The Arts
Past Events
Hutchinson, the W.E.B. Du Bois Professor in the Humanities at Cornell University, is the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among many other awrads. Free and open to the public.
This exhibition of contemporary art explores the psychological, physical, and emotional realities encountered by women and people assigned female at birth in the years leading up to, during, and after fertility. Artists Krista Franklin and Joanne Leonard will be in conversation with exhibition curators Karen Irvine and Kristin Taylor.
Join the Office of Student Growth & Engagement, the Engaged Pluralism program, and the Office of Community Engaged Learning-Vassar Votes, for a film screening of The Young Vote.
A reading of a play by Foster Schrader ’25, recipient of the Marilyn Swartz Seven ’69 Annual Playwriting Award, Spring ’24. A reception will follow.
Campus guests only, please. Reservations required.
Celebrate the arts and artists of Poughkeepsie, NY this September! Visit over 30 local artists, makers, and creators at galleries, artist studios, and creative spaces. Learn more at poughkeepsieopenstudios.org.
This special sale, sponsored by the Haiti Project, will showcase over 200 original and affordable paintings while raising funds for education programs in rural Haiti.
A lecture by Seth Whidden, Professor of French Literature and Fellow of The Queen’s College of the University of Oxford.
Campus community only, please.
Dr. Shapiro will be speaking about his new book, The Playbook, which documents the history of the Federal Theater Project (1935–1939). The project was helmed by Vassar’s own Hallie Flanagan, under whose stewardship the Vassar Drama Department was first established.
Campus community only, please. Reservations required.
This year’s Dr. Maurice Sitomer Lecture, presented by the Jewish Studies Program, will be a concert given by Victoria Hanna, a Jerusalem-based international voice artist.
Valid form of ID required.
Original works for trio and American Songbook featuring longtime trio partners Nick Hetko, piano, Rich Syracuse, double bass, and Jeff “Siege” Siegel, drums.
Part of a three-day conference (Sept. 13–15) devoted to Hudson Valley landscape, the program at Vassar will include a panel moderated by President Bradley, a lecture by Professor of Art Yvonne Elet, lunch on the Olmsted-designed Chapel lawn, and more!
Registration Required
The Marilyn Swartz Seven ’69 Award was established by friends and classmates of the late Ms. Seven to support an annual playwriting competition open to all Vassar juniors and seniors from any discipline.
With compelling cinematography and commentary, this documentary presents the biography of a man whose parks and preservation are an essential part of American life. Movie snacks included!
Library exhibition about an early 20th century arts colony in the Hudson Valley with multiple Vassar connections. Based on a newly acquired collection.
Join the Loeb Art Center for an afternoon with Bev Gibson, curator and co-founder of Ubuhle, a collective of South African women who have transformed traditional beadwork practices into a new form of art. A reception follows.
We celebrate Professor Jonathan Chenette’s retirement with a concert of his music.
This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live
Exhibition curators Gary van Wyk and Lisa Brittan lead an exploration of Uluso—“Against the Dark Sky” at the Loeb Art Center, featuring examples of beaded costumes and accessories from the Zulu- and Xhosa-speaking peoples of South Africa. A reception follows.
Ari Isaacman-Beck violin, Cheryl Bishkoff oboe, Gail Archer organ, Tom Sauer piano
The Palmer Gallery welcomes the artists’ collective Rhinebeck Fine Art, featuring Hudson Valley artists working in media ranging from painting to photography to sculpture. Artists’ reception September 27.
Featuring Joseph Genualdi, violin and Richard Wilson, piano
Brian Mann, piano, Lou Pappas, double bass, Tom Melito, drums, Iain Mann, violin, guitar, Courtenay Budd, voice, James Ruff, voice
The Hudson Valley’s Bachfest Chorus & Orchestra returns with works for chorus and orchestra featuring Buxtehude’s Jesu, meines Lebens Leben and Bach’s Cantata 34 O ewiges Feuer, O Ursprung der Liebe, Cantata 191 Gloria in excelsis Deo, and the Triple Concerto for Flute, Violin, and Harpsichord. Christine Howlett, conductor.
The Hudson Valley’s Bachfest returns with works for organ and piano, featuring pianists Sylvia Buccelli and Ruthanne Schempf and organists Gail Archer and Avery Duer ’24.
Life After War: Disturbed, an exhibit by Amy Kaslow ’81 at the Palmer Gallery, transports you through images and storyboards to a dozen countries, some decades into their post-war years.
An annual tribute to the graduating seniors presented by the Music Department Faculty.
An afternoon of upright bass repertoire, including works by Vivaldi, Dragonetti, and Koussevitzky.
Studio Art senior thesis projects by nine student artists will be on view through May 18.
An afternoon of organ repertoire spanning nearly 400 years, including works by Buxtehude, Bach, and Franck.
Featuring solo works by Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Beethoven’s Trio in D Major, op. 70, no. 1.
An afternoon of flute repertoire featuring works by Doppler, Bozza, Chaminade, Martin, and more.
An evening of 19th and 20th-century repertoire by Hugo Wolf, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, Aaron Copland, and Jake Heggie
Featuring student winners of the soloist competition.
Eduardo Navega, conductor
This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live
A performance of original dance works by four Vassar seniors. Reserve free tickets.
Eduardo Navega, director
This exhibition uses objects from the permanent collection of the Loeb Art Center to examine the ways in which photography has been read, used, and manipulated as data—quantifiable, measurable “information” about the world.
Campus community only, please.
A 20–30-minute lunchtime recital series by members of the Vassar College Chamber Music Program in a relaxed atmosphere outside the Bridge Café.
Artist Mary Haddad, who created a collaborative mural with local students, will speak on activism, artistry, and the Black Lives Matter Movement in her work. Small reception to follow.
James Osborn, conductor
This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live
In recognition of their extraordinary writing of an original play, the Drama Department will present two events featuring the work of Angelina Papa ’24 and Foster Schrader ’25.
“All God’s Creatures”: Songs about all manner of living things, by Schubert, Beethoven, Ivor Davies, Whitacre, and others.
Drew Minter, conductor
This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live
James Osborn, director
This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live
Or, takes place (mostly) during one night in the life of Aphra Behn, poet, spy, and soon to be first professional female playwright. Performances April 18, 19, 20. Reservations required.
Campus community only, please.
A 20–30-minute lunchtime recital series by members of the Vassar College Chamber Music Program in a relaxed atmosphere outside the Bridge Café.
Art and Decolonization in Africa during the Independence Era, 1956–1982: This talk by a MoMA curator foregrounds artists’ response to the advent of a new African reality characterized by the transition from colonial modernity to an aspirational decolonized subjectivity.
Puppet show followed by a talkback. After the event, members of Bread and Puppet will serve their famous sourdough rye bread with aioli! Books, posters, and cheap art will be for sale in the lobby. Reserve free tickets.
Natalie Frank offers an overview of her work from her undergraduate studies to portrait paintings that are currently under development in the studio (2005-2024).
Celebrate Pride Month and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month with the author of Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant. A reception will follow with food from a local Chinese-run restaurant.