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1:00 - 5:00 pm Registration and information @ Flagpole 

1:00 - 5:00 pm Exhibit: Sreshta Rit Premnath: Overbody
@ Usdan Gallery
Usdan Gallery presents Overbody, a solo exhibition by Sreshta Rit Premnath. In this new series of sculptures and paintings, Premnath introduces the concept of the “overbody”—a coercive force that shapes and disciplines the body. Sculptures on view expand on Premnath’s ongoing use of “slumps”— figure-like forms that prop, push, and twist as they resist or succumb to forces that pull them down. Influenced by architect Kisho Kurokawa’s notion of “Rikyu grey” and the philosophy of Butoh, the waxy surfaces of these new sculptures evoke a corpse-like stillness while their precarious postures and layered surfaces enliven them. Also on view is Procession, a new series of vertical ink paintings in which shadowy forms, extending below dense black fields, hover between figuration and abstraction. Here, the “overbody” emerges as an enveloping, negative presence—at once oppressive and charged with potential. Sreshta Rit Premnath (b. 1979, Bangalore, India) is a multimedia artist living in New York City and Associate Professor of Art at Williams College. He is the founding editor of Shifter, a platform that convenes public discussions and produces topical publications at the intersection of art and theory. 

1:00 - 2:00 pm Campus Tour with Admissions Interns @ Meet at Andrew Schwartz Parlor, Barn 

1:00 - 6:00 pm Exhibit: Bennington Gothic @ Crossett Library Lobby
Bennington Gothic draws from the holdings of the 51�������� Archives and Crossett Library to highlight gothic elements of 51��������'s history. Featuring posters, articles, photographs, and books, the exhibition reveals gothic threads woven through the College’s history—from eerie student events and unique academic courses to the haunting works of Shirley Jackson and the macabre humor of Charles Addams. Together, these materials capture aspects of the mysterious and uncanny that have long been part of Bennington’s creative identity.

2:00 - 5:00 pm Open Office Hours
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 @ Tishman Auditorium 
President Laura Walker offers welcome remarks with an introduction by Associate Dean and Director of Integrative Wellness Dr. Ali Tartaglia.

5:15 - 6:00 pm From Campus to Career: Bennington Students Share Their Field Work Term Journeys @ Tishman Auditorium
Join us for a dynamic panel discussion featuring Bennington students as they reflect on their recent Field Work Term (FWT) experiences. Panelists will share insights into the challenges, lessons, and opportunities they encountered while working across diverse fields and organizations. The conversation will be facilitated by Dr. John Link, Dean of Integrated Learning & Career Readiness, and Sarah Krinsky, Associate Director of Career Development & Field Work Term, who will guide discussion around how FWT connects to academic learning, career exploration, and personal growth. This event is an opportunity to hear directly from peers, gain inspiration for your own FWT planning, and learn practical advice for making the most of experiential learning at Bennington.

5:00 - 7:00 pm: Harvest Dinner @ 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 Chef Steve Bohrer and the Dining Services team. $30 per person; 4-12 years old $12; may pre-register or pay at the door. 

8:00 pm Performance: 24 Hour Plays @ Location to be announced
Watch an incredible performance—written, directed, and acted by alumni and friends—making its debut on campus! All proceeds go toward two student scholarships: The Spencer Cox Scholarship and The Nicky Martin Memorial Scholarship.
Tickets: $50. To buy tickets, click on this link (), select "click here to register!" and then scroll down to the 24 Hour Plays to make your selection

10:00 pm 24 Hour Play After Party @ DownCaf

8:00 am-11:00 am Breakfast @ 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. $16.50 per guest; 4-12 years old $8.25; may pre-register or pay at the door.

9:00 am - 3:00 pm Registration and Information @ Flagpole

10:00 am - 10:00 pm Exhibit: Bennington Gothic @ Crossett Library Lobby
Bennington Gothic draws from the holdings of the 51�������� Archives and Crossett Library to highlight gothic elements of 51��������'s history. Featuring posters, articles, photographs, and books, the exhibition reveals gothic threads woven through the College’s history—from eerie student events and unique academic courses to the haunting works of Shirley Jackson and the macabre humor of Charles Addams. Together, these materials capture aspects of the mysterious and uncanny that have long been part of Bennington’s creative identity.

10:00 - 11:30 am Campus Sound Walk with Edmund Mooney ‘93 @ location to be announced

10:15 - 11:30 am Life After Bennington @ Student Center
Hear from several decades of Bennington alumni about their post-graduation journeys and, at times, unusual career paths and how Bennington prepared them for what they’re doing now. The panel discussion will be followed by a Q&A.

11:00 am - 5:00 pm Aluminum Pour Demonstration @ north side of VAPA
Come share in the experience of an aluminum pour outside of the Sculpture Department with the students of the intro Sculpture class examining space. This event will happen on the north side of the VAPA building just outside of the Sculpture Department. Catch the excitement and beauty when molten aluminum fills the students’ prepared sand molds and interacts with experimental performances. During this event you will learn and observe the many tasks involved in a successful pour. Preparation will begin for the pour starting at 11:00am , with the first pour set to happen around 1:30pm. This event will go until all molds are poured and finish up around 5:00pm.

