Bard Receives 2007 Campus Heritage Grant from the Getty Foundation
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—Bard College has received a $160,000 Campus Heritage grant from the Getty Foundation for a master plan to increase the level of preservation of Bard’s historic buildings and landscapes. “The master plan emphasizes the interrelationship between architecture and the landscape, promoting sustainable design initiatives, developing guidelines to promote the reuse and restoration of campus buildings and grounds,” explains Amy Foster, horticulture supervisor.
Situated on 550 acres, with views of the Catskill Mountains and Hudson River, Bard College is recognizable for its natural beauty, with meadows, dense forests, wetlands, and a Hudson River tributary. The architectural legacy of the campus can be seen in 19th-century stone houses and riverfront mansions, as well as in contemporary buildings designed by renowned modern-day architects, such as the Frank Gehry–designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, and Stevenson Library, designed by Robert Venturi.
“The Campus Heritage grant will help Bard ensure that the College can move forward confidently, with a sense of boundless possibility, while embracing its storied past,” states Foster. “The proposal is intended to address both historic buildings and historic landscapes, providing the College with the tools necessary to make sensitive and thoughtful decisions about its historic resources.”
Creation of the Preservation Master Plan will be divided into five primary components: historic themes, existing conditions, guidelines and recommendations, education, and implementation. To complete the master plan, Bard College has retained the services of John Milner Associates, Inc. (JMA), a nationally recognized historic preservation firm with a track record of completing successful preservation master plan projects for colleges and universities.
Bard alumna Amy Foster ’99 serves as the project manager for Bard College. As horticulture supervisor at Bard, she is responsible for managing and maintaining all of the natural and landscaped areas on campus. Foster has 10 years of experience in the horticulture field, including ornamental display at a premiere public garden, tree care, private design and maintenance, greenhouse management, retail sales, and developing community and school gardens. She has worked in landscape archaeology, paleoethnobotany, and horticulture education and interpretation. She received a B.A. degree from Bard in community, regional, environmental studies and a certificate of professional ornamental horticulture from Longwood Gardens. She has worked at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Longwood Gardens, American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta, and Delaware Center for Horticulture.
The current round of 15 grants for 2007, totaling $2 million, represents the final year of the Campus Heritage Initiative. Since 2002, the Getty Foundation has awarded grants to 86 colleges and universities for preservation planning, as well as funding surveys of hundreds of small liberal arts colleges. These grants have played a catalytic role in helping institutions of higher education understand the significance of the historic resources on their campuses and plan for their long-term preservation.
“American colleges and universities are frequently unique repositories of some of the country’s finest historic architecture and designed landscapes,” says Deborah Marrow, director of the Getty Foundation. “While other buildings may have had a variety of owners and uses over the years, campus buildings have, for the most part, remained under the same stewardship, which presents wonderful opportunities for preservation and education.”
Campus Heritage grants reflect the Getty Foundation’s emphasis on thorough planning to ensure thoughtful and successful historic preservation. “Over the past six years, we have been pleased to assist colleges and universities as they make plans to care for, maintain, and preserve their important historic resources,” says Marrow. “We look forward to learning about the results of these grants in the coming years.”
For further information about the Campus Heritage grant at Bard College, call Amy Foster at 845-758-7179.
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(9/5/07)
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