Photo by Ajay Suresh, used under CC BY 2.0
In a recent email to the community, President Laura Walker announced that Bennington College would be hosting students and faculty from the recently closed University of the Arts dance BFA program for the 2024-2025 academic year.
According to the email, this cohort will include thirty low-residency MFA students, four transfers from other UArts programs, and thirty-four dance BFA students. It will also include several members of the UArts dance faculty, including Sidra Bell, Ronald K. Brown, and Ismael Houston-Jones. The UArts program at Bennington will continue to operate under the leadership of Donna Faye Burchfield, who was the dean of the University of the Arts’ School of Dance since 2014.
In a statement given to the Lens, it was clarified that at least 41 BFA dance students will be living on campus, which the administration claims will not exceed anticipated enrollment. It was also confirmed that these students will be living on the main campus, as well as at the Paran Creek apartments.
The cohabitation of UArt and Bennington’s respective dance programs is not expected to be a permanent arrangement; according to the President’s email, the current plan is to relocate the dance program back to Philadelphia at some point next year. While the program remains at Bennington, however, the administration intends to balance a distinction between programs and chances for cross-enrollment; the two programs will “maintain their separate identities, plans, and course tracks while having opportunities to cross-pollinate and learn from each other.”
While the details of these opportunities are still developing, it is clear already that “BFA Dance students will be able to take some Bennington classes and current Bennington students will be invited to participate in some of the programs with visiting artists who will be here through the BFA Dance program.” Additionally, there is a student-run hip-hop dance group called “Ignite” that is interested in working with Bennington students.
The June closure of Philadelphia’s University of the Arts came very suddenly; according to reports published by the Associated Press, parents of students reported receiving tuition bills mere hours before the notice of closure came. Members of the Board of Trustees stated that the university had been facing significant declines in revenue and enrollment over recent years; over the last decade, total enrollment declined from 2,038 students to only 1,149 students. Members of the board said that it had become impossible for the institution to manage a series of “significant, unanticipated expenses.”
Beginning only a few months after the closure of UArts, the program came together in large part thanks to the efforts of numerous members of the faculty and staff from both institutions. In the statement made to the Lens, it was explained that “several Bennington faculty and staff reached out to President Walker, enthusiastic about helping the displaced students and faculty find new homes. There was particular interest in the dance program.”
The adoption by Bennington of the UArts dance program is by no means the first collaboration between the two schools. Even prior to UArts’ sudden closure, numerous personal and institutional ties existed between the two schools: several faculty members have worked at either institution, and the former chief of staff at Bennington previously held the same position at UArts.
More recently, following the sudden closure of UArts in June, Bennington was recognized as a “teach-out partner” for UArts students, meaning that they are recognized as a prime institution for students to continue their degree programs as transfer students. In Bennington’s case, the college was recommended for the continuation of 14 out of 22 undergraduate programs.
In order to finance this transition – along with the continuation of the MFA residence in Montpellier, France – the collaborators conducted independent fundraising. This fundraising effort yielded a total of around $1.3 million dollars, consisting of a $1 million dollar donation from Barbara and Sebastian Scripps (who run the Scripps Family Fund for Education and the Arts), a donation of $250,000 from the Ford Foundation, and additional funds from the Transformational Partnerships Fund.
This partnership comes at a time when small schools with a focus on the arts, such as UArts and even Vermont’s Goddard College, are closing with increasing frequency. Apparently, this is not the first academic program Bennington has considered bringing into the fold – and it is not expected to be the last. If this trend of closure goes on, Bennington may continue to act as a gathering place for exciting, state-of-the-art programs. Based on the publications released by both institutions, this partnership wouldn’t have been possible at all without the enthusiasm of faculty and staff, who see it as an opportunity to preserve one of the most exciting programs in arts education.
“Bennington has been a true lifesaver,” said Burchfield, in a Bennington press release. “I am relieved and thrilled to see our students and faculty on the Bennington campus…The immediacy, creativity, and generosity are extraordinary.”
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