Family & Alumni/ae Weekend 2024. Photo by Karl Rabe
Welcome, Bardians!
Every Bard alum is a member of the Bard College Alumni/ae Association
By attending Bard College in Annandale, or any institution in the Bard Network, you are automatically a member of the Bard College Alumni/ae Association. The Alumni/ae Association is here to strengthen the connection between alumni/ae and the College and help Bardians everywhere, of every graduating class, to stay in touch. There are now more than 19,000 Bard alumni/ae—and that number is growing, as close to half of all Bardians have graduated in the last 20 years.
The Bard College Alumni/ae Association, its Board of Governors, and its committees are committed to maintaining shared values of antiracism, justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and access in all aspects of programming and interactions with Bard College community members, including but not limited to students, faculty, administration, fellow alumni/ae, and guests.
Photo by Karl Rabe
Save the Date!
Reunion is May 23–25, 2025
Class years ending in 0 or 5, it is your reunion! Stay tuned for more information.
We are thrilled to announce the Bard Career Network! Connect and engage with students and fellow alumni/ae by sharing your professional experiences and expanding your connections in the Bard community. Over 900 alumni/ae are waiting to connect with you!
Interested in volunteering? There are multiple ways to help and engage. We encourage alumni/ae to get involved with the Board of Governors, volunteer as mentors for current students, host events, and serve on reunion committees. Getting involved is more important than ever. Email us at [email protected] to connect.
Photo by Queenie Si ’25
The Board of Governors
The work of the Bard College Alumni/ae Association relies on the active participation of alumni/ae on the committees of the Board of Governors. Alumni/ae from all eras of Bard’s history serve on this volunteer board and act as ambassadors of the College. We welcome all alumni/ae to attend Board of Governors meetings, which are held in May and December each year.
Read the Bardian online here. Check your email for the monthly Alumni/ae Newsletter The Alumni/ae Triangle, which is filled with alumni/ae news, news of the College, and upcoming events. Follow us on social media @bardalumni to make sure you are getting the most out of your Alumni/ae Association. If you want to update your information fill out this form here. *Please email us your updated information at [email protected]. Information Update Form Bardian Magazine Alumni/ae Triangle
Events
Come back to Annandale and join us for these yearly traditions.
Whether it’s your 20th reunion or you’re just missing Bard, we welcome you to join us for Reunion Weekend to connect with fellow alumni/ae, the most recent graduates, and to take in all that campus has to offer. Learn More About Reunion
Enjoy the Bard College Awards at the Fisher Center. Celebrate the graduating class and relive your own Commencement. Take in Annandale in full bloom. Learn More About Commencement
There’s nothing better than Annandale in the fall. Take in classes, tour campus, and catch up with fellow alumni/ae. Learn More About the Weekend
Join the Conversation
#bardianandproud
Newsroom
Artist Tschabalala Self ’12 Commissioned to Create Portraits of Denzel Washington and His Sons
Visiting Artist in Residence and alumna Tschabalala Self ’12 was commissioned to create portraits of the family behind the recent movie adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize–winning play The Piano Lesson.
Artist Tschabalala Self ’12 Commissioned to Create Portraits of Denzel Washington and His Sons
Tschabalala Self. Photo by Paula Virta
Visiting Artist in Residence and alumna Tschabalala Self ’12 was commissioned to create portraits of the Washington family—father Denzel and sons John David and Malcolm—who were behind the recent movie adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize–winning play The Piano Lesson. Denzel, John David, and Malcolm respectively produced (with his daughter Katia), starred in, and directed the film. Rochelle Steiner writes for TheWrap, “In Self’s hands, images of the Washingtons are intertwined with the film’s characters, such that the real and fictional commingle as references that exemplify Black America.” Inspired by and named after a 1984 Romare Bearden lithograph, The Piano Lesson is one of Self’s favorite August Wilson plays. “When looking at the play’s origin within the context of American slavery, the significance of home for the characters in the play and the figures depicted in Bearden’s piece becomes all the more poignant when you realize the legacy of separation, loss and displacement inflicted on their ancestors,” says Self.
