirected by Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford ’07 to Curate and Direct Fifth Edition of Chicago Architecture Biennial

The Chicago-based Floating Museum, an art collective codirected by Bard alumnus Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford ’07, will serve as the artistic team leading the fifth edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, or CAB 5. Titled This is a Rehearsal, CAB 5 “will build on and expand the collective’s ongoing work,” writes Matt Hickman for the Architect’s Newspaper. “Floating Museum is organized to work at the intersection of disciplines, where civic participation inspires and shapes our process. It’s both a thrill and challenge to collaborate with the CAB as the artistic team of the 2023 edition,” said the members of Floating Museum.

Untitled wall drawing, circa 1981, Keith Haring artwork © Keith Haring Foundation.

$3.2 Million Given to Bard College Endowing Keith Haring Fellowship in Art and Activism in Perpetuity

Bard College has received $3.2 million to endow in perpetuity the Keith Haring Fellowship in Art and Activism, an annual faculty position that brings a prominent scholar, activist, or practicing artist to teach and conduct research within the Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS Bard) graduate program and the undergraduate Human Rights Program. The endowment is made possible by a grant of $800,000 from the Keith Haring Foundation and matching funds from the Marieluise Hessel Foundation and benefactor George Soros. The endowment coincides with CCS Bard’s permanent reinstallation of a Keith Haring wall drawing created during the artist's 1981 visit to the College. Bard simultaneously announced that writer Haytham el-Wardany has been named the 2022–23 recipient of the Keith Haring Fellowship and will be in residence on campus during the spring semester to teach and conduct research.

Carolee Schneemann, Eye Body: 36 Transformative Actions for Camera, 1963. Gelatin silver print, printed 2005 61 × 50.8 cm. Photograph by Erró. Courtesy of the Carolee Schneemann Foundation and Galerie Lelong & Co., Hales Gallery, and P.P.O.W, New York and © Carolee Schneemann Foundation / ARS, New York and DACS, London 2022. Photograph Erró © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2022

“Snakes, Scrolls, Swinging from Chandeliers”: Artist Carolee Shneemann ’59 Profiled in the Guardian

Novelist Stephanie LaCava profiles her friend, multidisciplinary artist, and Bard studio arts alumna Carolee Shneemann ’59 for the Guardian. Shneemann (1939–2019) was among the founding artists of the Judson Dance Theater, alongside the late Trisha Brown and Aileen Passloff (Professor Emerita of Dance at Bard). “Postmortem, the accolades come fast for Carolee. They were never so forthcoming when she was still pushing the limits of earthbound energy, inhabiting her body,” writes LaCava.

Nayland Blake ’82.

Got an Art Problem? Nayland Blake ’82 Can Help, Writes the New Yorker

As part of the 2022 Whitney Biennial, Nayland Blake ’82, “bearish, Merlin-bearded, soft-spoken in the manner of a blacksmith teaching kindergartners,” offers advice to artists as part of their performance series “Got an Art Problem?” Writing for the New Yorker, Hannah Seidlitz outlines Blake’s contributions to this year’s Biennial, including “Rear Entry” and “Gender Discard Party,” in which “guests were invited to ‘bring your own baggage’ and dance away the woes of classification.” With “Got an Art Problem?,” Blake schedules meetings with guests who are asked to “illustrate their art problems,” which Blake then talks through with the guest until their time is up. 

Martine Syms, DED, 2021, digital video (color, sound), 15:35 minutes. Image copyright Martine Syms, courtesy of the artist and Bridget Donahue, NYC

“The Many Lives of Martine Syms,” Bard MFA Alumna Profiled in the New York Times

Profiled in the New York Times, the artist Martine Syms MFA ’17 “is the sort of ‘new media’ artist who antiquates the term. Since her days as a film programmer at clubs like the Echo Park Film Center in Los Angeles, she has turned the various lenses of media around to interrogate what society expects of Black women, and Black artists in particular,” writes Travis Diehl. This fall, Syms has an independent feature film showing in theaters with worldwide distribution, as well as exihibtions on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and CCS Bard.