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Ralph Ellison Center at Bard College
Ralph Ellison posing for a portrait.
Photo courtesy the Ellison Archives
Helping students lead purpose-driven lives rooted in rigorous engagement with—and pursuit of—the arts and material culture.
The Ellison Center at Bard College provides a home for writers, artists, and scholars; a place for meetings, public discussions, and publications; and a central hub for campus-wide efforts to amplify meaning and purpose. The Center models and encourages an integrity of process consistent with Ralph Ellison’s characteristically wide and flexible approach to artistic expression. 
A collage of photos, including of Ralph Ellison, a spider, and a dog.
Photo courtesy the Ellison archives

A Legacy, 
A Vision

The Ellison Center at Bard exists to steward the enduring legacy of a seminal American artist and intellectual, uplifting not only the breadth of his creative output, but also the integrity with which Ellison pursued his creative aims and inclinations, in defiance of any normative confinement to convention, genre, or medium.
Ralph Ellison stands in front of a painting.
Photo courtesy the Ellison archives

The Center’s Plans

The Ralph Ellison Center at Bard College is leading a number of key initiatives, including:
  • Appointing senior, faculty, and student fellows
  • Hosting the biannual Ralph Ellison Lectures
  • Undertaking the Ellison archive digitization project
  • Facilitating a recurring salon series
  • Hiring affiliate faculty, staff, and researchers 
  • Hosting a two-week summer internship program
  • Supporting various curricular initiatives
Ralph and Fanny Ellison in a teal car.
Photo courtesy the Ellison Archives

Questions?

If you’re interested in hearing more about the work and vision of the Ellison Center at Bard College, please send us a message at [email protected]