Votives 2018

This summer Teen Thinkers conducted independent research projects on the theme, Votive Objects and the Everyday. Their research was informed by Bard Graduate Center Gallery’s upcoming exhibition Agents of Faith: Votive Objects in Time and Place, which explores the things that humans choose to offer in their votive transactions and strives to uncover how the most intimate moments in the lives of humans find form in votive offerings.

The Lab for Teen Thinkers is a two-year public humanities program that prepares rising juniors and seniors for future academic and professional success through civic development, mentoring, and internship opportunities. During the five-week Summer Intensive, participants have access to Bard Graduate Center’s study collection and library with over 55,000 volumes. The program offers a behind-the-scenes look at how New York City museums function and gives teens the unique opportunity to study objects and artifacts with a variety of scholars, curators, and graduate students working in the fields of material culture, decorative arts, and design history. The research culminates with an object biography, oral presentations and dynamic digital projects made in our Media Lab, that is shared with the Bard Graduate Center community. We believe knowledge and understanding are enhanced when we actively exchange insights and share ideas.

During the Fall semester, teens are mentored by a professor or curator on staff whose academic inquiry aligns with their own. Participants select an object from our Study Collection and have a choice to write a scholarly paper, create a performative cultural biography, or design a digital interactive media project. In the second year of the program participants can apply for a paid internship at Bard Graduate Center. In addition to paid internship opportunities, participants also plan, produce, and lead events with hands-on activities in our Gallery.

Bard Graduate Center is committed to forming the next generation of museum educators, curators, and historians, and we recognize the value of teens having meaningful opportunities and real world work experience.