Dear Prospective Students,

My name is Anabelle Meyers and I am a second year MA student at Bard Graduate Center. In my role as student admissions ambassador I hope to meet many of you at one of our open houses this fall, or you can email admissions@bgc.bard.edu to schedule a visit another time.

I have been wracking my brain to come up with a word that does not carry with it the corporate taint of the term “synergy” to describe the confluence of events that have come to a head for me this semester. But it is the only term I can think of that accurately conveys how perfectly the following has come together. In my first year, I focused my research on twentieth-century American film. After taking courses in a breadth of fields of study, I wrote a final paper in the spring semester that ignited a passion in me that (I hope) will carry me though my Qualifying Paper. Then this past summer I was able to intern at the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) in Astoria, Queens where I was able to take my interests out of the classroom and into the curatorial and collections management space.

At MoMI I worked under the Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, Barbara Miller. Barbara was a wonderful mentor, so I was beyond thrilled when it was announced that she would be teaching a course at BGC! “Preserving the Ephemeral,” which I am taking this fall, looks at the material culture and ephemera of and around the silent film era. I will get the chance to return to MoMI to continue working directly with their collection, now in a classroom setting.

Lastly, part of the genesis of this course was the exhibition currently on at the BGC Gallery: Goddesses in the Machine: Fashion in American Silent Film. The exhibition, co-curated by BGC alums and based on one of their doctoral dissertations, looks at the relationship between silent film and fashion. Our class has already visited the gallery and used chapters from the exhibition catalog in our course discussions.

Although this combination of events feels incredibly lucky for me, it is not at all uncommon. BGC encourages students to bring their work outside of the classroom and for other students and professionals to come to 86th Street and share their passions with us.

As always, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about student life at BGC, want to attend an open house, or would like to schedule a tour.

Best wishes,

Anabelle Meyers
BGC MA ’27
anabelle.meyers@bgc.bard.edu