Division of the Arts

Recent News

• Three Bard College Graduates Win 2025 Fulbright Awards
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  Three Bard College Graduates Win 2025 Fulbright Awards

  

  Clockwise L-R: Maia Cluver ’22, Cecilia Giancola ’25, and Oskar Pezalla-Granlund ’24.
  

  Three Bard College graduates have won 2025–26 Fulbright Awards for individually designed research projects and English teaching assistantships. The Fulbright program facilitates cultural exchange through direct interaction on an individual basis in the classroom, field, home, and in routine tasks, allowing the grantee to gain an appreciation of others’ viewpoints and beliefs, the way they do things, and the way they think. During their grants, Fulbrighters meet, work, live with, and learn from the people of the host country, sharing daily experiences. Bard College is a Fulbright top producing institution.
  
  Maia Cluver ’22, a joint Art History and Visual Culture and Human Rights major, has been selected for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) in Jordan for the 2025-26 academic year. As a student, Cluver was a language tutor in the Bard Learning Commons, and currently works in the Academic Resource Center at Al-Quds Bard.
  
  Cecilia Giancola ’25, who majored in Historical Studies, has been awarded a Fulbright independent study/research grant to India. Giancola’s Fulbright is an archival research project focused on the operations of the Baroda (Gaikwad) state in western India during the 19th century. In her research, Giancola plans to investigate the operations of the Baroda–a “princely” state in colonial India–with the British Raj and their illicit trade and smuggling practices. 
  
  Oskar Pezalla-Granlund ’24, an Art History and Visual Culture major, has received a Fulbright independent study/research grant to Spain. Oskar’s project investigates the history of Philippine-Spanish artistic and cultural relations through the history of Museo-Biblioteca de Ultramar (1887-1908), a museum dedicated to displaying the art, culture, and history of the Spanish colonies. Pezalla-Granlund’s research aims to contribute to the often overlooked history of the artistic and cultural contact between the Philippines and Spain through the examination of a museum that crystalizes the contradictions of late-colonial society.
  
  Fulbright is a program of the US Department of State, with funding provided by the US government. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the program. Fulbright alumni work to make a positive impact on their communities, sectors, and the world and have included 62 Nobel Prize recipients, 80 MacArthur Foundation Fellows, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 42 current or former heads of state or government.
  
  Post Date: 06-04-2025
  
• Yebel Gallegos Awarded New York State Choreographers Initiative 2025 Award
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  Yebel Gallegos Awarded New York State Choreographers Initiative 2025 Award

  

  Yebel Gallegos, assistant professor of dance at Bard.
  

  Yebel Gallegos, assistant professor of dance at Bard, has been awarded a New York State Choreographers Initiative 2025 Award of $11,500 through the New York State’s DanceForce, a network of dance activists working to increase the quality and quantity of dance, in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts. The award, which is designed to help awardees develop their choreographic skills by providing resources to advance their creative practice, will fund Yebel with a $2,500 stipend and paid support for both a mentor and creative time spent with dancers and other collaborators of his choice. Yebel’s choreography project will become a mini-residency designed to fit his specific artistic needs, and he has invited Dante Puleio, artistic director of the Limón Dance Company, to serve as his mentor. Puleio’s insight into how experienced dancers navigate inherited choreographic traditions makes him an ideal guide as Yebel explores new methods of movement generation with professionals in the field.
  
  Post Date: 06-02-2025
  
• Adriane Colburn and Angelica Sanchez Awarded Fellowships from New Jersey State Council for the Arts
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  Adriane Colburn and Angelica Sanchez Awarded Fellowships from New Jersey State Council for the Arts

  

  L–R: Adrienne Colburn and Angelica Sanchez.
  

  Two Bard professors received fellowships from the New Jersey State Council for the Arts for the 2025–26 awards cycle. Artist in Residence Adriane Colburn was named an Individual Artist Fellow in Sculpture. Assistant Professor of Music Angelica Sanchez was named a Individual Artist Finalist in Music Composition. The awards will support their artistic development, including Sanchez’s current musical composition.
  The New Jersey State Council for the Arts awards grants to artists each year with the goal of promoting the arts and helping the general public understand their value. This year, 107 finalists were awarded across the artistic disciplines. The council says their awards “bring [artists’] work to the attention of organizations and communities everywhere to embrace and support this remarkable ‘creative capital’ that helps make New Jersey great.”
  

  Learn More About the Award
  

  
  Post Date: 06-02-2025
  
• Matt Sargent Awarded Artist Residency at Avaloch Farm Music Institute
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  Matt Sargent Awarded Artist Residency at Avaloch Farm Music Institute

  

  Matt Sargent, assistant professor of music.
  

  Matt Sargent, assistant professor of music at Bard, has been selected to be a resident artist at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute (AFMI) in New Hampshire this summer. AFMI is a residential arts center designed to serve as a catalyst for unfettered artistic exploration, creation, and performance by providing an environment to inspire and empower musicians of all skill levels to develop meaningful artistic content and collaborations to share with the wider world. While in residence, Sargent will be working with Trevor Babb, professor of guitar at Vassar College, on a new recording of Larry Polansky's “51 Melodies” and Anthony Braxton's “Composition No. 193,” both of which are major contemporary works for a guitar duo, for an upcoming commercial release.
  
