Event Calendar

Several small music installations throughout Jennings: a composer’s installation featuring former faculty Vivian Fine and alumnae composers Betsy Jolas ’46, Joan Tower ’61, and Elizabeth Swados ’73; an exhibition by faculty Nick Brooke on electronic music including alumni Pril Smiley ’65; and an installation on the Black Music program created by faculty member Karthik Pandian and students.

Drawn from the archives, this installation features black and white photographs from the 1930s of the Bennington Dance program.

An exhibition featuring the work of seven alumni artists who studied at Bennington from the 1940s up to VAPA’s opening in 1976. The show takes as its starting point the College’s longstanding attention to the language and possibilities of abstraction.

Led by Tracey Forest of Spirit Hollow

Wake up your body and soul with an all-level flow yoga class. Stretch your body and center your mind for the day’s activities through focused breath, deep body awareness, and joyful, flowing movement. This class will make you feel great as you have fun. All are welcome; no yoga experience necessary. Please bring a mat and comfy clothes (no jeans). Rain location: REC Barn Studio

Bennington Breakfast Granola Bars at the Welcome Tent

Continental Breakfast

Led by Institutional Coordinator for Diversity and Inclusion Lydia Brassard ’08. The event will occur at Joan Goodrich Garden, Crossett Library (rain location: Crossett Library).

Golf Cart or Walking Student-led tours with student tour guides. Meeting place: Flag Pole

Adnan Iftekhar '97 shares his insights about the value of networking through social media and gives creative examples from his own careers about how to build and brand a meaningful online presence.

Join us for a virtual tour of the proposed Commons renovation design through drawings and plans, as presented by the design team from Christoff:Finio Architecture, Associate Vice President for Facilities Management and Planning Andy Schlatter, and Senior Vice President of Institutional Initiatives David Rees.

The Alumni Memory Project (AMP) is a group of students and alumni whose mission is to record multi-generational alumni memories to share with and to preserve for the Bennington College community. Please stop by to record a short story from your time at Bennington with student interviewers.

Videotaped performances from The Emergent Improvisation Project National Performance Network Tour (2006), which were recorded at the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, California, Bennington College, and the Flynn Theater. On view continuously throughout the day.

Practice the essentials of making connections without all the stress. During this interactive session, led by Director of FWT and Career Development Faith McClellan, you’ll learn how to navigate professional conversations with ease. Then, you can try out what you learned throughout the rest of the day (and especially at the 5pm community reception). This workshop is for students only.

An exhibition of artwork from Bennington’s collection curated by Nico Dregni ’16 and student Hans Olsen ’17.

Alumni will hear updates from Bennington’s president, Mariko Silver, and discuss Bennington’s future.

Alumni are invited to enjoy a locally-sourced dinner with friends and the presentation of the Hudas Liff ’45 Volunteer Award to one of your classmates.

Alumni architects and designers share stories about their time in VAPA and their trajectories since attending Bennington with architecture faculty member Donald Sherefkin. Location: Joan Goodrich Garden, Crossett Library (Rain location: VAPA B206)

Tour of the student-run garden and farm led by student guides and members of the Bennington Sustainable Food Project

Conversation between Babette Allina ’81, who has been a driving force in the science, technology, arts, and medicine (STEAM) movement, and President Mariko Silver about the historic and continuing importance of cross-disciplinary education at Bennington with specific attention to the ways that art and design are central to driving innovation in the 21st Century.

Come learn more about the College’s approach to pluralism and inclusive practice. Attendees will learn about the work of the President’s Task Force on Campus Inclusivity, and alumni will have an opportunity to reflect and share how diversity and pluralism informed their work/life/commitments at Bennington and afterward.

Ian Dolton-Thornton ’11 will lead visitors in how to use the equipment in the Word & Image Lab to customize and bind their own copies of a brand new publication about the history of the Visual and Performing Arts center (VAPA). Location: Word & Image Lab

Come learn more about the College’s approach to pluralism and inclusive practice. Attendees will learn about the work of the President’s Task Force on Campus Inclusivity, and alumni will have an opportunity to reflect and share how diversity and pluralism informed their work/life/commitments at Bennington and afterward. Moderated by Director of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion Lydia Brassard ’08.

Bennington faculty Kirk Jackson and Jenny Rohn, with their student cast and crew, present an open rehearsal of this term's faculty production, August: Osage County.

Join Chernoh Jalloh '15, Genelle Rankin '15, and Naima Starkloff '15 for a conversation on working in the sciences, facilitated by Dean of Research, Planning, and Assessment Zeke Bernstein. This discussion is intended to share the different paths one can take in the first year or two post-graduation, and the questions these young alumni wrestled with in the process of deciding what was next.

The Alumni Memory Project (AMP) is a group of students and alumni whose mission is to record multi-generational alumni memories to share with and to preserve for the Bennington College community. Please stop by to record a short story from your time at Bennington with student interviewers.

