Bard Graduate Center (BGC) is pleased to continue its annual Fields of the Future fellowship and mentorship program, which aims to help promote diversity and inclusion in the advanced study of the material world. These fellowships—for both scholars and artists—reflect our commitment to explore and expand the sources, techniques, voices, and questions of interdisciplinary humanities scholarship from different perspectives. BGC studies the past in its own terms in order to better understand where the future has come from. We invite applicants to submit projects that they think map the fields of the future. In an effort to promote necessary diversity and inclusion in the fields of decorative arts, design history, and material culture, we particularly wish to encourage applicants from historically underrepresented groups and/or projects of related thematic focus.

Scholars should have university, museum, or independent backgrounds and possess a PhD or equivalent professional experience. Doctoral students of exceptional promise are also encouraged to apply.

The fellowships are intended to fund collections-based research at Bard Graduate Center or elsewhere in New York City, as well as writing, reading, and creative projects in which being part of our dynamic research environment is intellectually valuable. Fellows will be paired with BGC faculty and research librarians to connect with human and material resources.

Bard Graduate Center is a graduate research institute devoted to the study of the decorative arts, design history, and material culture, drawing on methodologies and approaches from art history, economic and cultural history, history of technology, material culture studies, philosophy, anthropology, and archaeology.