Tenth Anniversary Video
This year marked a milestone, as Bard Prison Initiative celebrated its 10th year of providing meaningful higher education and opportunity to incarcerated men and women. To document a decade of student and alumni achievements in New York and through the National Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison, BPI produced a twelve-minute film, made by filmmaker Frank Du Pont.Events
10th Commencement
10th Commencement – held on Saturday, January 26th, at Eastern Correctional Facility. Largest graduation to date with 56 men and 4 women in absentia awarded AA and BA degrees, and over 250 faculty, family, friends and supporters in attendance. Rev. Dr. Calvin Butts, Pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and President of SUNY College at Old Westbury, delivered a rousing commencement address, Roland Augustine provided remarks on behalf of the Board of Trustees and Bard College President Leon Botstein conferred the degrees. Particularly moving were the commencement speeches given by four BPI students.Here is a video postcard from that morning at Eastern – please enjoy and share.
Announcement
Nothing to Lose by Manuel Borras (’08) – Staged Play Reading at the Public Theater
BPI alumni, faculty, and supporters joined to attend the well-received staged reading of Manuel Borras’s play Nothing to Lose at the Public Theater on April 15. Manuel has signed with an agent from the Abrams Artist Agency.
From the Public Theater Website:
Prison can rob a person of their resolve and their humanity, but some utilize the mind to escape. Raw and steeped in experience, this American story follows Lance Poet Rivera as he enters prison and struggles to beat the odds of two decades of incarceration and its aftermath when he is released.
The Public Theater's website