Fall Weekend 2024
Friday, October 4–Sunday, October 6 2024
Come spend some time in your student's new home and share the Bennington experience together.
Special Guest:
Michael Pollan '76
Saturday, October 5 at 7:00 pm
Questions?
Contact fallweekend@bennington.edu or call 802-440-4330.
Schedule of Events
Friday, October 4
1:00–5:00 pm - Registration and information
Location: Flagpole
1:00–5:00 pm - Exhibition: Collective Affinities: Personal collections from the Bennington College community at Usdan Gallery
Location: Usdan Gallery | Collective Affinities presents idiosyncratic collections of Bennington College faculty, staff, and alums, with contents ranging from monogrammed luggage to Paris Metro tickets, cat whiskers to nutcrackers, and belly-dancing records to pulp-fiction paperbacks. Beyond celebrating the pleasures of collecting, the exhibition examines the different ways that collections happen—through circumstance as well as intention—and considers what collections say about how we move through a world of objects and engage with our surroundings. Inspired by the writings of German philosopher and cultural critic Walter Benjamin (1892-1940)—himself a passionate collector—Collective Affinities has a direct link with the curriculum in which students collaborate to make the exhibition catalog: participants in a seminar on Benjamin’s life and work, taught by Usdan Gallery director and exhibition curator Anne Thompson, will write about individual collections on view; students in a 2D design class, taught by visual arts faculty Farhad Mirza, will create the publication.
1:00–2:00 pm - Campus Tour with Admissions Interns
Location: Meet at Andrew Schwartz Parlor, Barn
1:00–6:00 pm - Exhibit: A Glimpse into the Bennington College Archives
Location: Crossett Library
2:00–5:00 pm - Open Office Hours
Locations: Academic Services (Barn 106 and Barn 120), Career Development and Field Work Term Office, Financial Aid, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Student Life.
5:00–5:15 pm - Welcome
Location: Tishman Auditorium | President Laura Walker offers welcome remarks with an introduction by Vice President and Dean of Student Life Dr. Li-Chen Chin.
5:15–6:00 pm - Field Work Term 101: A Guide for Parents, Families, and Support Networks
Location: Tishman Auditorium | This session provides an overview of how the Career Development and Field Work Term Office assists students in discovering Field Work Term (FWT) opportunities that align with their personal interests and support their exploration of various career paths. The discussion will cover how FWT experiences are integral to students' professional growth and how parents, families, and support networks can play a role in this process. Dr. John Link, Associate Dean of Career Development and Field Work Term, and Sarah Krinsky, Associate Director of Career Development and Field Work Term, will lead the session, offering valuable insights and practical guidance for supporting students through their first Field Work Term experience.
6:00–7:00 pm - Dinner
Location: Commons Dining Hall | Dine with your student and enjoy flavorful dishes featuring sustainably sourced products from local farmers and producers provided by the Dining Services team. $20 per person; 4-12 years old $10; may pre-register or pay at the door.
Saturday, October 5
9:00 am–4:00 pm - Registration and Information
Location: Flagpole
8:00 am–6:00 pm - Exhibit: A Glimpse into the Bennington College Archives
Location: Crossett Library
10:00 am–12:00 pm - Workshop with Sugarhouse Workshop
Location: Purple Carrot Farm | In this hands-on workshop, Jessica Lewis from SugarHouse Workshop and Kelie Bowman, Visiting Faculty, Manager of Sustainable Agriculture and CAPA Program Coordinator will discuss valuable medicinal uses of common garden herbs growing at Purple Carrot Farm and learn two simple herbal preparations you can make yourself. Together we will formulate herbal honeys and make a batch of fire cider to help prevent and soothe common illnesses as the cold weather comes on, in addition to discussing the uses of other herbal preparations like tinctures, oxymels, and infused oils.
11:00 am–1:00 pm - Brunch
Location: Commons Dining Hall | Dine with your student and enjoy flavorful dishes featuring sustainably sourced products from local farmers and producers provided by the Dining Services team. $14 per guest; 4–12 years old $7; may pre-register or pay at the door.
12:30–4:30 pm - Exhibit: North American Music
Location: Jennings Music Library | The Music Library holds approximately 18,000 items, including LPs, CDs, scores, books, reference volumes, videos, periodicals, and archival recordings. Emphasis is on classical, jazz (improvisation), 20th and 21st century, and world music. It houses a rare collection of 20th century scores by Latin American composers, and an extensive collection of rare LP recordings which includes jazz LPs from the 1940s through 1990. The library contains numerous works of distinguished faculty composers (former and present) including Henry Brant, Louis Calabro, Allen Shawn, Vivian Fine, Otto Luening, Betsy Jolas, Joan Tower, and Lionel Nowak. Students may browse and check out materials, as well as study, use the Listening Room, or meet with friends and collaborators, during the Library's open hours.