An experimental performance incorporating art, music, and dance by Josh Blackwell ’95, Alex Huberty ’95, Daniel Roberts MFA ’14, Jacob Robichaux, Lizzie Scott, and current students.

Bryn Mooser ’01, co-founder and CEO of Huff Post-RYOT shares the latest storytelling examples of virtual reality and augmented reality to enact social change, moderated by media faculty member Erika Mijlin. There will be an opportunity to see stories from a virtual reality headset.

Architects present 20 slides and speak for 20 seconds per slide about current projects or ideas in the field. Participants include: Viktorija Abolina ’05, Hanny Ahern ’06, Annie Coggan ’85, Robert Delanghe ’13, Evie Garf ’11, Kent Hikida ’85, Garrick Jones ’94, Josie Lawlor ’04, Jacob Perkins ’07, Kyle Schroder ’09, Chendru Starkloff ’13, and Lawson Wulsin ’05. Moderated by architecture faculty member Donald Sherefkin.

Join Jonathan Marc Sherman '91, Paul Cello '92, Max Wolkowitz '09, and faculty member Dina Janis for a conversation on working in the world of drama and theater post-graduation.

Join Bennington faculty and alumni for a conversation on working with languages and translation post-graduation. With language faculty Barbara Alfano, Jon Pitcher and Ikuko Yoshida and Heke Kennon ’08, Bruna D. Lobato ’15, and Tommy Melvin ’16.

Vice President for Communications Janet Marsden leads a conversation with Jill Eisenstadt ’85 and literature faculty member Brando Skyhorse on their experience in the publishing world, plus practical tips for writers interested in publishing their work.

Two alumni dancers will show films of their work: Ghost line directed by Shona Masarin and Cori Olinghouse ’01 and Explicit Female, Body Etudes & Female on Stage by Zornitsa Stoyonova ’06.

A humorous, serious, and practical conversation with Diane Cameron MFA ’99 about caregiving and caregivers of the “Sandwich Generation,” people who are raising families while caring for their parents. Please join us to look at the needs, demands, strategies, and even the literature of caregiving.

Odili Donald Odita MFA ’90, Devin O’Brien Power ’05, and Lauren Seiden ’03 discuss their work in VBS (violet burning sunset), the alumni exhibition in Usdan Gallery. Moderated by Paige K. Johnston.

The classes of 1965, 1966, and 1967 celebrating their joint 50th Reunion come together for sharing of work, ideas, and discussion about their experiences at Bennington and beyond.

VBS (violet burning sunset) events continue with a Gallery Talk with artists Odili Donald Odita '90, Devin O'Brien Power '05, and Lauren Seiden '08.

Join a discussion with Brendon Blake '92, Joanna Dillon '07, Blaine Graboyes '95, Adnan Iftekhar '97, Riva Magaril Poor '56, and David Zicarelli '83, moderated by visual arts faculty member Robert Ransick about Bennington pathways to entrepreneurial careers and creative problem solving.

A conversation about working in the world of architecture hosted by Kent Hikida ’85, Annie Coggan ’85, and architecture faculty member Donald Sherefkin.

Emily Climer ’12 will present work, followed by a group improvisation showing by Emily Climer ’12, Nicole Daunic ’03, Marie Lynn Blocker Haas ’10, Jaamil Olawale Kosoko ’05, Katie Martin ’04, Cori Olinghouse ’01, Joseph Poulson MFA ’11, and Zornitsa Stoyonova ’06.

Join Bennington alumni for a conversation on working in the arts post-graduation, facilitated by Paige Johnston. Participating alumni include Nicole Czapinski ’06, Mary Early ’97, Odili Donald Odita MFA ’90, and Devin O’Brien Powers ’05.

A reception for the Gallery Talk, which occurs on the same day from 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM, featuring artists Odili Donald Odita '90, Devin Powers '05, and Lauren Seiden '03.

Join Bennington faculty, alumni, students, and families for drinks and refreshments, as well as an ensemble interlude performance with music faculty members Kerry Ryer-Parke ’90 and Tom Bogdan and Michael Chinworth ’08, Dane Whitman ’16, and Liam Dailey ’14.

For students involved in LAB Weekend, this a great opportunity to network with alumni.

As dinner is not provided, take this opportunity to explore restaurants in town; suggestions for local businesses are provided in the downtown guide and list of weekend discounts in the registration packet. Please enjoy the many restaurants in North Bennington, Bennington, and the surrounding Southern Vermont area.

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | Join us for the Premiere Screening of Emergent Forms, a film about a series of experimental performances that are the result of collaboration between dancers, musicians, designers, scientists, and choreographer Susan Sgorbati.

See the critically-acclaimed film which premiered at SXSW (South by Southwest festival) this spring, co-written and directed by award-winning filmmaker Debra Eisenstadt ’91.

See the critically-acclaimed film which premiered at SXSW (South by Southwest festival) this spring, co-written and directed by award-winning filmmaker Debra Eisenstadt ’91.