Her newly installed exhibition Tschabalala Self: Dream Girl is on view February 15–April 26, 2025 at Jeffrey Dietch in Los Angeles.
Her work Wičhíŋčala Šakówiŋ (Seven Little Girls) will be at MIT this year.
Kite Profiled in ArtForum
Wichahpih'a (a clear night with a star-filled sky) by Suzanne Kite MFA ’18, director of the Wihanble S’a Center for Indigenous AI.
Suzanne Kite MFA ’18, aka Kite, distinguished artist in residence, assistant professor of American and Indigenous Studies, and director of the Wihanble S’a Center for Indigenous AI at Bard, was profiled in ArtForum’s Spotlight series. The profile focuses on Kite’s performance art and use of technology, particularly the piece “Pȟehíŋ kiŋ líla akhíšoke. (Her hair was heavy.)”, referred to as one of Kite’s “braid performances.” Writer Christopher Green calls Kite one of the “foremost Indigenous artists exploring the capacity of music, video, installation, and [technology] in combination with performance to examine the embodiment and visualization of contemporary Lakȟóta ways of knowing.”
The profile also explains Kite’s goal of making art for Native, Lakȟóta audiences. “Her refusal to legibly encode or concretize her scores for the mainstream destabilizes the ethnographic gaze and its desire to document, categorize, and control Indigenous culture, language, and bodies,” Green writes. Her upcoming Wičhíŋčala Šakówiŋ (Seven Little Girls), a scored performance which will be accompanied by a full orchestra, will be presented at MIT later this year.
Assistant Dean of Students Corey Sullivan ’03 Wins Obie Award
At the 68th annual Obie Awards, the American Theatre Wing presented Assistant Dean of Students Corey Sullivan ’03 and other members of his arts collective, Theater Mitu, the Ross Wetzsteon Award for sustained innovation in the field.
Assistant Dean of Students Corey Sullivan ’03 Wins Obie Award
Assistant Dean of Students Corey Sullivan ’03.
At the 68th annual Obie Awards, the American Theatre Wing presented Assistant Dean of Students Corey Sullivan ’03 and other members of his arts collective, Theater Mitu, the Ross Wetzsteon Award for sustained innovation in the field. Theater Mitu was originally formed through Sullivan’s collaborations as an undergraduate at Bard.
In 2001, then an undergraduate, Sullivan began collaborating with visiting artists on a production for Bard’s Theater and Performance Program. Their work together continued beyond the show’s run, and soon after, Sullivan joined the group in forming an interdisciplinary arts collective called Theater Mitu. Since then they have worked together to push the boundaries of theater through innovative productions, global research and education initiatives, programs supporting emerging artists, and the creation of their Brooklyn-based performance and technology center, MITU580.
Theater Mitu will be in residence at the Boston Museum of Science and Arts Emerson in spring 2025 to present Utopian Hotline, a project developed in partnership with the SETI Institute and Arizona State University’s Interplanetary Initiative. Part telephone hotline, part vinyl record, and part live performance, Utopian Hotline uses real voicemails left on a public hotline to create a moment of community—inviting audience members to re-imagine our shared future. Inspired by the 1977 NASA Voyager mission, which launched a vinyl-style recording of sounds found on Earth into space, as well as the uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, this immersive performance begs the question: “If we were to send another message into the distant future, what message would we send?”
Last summer, Theater Mitu premiered (HOLY) BLOOD! at their Brooklyn space, MITU580. Part live-scored silent film, part irreverent midnight movie, the piece created an original live soundscape merged with manipulated fragments of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s cult-classic film Santa Sangre. Projected across a shattered landscape of screens and sculpture, accompanied by explosive blood choreography enclosed in glass booths, the work remapped a story of circuses, blood cults, madness, and forgiveness.