Elissa Auther, visiting associate professor and Windgate Research and Collections Curator, Museum of Arts and Design, along with Bard Graduate Center students and alumni participated in the American Craft Council’s 12th national conference, Present Tense, held October 13-15, 2016, in Omaha, Nebraska.

Among the attendees were Grace Reff, second-year master’s student; Mei-Ling Israel, PhD candidate; Lara Schilling (MA, 2016), assistant for public programs and engagement at Bard Graduate Center; Amanda Thompson (MA, 2016), project manager at New-York Historical Society; Emily Banas (MA, 2015), curatorial assistant in decorative arts and design at the RISD Museum; Andrew Gardner (MA, 2015), design gallery and fair programming liaison at Artsy; Sequoia Miller (MA, 2012), PhD candidate in the history of art at Yale University; and Sarah Archer (MA 2006), writer and independent curator. Also at the conference, 2000 Bard Graduate Center Iris Award honoree Edward S. Cooke, Jr., professor of the history of art at Yale University, was made an honorory fellow of the Council. Scholarships and travel assistance enabled students and emerging professionals to attend.