On April 4, the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College will present Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, a collection of 12 graduate thesis exhibitions organized by CCS Bard’s Class of 2026. The projects ask where—and when—we look to understand our present moment.
Artist-in-Residence Isabelle O’Connell has been awarded a Culture Ireland Grant for 2026, which funded her solo piano recital. The Culture Ireland Grant supports the presentation and promotion of Irish arts internationally.
Peter Filkins, professor emeritus at Bard College, has been awarded the inaugural Freudenheim Translation Prize, presented by the Jewish Literary Foundation in partnership with the Times Literary Supplement. This new international award celebrates excellence in translated fiction and non-fiction.
The Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities at Bard recently unveiled the Saw Kill Watershed Community Database, a publicly accessible data tool housing datasets developed by community members, researchers, and Bard faculty and students since the late 1800s.
The seventh annual Sound of Spring concert celebrating the Chinese New Year, which premiered earlier this month at the Fisher Center’s Sosnoff Theater, was reviewed in China Daily and the Millbrook Independent. The Independent described the concert as “a mélange of city and landscape visions."
Senior Fellow in Ethics and Writing D.M. Aderibigbe’s 82nd Division, which won the National Poetry Series in 2024, was published by Akashic Books. Since its release, it has been reviewed by Literary Hub and received a starred review in Booklist.
Professor Franz Nicolay reviewed Burning Down the House by Jonathan Gould, a new book about the band The Talking Heads, for the Wall Street Journal.
www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
Bard is proud to be included on the list of US colleges and universities that produced the most 2025–26 Fulbright US Students. Maia Cluver ’22,Oskar Pezalla-Granlund ’24, Grace Molinaro ’24, and Cecilia Giancola ’25 all received awards for the upcoming academic year.
The Fisher Center at Bard has announced SummerScape 2026, from June 25 to August 16. This year’s edition of the summer-long festival features work by Lucinda Childs, Courtney Bryan, and more.
Professor Felicia Keesing has been elected a fellow of the British Ecological Society for her outstanding contributions to ecology through research, teaching, leadership, policy, and the practical application of ecological science.
The acclaimed The Sound of Spring Chinese New Year Concert returns for its seventh edition on February 14 and 15 at the Fisher Center at Bard College and at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Tania El Khoury, Bard professor and director of the Center for Human Rights and the Arts, has won a 2026 Creative Capital Award in support of her project, A Choreography of State Violence, an installation performance that examines state violence from a choreographic perspective.
Beginning February 3, Bard College is accepting applications for its first Spanish-speaking Clemente Course, a free college-level introduction to the humanities. Tuition and books are provided, and those who successfully complete the semester-long course will earn 3 college credits.
Professor Abhinav Prem received a two-year research award from the US Department of Energy to make quantum computers more reliable, in collaboration with professor Stephan Haas at the University of Southern California. Bard is the lead institution and recipient of $300,006 of the $500,000 award.
Important Weather Announcement
Dutchess County has issued a local emergency order due to winter weather conditions beginning Sunday, January 25, at 5 am through Monday, January 26, at 5 pm. No classes will be held Monday, January 26.
For more information, visit go.bard.edu/winterstorm.
“Between Water and Sky,” an upcoming exhibition by Sikena Khadija ’27 of photographs and video focused on the Erie Canal and Hudson River, was profiled in the Daily Freeman. The exhibit is hosted at Kingston’s DRAW Gallery until February 24.
Beginning February 3, Bard College is accepting applications for its first Spanish-speaking Clemente Course, a free college-level introduction to the humanities. Tuition and books are provided, and those who successfully complete the semester-long course will earn 3 college credits.
Visiting Professor Adam Shatz was awarded the 2026 Grace Dudley Prize for Arts Writing by the Robert B. Silvers Foundation, in recognition of outstanding achievement in critical writing on the fine and performing arts or cultural history.
Open Society Celebrates Bard College’s Completion of Endowment Challenge: $1 Billion for Independent Higher Education and Democratic Life
“Higher education is essential to the future of American democracy. Bard will continue to be a place where critical thinking flourishes and students learn why the liberal arts are more important to freedom and the rule of law than ever in today’s embattled moment.” - Alex Soros, Open Society Foundations Chair
We welcome the successful completion by Bard College @bardcollege.bsky.social of a landmark endowment challenge first issued in 2021 by our founder George Soros.
“Bard will continue to be a place where critical thinking flourishes and students learn why the liberal arts are more important to freedom and the rule of law than ever in today’s embattled moment,” said Alex Soros, chair of the Open Society Foundations.
“This outpouring of support endorses Bard’s excellence and innovation and bodes well for the future of the College,” said President Leon Botstein.
Bard College is pleased to announce the completion of its landmark endowment challenge. Bard is grateful to the @open-society.bsky.social and the many donors whose support matched the original $500 million commitment, establishing the College’s first endowment.
A study led by Professor Gidon Eshel was featured in the New York Times in an article exploring whether grass-fed beef was better for climate. The study, published last March in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that grass-fed beef had no emissions benefit over grain-fed.
Professor An-My Lê’s upcoming installation was covered in Palm Springs Life Magazine. The installation, opening this January, is focused on the California desert sky at nighttime and is part of her series Dark Star, which she continues as a High Desert Test Sites fellow.
Ian Bostridge, the musical scholar who gave the last Anthony Hecht Lectures in the Humanities at Bard, wrote about Bard’s excellence and commitment to the liberal arts for Prospect magazine. At Bard, “there are no compromises on the centrality of the humanities to a proper education,” he writes.
Congratulations to Bard alumni/ae Sula Bermudez-Silverman ’15, Cooper Jacoby ’11, and Jordan Strafer MFA ’20, who are among the 56 artists and collectives selected to participate in this year’s Whitney Biennial, the 82nd installment of the longest-running survey of contemporary art in the US.
Congratulations to Bard alumni/ae Sula Bermudez-Silverman ’15, Cooper Jacoby ’11, and Jordan Strafer MFA ’20, who are among the 56 artists and collectives selected to participate in this year’s Whitney Biennial, the 82nd installment of the longest-running survey of contemporary art in the US.
The Charles P. Stevenson Jr. Library at Bard has been accepted into the National Digital Stewardship Alliance, a collective committed to the long-term preservation of digital information. Membership recognizes Bard's commitment to the long-term stewardship and accessibility of digital collections.
Professors Miriam Felton-Dansky and Drew Thompson received 2025 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grants. Felton-Dansky received the award for her article “Vetting Regimes,” and Thompson for his book "Coloring Surveillance through Polaroids: The Poetics of Black Solidarity and Sociality."
Choreographer Arthur Aviles ’87 was awarded a fellowship from Dance/USA, a support organization that advocates for an inclusive and equitable dance world. “[These awardees] reimagine how we connect, care and build community,” said Ashley Ferro-Murray, program director of the Doris Duke Foundation.