12:30 - 4:30 pm Exhibit: North American Music @ 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 Exhibit: Sreshta Rit Premnath: Overbody @ Usdan Gallery
Usdan Gallery presents Overbody, a solo exhibition by Sreshta Rit Premnath. In this new series of sculptures and paintings, Premnath introduces the concept of the “overbody”—a coercive force that shapes and disciplines the body. Sculptures on view expand on Premnath’s ongoing use of “slumps”— figure-like forms that prop, push, and twist as they resist or succumb to forces that pull them down. Influenced by architect Kisho Kurokawa’s notion of “Rikyu grey” and the philosophy of Butoh, the waxy surfaces of these new sculptures evoke a corpse-like stillness while their precarious postures and layered surfaces enliven them. Also on view is Procession, a new series of vertical ink paintings in which shadowy forms, extending below dense black fields, hover between figuration and abstraction. Here, the “overbody” emerges as an enveloping, negative presence—at once oppressive and charged with potential. Sreshta Rit Premnath (b. 1979, Bangalore, India) is a multimedia artist living in New York City and Associate Professor of Art at Williams College. He is the founding editor of Shifter, a platform that convenes public discussions and produces topical publications at the intersection of art and theory.  

1:00 - 5:00 pm Lawn Games for Students @ Commons Lawn
Enjoy outdoor games amid the stunning autumn backdrop of the Green Mountains.

1:00 - 5:00 pm Craft Fair @ Scope in Commons
This fair features handmade craft by current students and alumni.

1:30 - 3:30 pm Workshop @ Purple Carrot Farm 
In this hands-on workshop Kelie Bowman, Visiting Faculty, Manager of Sustainable Agriculture and the Purple Carrot Farm, along with student and herbalist in training Hannah Hall, will discuss valuable medicinal uses of common garden herbs growing at Purple Carrot Farm and learn one herbal preparation you can make yourself. Together we will 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, teas, and infused oils.

2:00 - 3:30 pm  Faculty Workshops

2:00 - 2:30 pm Student-Scientists in the Lab” with Fortune Ononiwu @ Dickinson 205 
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.

2:00 - 3:00 pm  “Open Rehearsal - Mechanical by Sophie Treadwell” with Jenny Rohn @ Margot Tenney Theater
Please join us for an open rehearsal of Mechanical by Sophie Treadwell, 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 @ 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.

3:00 pm Cider Pressing & Faculty Demonstration @ Robert Frost Stone House Museum 
Head to the Frost House (off-campus) for a hands-on, cider-making demonstration and a faculty presentation. Celebrate the season with fresh apple cider pressing on the grounds of the Museum after the demonstration.

3:00 - 5:00 pm Faculty vs Student Soccer Game @ Soccer Field
Dust off your cleats and come join this fun annual soccer game! Parents are welcome to join faculty and staff as they take on our current students.

3:15 - 4:15 pm Life After the MFA @ location to be announced
A panel discussion and Q&A hosted by the Bennington Writing Seminars. Reception to follow at Cricket Hill.

6:00 - 7:00 pm Dinner @ 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. $30 per person; 4-12 years old $12; may pre-register or pay at the door. 

8:30 pm Winterpill Concert @ Student Center
Join the Winterpills with frontman Phillip Price ‘85 for an amazing night of music with a sneak peak of their upcoming album release.
Formed in the fog of the timeline around the fall of the Twin Towers, the death of Elliott Smith, the peak influence of Pitchfork and the dawn of the iPod, the members of Winterpills met and began making music in the old-fashioned winter of 2003 in the shambolic Northampton, MA music scene. 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of their eponymous first album, and the band is celebrating with a remastered reissue with bonus tracks. Over the past 20 years, the band has released 7 albums and numerous singles and EPs, has spent weeks both on the road and in the woodshed, and won’t relent. Emerging from the forced hiatus of the pandemic has given them a new perspective on their art. The restless Price released 3 solo albums during the unhappy break, but the full band has just finished recording their 8th full length, titled THIS IS HOW WE DANCE, set for release on November 14, 2025.

8:30 pm Film Screening: Love, Brooklyn @ Tishman
Join two Bennington alumni who worked together on this major motion film that is in theaters now. The film was directed by Rachael Holder (who attended the Bennington Summer Writing program), was written by Paul Zimmerman ‘77, and edited by Shawn Paper ‘90.  Join Shawn & Paul for a discussion following the movie.

11:00 am - 1:00 pm Brunch @ 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.  $16.50 per guest; 4-12 years old $8.25; may pre-register or pay at the door. 

1:00 pm Tour of Walloomsac Inn
Explore this historic property—recently purchased by Rafe Churchill '91—and learn about its exciting renovation plans.

2:00 - 4:30 pm The Road to the 250th @ The Bennington Museum
Join the Bennington Historical Society on a tour of the markers and monuments that document the lead-up to the 1777 Battle of Bennington. Tickets are $15 with a $5 discount for Bennington Museum Members. Tickets will only be available at the door if seats are still available on the bus.