  Post Date: 05-13-2025
  
• Bard College Celebrates Student Achievements at Undergraduate Awards Ceremony
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  Bard College Celebrates Student Achievements at Undergraduate Awards Ceremony

  

  Sierra Ford ’26 receives the inaugural Betsaida Alcantara ’05 Pioneers for Progress Award. Photo by Joseph Nartey ’26
  

  Faculty, staff, and students gathered at Blithewood Manor for this year’s Undergraduate Awards Ceremony, which was held on Monday, April 28. The annual ceremony is a celebration of the incredible talent and dedication showcased by Bard students, as well as the unwavering support and guidance from esteemed faculty and staff at the College. The evening's awardees, who were nominated by faculty from across the four divisions of the College, represent excellence in the arts; social studies; languages and literature; and science, mathematics, and computing. Among the awardees were students in the Bard Baccalaureate, a program for older students returning to college to finish their undergraduate degrees. 
  
  The event featured remarks and award presentations from key figures, including President of the College Leon Botstein, Dean of the College Deirdre d'Albertis, Dean of Studies and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs David Shein, and Bard Alumna Cara Parks ’05. A special highlight of the evening was the announcement of a newly established award in memory of a beloved Bardian, Betsaida Alcantara ’05, by the Class of 2005, family, friends, and loved ones who knew her. The inaugural Betsaida Alcantara ’05 Pioneers for Progress Award, in memory of Betsaida Alcantara '05 (1983–2022), who exemplified the best of Bard's hope to inspire people to be passionate agents of change, pioneers for progress, and advocates for justice for those most in need was given to Sierra Ford ’26 who has demonstrated strong leadership skills, a commitment to public service, and support for open societies.
   
  The presentation of awards was a moment to acknowledge and celebrate the exceptional academic achievement, leadership, and commitment demonstrated by Bard students. It was a testament to their hard work and perseverance, which defines the spirit of Bard College and serves as an inspiration to us all.
  
  Many of the undergraduate awards are made possible by generous contributions from Bard donors. Thank you to all our supporters for believing in the value of a college education, and for investing in the future of Bard students.
  

  Learn more about the Dean of Studies Office
  

  Learn more about Bard’s Scholarship, Awards, and Prizes
  

  
  Post Date: 04-30-2025
  
• Two Bard College Faculty Members Named 2025 Guggenheim Fellows
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  Two Bard College Faculty Members Named 2025 Guggenheim Fellows

  

  L–R: Gwen Laster; Lucas Blalock ’02 (photo by Gertraud Presenhuber, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich/New York)
  

  The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has awarded 2025 Guggenheim Fellowships to Bard College Assistant Professor of Photography Lucas Blalock ’02 and Bard College Visiting Artist in Residence Gwen Laster. Chosen through a rigorous application and peer review process from a pool of nearly 3,500 applicants, Blalock, who teaches in the Photography Program, and Laster, who teaches in the Music Program, were tapped based on both prior career achievement and exceptional promise. Bard MFA alum Jordan Strafer ’20 was also named Guggenheim Fellow for 2025. As established in 1925 by founder Senator Simon Guggenheim, each fellow receives a monetary stipend to pursue independent work at the highest level under “the freest possible conditions.” Blalock, Laster, and Strafer are among 198 distinguished individuals working across 53 disciplines appointed to the 100th class of Guggenheim Fellows.
  
  “At a time when intellectual life is under attack, the Guggenheim Fellowship celebrates a century of support for the lives and work of visionary scientists, scholars, writers, and artists,” said Edward Hirsch, award-winning poet and president of the Guggenheim Foundation. “We believe that these creative thinkers can take on the challenges we all face today and guide our society towards a better and more hopeful future.”
  
  In all, 53 scholarly disciplines and artistic fields, 83 academic institutions, 32 US states and the District of Columbia, and two Canadian provinces are represented in the 2025 class, who range in age from 32 to 79. More than a third of the 100th class of fellows do not hold a full-time affiliation with a college or university. Many fellows’ projects directly respond to timely themes and issues such as climate change, Indigenous studies, identity, democracy and politics, incarceration, and the evolving purpose of community. Since its founding in 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has awarded over $400 million in fellowships to more than 19,000 fellows. The 100th class of Fellows is part of the Guggenheim Foundation’s yearlong celebration marking a century of transformative impact on American intellectual and cultural life.
  
  Lucas Blalock is a Brooklyn-based photographer whose work is in the collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, Hammer Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Portland Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among many others. Recent solo exhibitions include Florida, 1989, at Galerie Eva Presenhuber, New York; Insoluble Pancakes, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels; and An Enormous Oar, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; recent group exhibitions include venues in Oslo, Miami, Moscow, Berlin, Beirut, Minneapolis, and New York, where his work was selected for the Whitney Biennial 2019. He and his art have been profiled in publications including Arforum, the New York Times, New Yorker, Art in America, Brooklyn Rail, BOMB Magazine, W Magazine, British Journal of Photography, and Time. He has published essays and interviews as author in the journal Objectiv, IMA Magazine, BOMB, Foam, and Mousse, among others. He previously taught at the School of Visual Arts; Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University; Sarah Lawrence College; and the MFA Program at Ithaca College. He also served as visiting lecturer on visual and environmental studies at Harvard University. He received his BA from Bard College and MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles.
  
  Gwen Laster is a nationally acclaimed musician who has been the recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Jubilation Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Arts Mid Hudson, Lila Wallace, and the Cognac Hennessey 1st place Jazz Search. A native Detroiter, her creative influences come from the Motor City’s exciting urban and classical music culture. Laster started improvising and composing because of her parents’ love of jazz, blues, soul, and classical music, and her inspiring music teachers from Detroit’s public schools. Laster relocated to New York City after earning two music degrees from the University of Michigan. Laster is many things: A virtuoso violinist with exquisite taste. An adventurous composer, arranger and orchestrator. A classically-trained artist with a deep appreciation for America's musical history, and a scholar of African-American musical heritage. A socially conscious activist and educator who understands the power of music to reach and touch everyday people.
  
  Post Date: 04-15-2025