1:00–5:00 pm - Exhibition: Collective Affinities: Personal collections from the Bennington College community at Usdan Gallery
Location: Usdan Gallery | Collective Affinities presents idiosyncratic collections of Bennington College faculty, staff, and alums, with contents ranging from monogrammed luggage to Paris Metro tickets, cat whiskers to nutcrackers, and belly-dancing records to pulp-fiction paperbacks. Beyond celebrating the pleasures of collecting, the exhibition examines the different ways that collections happen—through circumstance as well as intention—and considers what collections say about how we move through a world of objects and engage with our surroundings. Inspired by the writings of German philosopher and cultural critic Walter Benjamin (1892-1940)—himself a passionate collector—Collective Affinities has a direct link with the curriculum in which students collaborate to make the exhibition catalog: participants in a seminar on Benjamin’s life and work, taught by Usdan Gallery director and exhibition curator Anne Thompson, will write about individual collections on view; students in a 2D design class, taught by visual arts faculty Farhad Mirza, will create the publication.
2:00–5:00 pm - Lawn Games for Students
Location: Commons Lawn | Enjoy outdoor games amid the stunning autumn backdrop of the Green Mountains.
2:00–5:00 pm - Craft Fair
Location: Commons Lawn (Rain site: Student Center) | The fair features handmade craft by students.
2:00–3:30 pm - Faculty Workshops
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2:00–2:30 pm - Student-Scientists in the Lab” with Fortune Ononiwu in Dickinson 205
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At Bennington, students engage as scientists from day one. In this session, chemistry students will transform salicylic acid, a naturally occurring compound derived from willow bark, into compounds used as active ingredients in the fragrance industry. These products will be characterized by their olfactory properties and analyzed using NMR spectroscopy. Students will also discuss their current projects, what they’re learning, and how their experiences reflect Bennington’s unique, hands-on approach to teaching the sciences.
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- 2:00–3:00 pm - “Open Rehearsal - Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard” with Jenny Rohn in Margot Tenney Theater
- Please join us for an open rehearsal of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, directed by faculty member Jenny Rohn. We are beginning a collaborative creative process in which we use physical theater methods to build an ensemble and explore the play's characters and world. The performances will take place at the end of November. We will leave time for questions and discussion at the end of the rehearsal.
- Please join us for an open rehearsal of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, directed by faculty member Jenny Rohn. We are beginning a collaborative creative process in which we use physical theater methods to build an ensemble and explore the play's characters and world. The performances will take place at the end of November. We will leave time for questions and discussion at the end of the rehearsal.
- 2:30–3:00 pm - “Student Literature Readings” with Jenny Boully in Barn 024
- In a panel curated and facilitated by literature faculty member Jenny Boully, current seniors will read from their advanced work. Readings may include examples of projects in fiction, creative nonfiction, screenwriting, and/or poetry. The students’ readings will be followed by a Q and A about teaching and studying literature at Bennington.
- In a panel curated and facilitated by literature faculty member Jenny Boully, current seniors will read from their advanced work. Readings may include examples of projects in fiction, creative nonfiction, screenwriting, and/or poetry. The students’ readings will be followed by a Q and A about teaching and studying literature at Bennington.
- 3:00–3:30 pm - “Traditional Music Studies at Bennington College” with John Kirk in Deane Carriage Barn
- A hands on demonstration of the types of instrumental classes taught in the Traditional Music program. A few instruments will be provided for you to learn: the history, the first few basic techniques, and experience making music together using banjo, guitar, & mandolin.
5:00–7:00 pm - Harvest Dinner
Location: Commons Dining Hall | Dine with your student and enjoy flavorful dishes featuring sustainably sourced products from Purple Carrot Farm as well as other local farmers and producers provided by the Dining Services team. $20 per person; 4-12 years old $10; may pre-register or pay at the door.
7:00–9:00 pm - A Life of Letters: Conversation with Michael Pollan ‘76 and Mark Wunderlich, Executive Director, Bennington Writing Seminars
Location: Tishman Auditorium | A Life of Letters: Conversation with Michael Pollan ‘76 and Mark Wunderlich, Executive Director, Bennington Writing Seminars, with an Introduction by President Laura Walker.
For more than thirty years, Michael Pollan '76 has been writing books and articles about the places where the human and natural worlds intersect: on our plates, in our farms and gardens, and in our minds. Pollan is the award-winning author of eight books, six of which have been New York Times bestsellers; three of them (including his latest, How to Change Your Mind) were immediate #1 New York Times bestsellers. Previous books include Cooked (2013), Food Rules (2009), In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (2008), The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006), and The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World (2001). Pollan is the John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and the director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism. In 2017, he was appointed Professor of the Practice of Non-fiction at Harvard and the university’s first Lewis Chan Lecturer in the Arts. Michael Pollan graduated from Bennington in 1976, and also studied at Oxford University, and Columbia University, from which he received a Master’s in English. He lives in the Bay Area with his wife, the painter Judith Belzer '78. A book signing will follow the conversation.
Sunday, October 6
11:00 am–1:00 pm - Brunch
Location: Commons Dining Hall | Dine with your student and enjoy flavorful dishes featuring sustainably sourced products from local farmers and producers provided by the Dining Services team. $14 per guest; 4-12 years old $7; may pre-register or pay at the door.
1:00–3:00 pm - James Crews and Friends Poetry Reading and Cider Pressing
Location: Robert Frost Stone House Museum | Join us at the Robert Frost Stone House Museum for a fall afternoon with Vermont poet James Crews and friends reading from his three anthologies of contemporary poems that celebrate hope, wonder, kindness, and connection. Celebrate the season with fresh apple cider pressing on the grounds of the Museum after the reading.