Community-Engaged Arts and Events

An important part of Migration and Displacement Studies at Vassar is the opportunity for students to work alongside and collaborate with the greater Hudson Valley community, as well as others in New York state and beyond. These partnerships have resulted in many community-engaged events and art exhibitions, some of which are listed below. Learn more about additional research exhibitions on campus. Students and faculty with ideas or interest in getting involved with community-engaged projects should email migrationdisplacement@vassar.edu.

Bearing Witness: Stories of Migration Through Art (December 2020)

In December 2020, the Selective Bibliography of Forced Migration hosted a virtual community conversation centered around art and migration—from textile cloths to theater performances—with a focus on what it means to bear witness to such moments via individual stories of migration. The discussion engaged students from Vassar College, Spackenkill High School, and the larger Poughkeepsie community, featuring keynote speaker, Dr. Brittany Murray (University of Tennessee, Knoxville). Learn more about the event.

45,000 Quilts Project (October 2020)

Vassar College hosted the 45,000 Quilt Project on campus in the fall of 2020. The project contained 45 individual quilted panels, each with 1000 individual marks, to represent the 45,000 people that were held on average by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) each day in 2019. Learn more about the project at Vassar:

**Life After War: Disturbed (November 2019)**

Life After War: Disturbed, an exhibition of photographs by Amy Kaslow (Vassar College ’81), opened at Vassar during the Global Displacement and Mental Health conference in the fall of 2019. As Amy Kaslow described the collection in EuropeNow, “Life After War: Disturbed transports you to a dozen countries, some decades into their post-war years. The images and storyboards provide historical context, spotlight here and now conditions, and point to horizon issues for growing populations. These are places where development demands are vast, human engagement is critical, and the investment dollar can go far.”

Piano Recital by Milad Yousufi (November 2019)

During the Global Displacement and Mental Health conference in Fall 2019, Vassar College welcomed Milad Yousufi of the Refugee Orchestra Project & Mannes School of Music at The New School to campus for a recital of original compositions. Yousufi is an accomplished pianist, composer, conductor, poet, singer, painter, and calligrapher born in 1995 during the civil war in Afghanistan. Yousufi has had the opportunity to compose for The New York Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra (at Lincoln Center), Refugee Orchestra Project, Kronos Quartet (at Carnegie Hall), and other distinguished groups.

From Beacon to the Border: A Screening and Panel Discussion (November 2019)

As part of an event series in the Fall 2019 titled Walls, Borders, Fences, Andrea Garbarini and Valarie Carlisle of Grannies Respond/Abuelos Responden screened the documentary, From Beacon to the Border. The documentary follows a national movement of grannies who traveled to Texas to protest migrant family separation. After the screening, an intergenerational panel of grannies and Vassar students discussed how to respond to the family separation crises along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Know Your History and Geography: Leonard Freed’s Photographs of the Berlin Wall (1961–1989) (November 2019)

As part of an event series in the fall of 2019 titled Walls, Borders, Fences, an exhibition of Leonard Freed’s photographs opened in Vassar’s Palmer Gallery. The exhibition was curated by Paul Farber of the National Monument Lab and commemorated the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The exhibition complemented a second exhibition, Know Your History and Geography: Students, Artists, and Activists Narrate the U.S.-Mexico Border on the second floor of Main Building. The simultaneous opening of both exhibitions was accompanied by a panel discussion that included Paul Farber, Professor Joe Nevins, and Vassar students Ava McElhone Yates ’21, Ivanna Guerra ’20, and Carlos Espina ’20. Read more.

History and Geography: Students, Artists, and Activists Narrate the U.S.-Mexico Border (November 2019)

As part of an event series in the fall of 2019 titled Walls, Borders, Fences, an exhibition examining the U.S.-Mexico border wall over time and how local community members and students chose to respond to its current iteration corresponding with the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The exhibition was curated by Vassar student Ava McElhone Yates ’21 and Rick Jones (Vassar College). It complemented a second exhibition, Know Your History and Geography: Leonard Freed’s Photographs of the Berlin Wall (1961-1989) in Vassar’s Palmer Gallery. The simultaneous opening of both exhibits was accompanied by a panel discussion that included Paul Farber (Monument Lab), Joe Nevins (Vassar College), and Vassar students Ava McElhone Yates ’21, Ivanna Guerra ’20, and Carlos Espina ’20. Read more.

The exhibition included a section titled Dear Carlos: Letters from a Detention Facility, which displayed many of the letters received by Carlos Espina (Vassar College ’20) as part of his letter-writing project (and later, his senior thesis) with individuals detained in ICE detention centers. A desk and chair were provided for visitors of the exhibition to write their own letters as part of Espina’s project and sign up to get more involved with providing material and moral support to those detained along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Vassar Farm Mural Project (with New Americans Summer Program) (July 2019)

As part of the New Americans Summer Program organized by the Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement, and Education, students created a mural on a 90-foot-long wall on the Vassar College Farm along with Joel Artista of Artolution, who taught and facilitated the process for students. Learn more about the program and work.

Help Us Welcome Our New Neighbors to the Queen City: Mid-Hudson Artists Fundraiser (December 2017)

This fundraiser event was held at the Mid Hudson Heritage Center and organized by the Mid Hudson Refugee Solidarity Alliance. Local and regional artists supported the event by donating small and affordable pieces of art to raise money for the Mid-Hudson Refugee Welcome Fund.

Where Hope Finds a Home: Recognizing the Refugees of Lancaster County (October 2017)

Where Hope Finds Home is an exhibition of photographs by Kristin V. Rehder that documents more than 60 refugees from 19 countries who have resettled in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County. Those who agreed to be photographed also shared their stories with the photographs. The photographs were displayed in Vassar’s Palmer Gallery. Rehder also spoke at a public lecture hosted by the Vassar course, “Worldwide Refugee Crisis.” Rehder has won numerous awards for her writing and teaching, and her photographs have been published in publications including The New York Times and Popular Photography as well as exhibited in numerous places around the country.

Migration, Exile, Refuge: Stories from the Hudson Valley (May 2017)

Vassar Refugee Solidarity and a group of Vassar history majors curated Migration, Exile, Refuge: Stories from the Hudson Valley, as the inaugural exhibition at the newly opened, historic Glebe House in Poughkeepsie, NY. Based on archival research and an oral history project that has been underway since the founding of Vassar Refugee Solidarity, the exhibit showed the long history of refugees and migrants arriving in the area and invited visitors to reflect on their own families’ histories or origin. Local artists created artworks related to forced migration, former refugees lent artifacts from their old homes, and visitors could listen to stories of flight and refuge in MP3 players dispersed through the exhibition.