Bard Graduate Center is devoted to the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through research, advanced degrees, exhibitions, publications, and events.

Bard Graduate Center advances the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through its object-centered approach to teaching, research, exhibitions, publications, and events.

At BGC, we study the human past and present through their material expressions. We focus on objects and other material forms—from those valued for their aesthetic elements to the ordinary things used in everyday life.

Our accomplished interdisciplinary faculty inspires and prepares students in our MA and PhD programs for successful careers in academia, museums, and the private sector. We bring equal intellectual rigor to our acclaimed exhibitions, award-winning catalogues and scholarly publications, and innovative public programs, and we view all of these integrated elements as vital to our curriculum.

BGC’s campus comprises a state-of-the-art academic programs building at 38 West 86th Street, a gallery at 18 West 86th Street, and a residence hall at 410 West 58th Street. A new collection study center will open at 8 West 86th Street in 2026.

Founded by Dr. Susan Weber in 1993, Bard Graduate Center has become the preeminent institute for academic research and exhibition of decorative arts, design history, and material culture. BGC is an accredited unit of Bard College and a member of the Association of Research Institutes in Art History (ARIAH).

Bard Graduate Center is delighted to welcome a new cohort of fellows to West 86th Street. We count among them an artist who works with clay in various states of permanency as well as other materials; a Paleolithic archaeologist; an archaeologist who specializes in Roman and late antique art and architecture in the provinces of Syria-Palestine; an interior designer and maker of textiles; and two historians: one who researches the cultural history of the early modern Americas and another who studies the daily lives and material culture of ancient Jews from different areas of the Mediterranean, Arabia, and Mesopotamia. Their presence will enrich the scholarly life of the institution throughout the spring semester. Please click on the links below to learn more about each of them.

kelli rae adams
Michael Chazan
Annie Coggan
Juan Carlos G. Mantilla
Karen B. Stern
Zeev Weiss

They join the following fellows already in residence.

Hannah Duggan
Isabella Marina Held
Christian Larsen
Annissa Malvoisin

Bard Graduate Center, a member of the Association of Research Institutes in Art History, offers Fields of the Future Fellowships and Visiting Fellowships each year.

Fields of the Future Fellowships promote diversity and inclusion in the advanced study of the material world. They reflect BGC’s commitment to explore and expand the sources, techniques, voices, and questions of interdisciplinary humanities scholarship, and they provide funds for collections-based research at Bard Graduate Center or elsewhere in New York City, as well as writing, reading, and creative projects in which being part of our dynamic research environment is intellectually valuable. The next application cycle takes place in fall 2023.

Visiting Fellowships are non-stipendiary opportunities that provide workspace and the opportunity for scholars from university, museum, and independent backgrounds with a PhD or equivalent professional experience to join the dynamic intellectual community at BGC. Applications for 2023–24 are due March 1, 2023.