Dear Alumni/ae,

Just a quickie here, a redux, my cat pressed the send button on Friday and I wasn't quite ready. See below the TL:DR version and an updated list of donors. 

Some things coming up are…

• Giving Tuesday on November 27th. 
• The Alumni/ae Holiday Party is Friday, December 1st, in NYC. We are looking forward to celebrating with you in this newly renovated classic New York club at 60 Pine. Start the holidays off in style with your Bardie buddies. Space is limited so please register here. I hope to be seeing you!
• BardWorks NYC. If you live in NYC please save the date for our professional networking event on Friday, January 26th. All alumni/ae interested in helping the next generation of Bardians are invited. More info to come. 
• All Reunion classes (4s and 9s) listen up! Please save the date for Alumni/ae Reunion Weekend: May 24-26, 2024. And, be part of our Reunion challenge. We have $84,000 to match, so that means your gift will be doubled! Hope you will join me before December 31st if you can. 
• TŌN students are featured in the upcoming biopic of Leonard Bernstein, Maestro. Opening in select theaters November 22 and on Netflix December 20. (See below) 
• Speaking of Bardians in films, check out Youssef Kerkour '00 as Marshal Davout in Napoleon, also opening today!

Some things that happened…

• Alumni/ae Fall Weekend–please come next year! 
• Thank you to all the alums coming back to campus to visit classes and talk to student clubs. Thank you to Jen Gaudioso ’95, Nathan Greenfield '80, Adam Khalil ’11 and Zack Khalil ’14, Juliet Morrison ’03, Lexi Parra ’18, and Matt Taibbi ’92. And thank you to Adam Conover ’04 for coming back to teach a new course with David Shein, How to Be Funny and Why: A Comedy Workshop.
• On November 12, the Bard Raptors men’s basketball team played @ Columbia. We invited alumni/ae to come and cheer them on, and they did! Bardians know how to make noise! If you want to support Bard teams on the road in your town, please email [email protected] for more info.
• Cities Parties are wrapping up for the year. The last one will be in LA in December. This fall we have hit Atlanta, Philadelphia, Denver, Madison, Chicago, Brooklyn, Boston and London. Sorry if we didn't get to you. We’ll be back on the road next year, and anyone is always free to invite Bardians to something–your performance, your show, your yard, your house, your favorite local spots. Just let me know. 

As we move into the holidays I want to say I am thankful for everyone in the Bard community. At this time in our world I especially encourage you to stay in touch, sign up for live and online performances, debates and conversations, and get involved with your school. 

I love to hear from you—please stay in touch.

Jane ’89

P.S. The Alumni/ae Association Young Alumnx Committee has put together an amazing Holiday Gift Guide. Watch your mailbox for a link.

P.P.S. Bardians in Florida - please watch your email for a message about courageous new opportunities for high school students in your state. (Or, if you don't live in Florida but have connections to education, please email Stephen Tremaine '07, Vice President for Network Education), [email protected].

Max Kenner ’01 in the New York Times: College-in-Prison Is Transforming Who We Think College Is For

For the New York Times, Bard Prison Initiative Executive Director Max Kenner ’01 writes that college is undergoing a revolution—and it’s happening behind bars. “College-in-prison is a desperately needed step toward improving justice in America,” Kenner writes. “Still its greatest impact may be on higher education itself: transforming who we think college is for, how we find students and what we imagine they can achieve.”

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New York Times Opinion: “Early College Is the Equalizer We Need,” Writes John McWhorter SR ’83

Renowned linguist and Bard College at Simon’s Rock alumnus John McWhorter SR ’83 calls the Bard High School Early Colleges in Manhattan and Queens “sterling examples” of a tuition-free early college model that, given the high college graduation rates of Bard Early College students, is “an equalizing tool for teenagers from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

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Bard College’s The Orchestra Now (TŌN) Chosen to Perform in Bradley Cooper’s Netflix Film Maestro

TŌN’s Performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 Also on Film’s Soundtrack, Released by Deutsche Grammophon

As the classical music world eagerly awaits the new Netflix film Maestro, starring Bradley Cooper as the renowned composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, the young musicians of Bard College’s pre-professional graduate orchestra, The Orchestra Now (TŌN), are particularly excited about the film’s imminent release. They were selected to perform Beethoven’s 8th Symphony in the film, with “Leonard Bernstein” (Cooper) conducting, and will also be on the Deutsche Grammophon release of the film’s original soundtrack.

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Professor Craig Anderson and Bard College Receive the Jean Dreyfus Lectureship Award to Bring Preeminent Chemist Donna Blackmond to Campus

Craig Anderson, Wallace Benjamin Flint and L. May Hawver Professor of Chemistry and Director of Undergraduate Research at Bard, and Bard College have received a 2023 Jean Dreyfus Lectureship for Undergraduate Institutions Award. The prestigious award provides an $18,500 grant to bring a leading researcher to a primarily undergraduate institution to give two lectures in the chemical sciences, one of which will be open and accessible to the general public.

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Bard Conservatory and Music Faculty and Alumni/ae Nominated for 2024 GRAMMY Awards

Five Bard Conservatory of Music and Music Program faculty members and alumni/ae have been nominated for the 2024 GRAMMY Awards. Nominated artists include Artistic Director of the Graduate Vocal Arts Program Stephanie Blythe, Composers in Residence Jessie Montgomery and Missy Mazzoli, Julia Bullock MM ’11, and Max Zbiral-Teller ’06.

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