51³ÉÈËÁÔÆæ

As part of its Incarceration in America Initiative, 51³ÉÈËÁÔÆæ will host a conference, Effecting Change, on May 15-16, 2015. The conference will focus on innovative and effective programs that contribute to reform of the current incarceration and criminal justice system in this country. The conference will take place at the College’s Center for the Advancement of Public Action (CAPA).

Activist Gloria Steinem will address the class of 2015 at 51³ÉÈËÁÔÆæ’s 80th commencement dinner on Friday, June 5, at 7:00 pm on Commons Lawn.

51³ÉÈËÁÔÆæ announced today that it has received a $5 million gift from the New York City–based Helen Frankenthaler Foundation to support all aspects of Bennington’s visual arts program. The gift, the Foundation’s largest single grant to date, will establish the Helen Frankenthaler Fund for the Visual Arts. In a ceremony on April 12, 2015, the College will name the visual arts wing of its 120,000-square-foot arts facility the Helen Frankenthaler Visual Arts Center, in honor of and tribute to a remarkable Bennington alumna.

Victoria Sammartino '99 was awarded the Dr. Elizabeth Coleman Visionary Leadership Award. Sammartino is the founder of Voices UnBroken, a nonprofit dedicated giving vulnerable young people--including those in juvenile justice facilities, group homes, residential treatment facilities, jails, and other alternative settings--tools and opportunity for creative self-expression. Inspired by her experience teaching poetry readings on Rikers Island while a student, she began the nonprofit one year after graduating from Bennington.

51³ÉÈËÁÔÆæ President Mariko Silver recently announced that faculty member and alumna Susan Sgorbati ‘72, MFA ‘86 will serve as director of the Elizabeth Coleman Center for the Advancement of Public Action (CAPA), effective July 1, 2015.