“A hothouse for the creation of uncompromising, cross-disciplinary hits.” —The New York Times
Fisher Center LAB is the Fisher Center’s artist residency and commissioning program, providing meaningful support for innovative artists across disciplines.
Since its launch in 2012, Fisher Center LAB has supported hundreds of artists by providing the time, resources, and funding they need to experiment, dream, and fully realize their artistic potential. Through Fisher Center LAB, artists are provided with custom-made support toward their innovative projects, and their work has been seen in over 100 communities around the world.
Video by A Doll’s House Pictures
Artists in Residence
Pam Tanowitz
FISHER CENTER LAB CHOREOGRAPHER IN RESIDENCE
Tania El Khoury
FISHER CENTER LAB ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
“Artists excite me. I feel very lucky to be in a place where we’re helping highly imaginative people realize their dreams.”
—Gideon Lester, Fisher Center Artistic Director and Chief Executive
Highlights of Fisher Center LAB
Four Quartets
“The greatest creation of dance theater so far this century.” —The New York Times
Bard SummerScape 2018 presented the world premiere of Four Quartets, the first authorized dance performance ever to be based on T. S. Eliot’s modernist masterpiece.
A Fisher Center LAB Commission, the work is an interdisciplinary collaboration that draws on the talents of three most potent artistic voices—Fisher Center LAB Choreographer in Residence Pam Tanowitz, composer Kaija Saariaho, and modernist painter Brice Marden.
Illinoise
“Since its premiere at Bard, Illinoise has been the talk of the theater community.” —Vanity Fair
Commissioned for Bard SummerScape 2023, Illinoise brought together three brilliantly imaginative artists to create an ecstatic pageant of storytelling, theater, dance, and live music.
In Illinoise, Tony Award-winner Justin Peck transformed Sufjan Stevens’ beloved 2005 concept album into a full-length theatrical performance with a cast of virtuosic dancers, singers, and musicians in a narrative crafted with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury.
In 2024, Illinoise was recognized with a Tony Award for Best Choreography following its tour and transfer to Broadway.
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s OKLAHOMA!
“A smashing Oklahoma! is reborn. Daniel Fish’s wide-awake, altogether wonderful production is thrilling!” —The New York Times
In 2019, the Fisher Center won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical for Daniel Fish’s production of Oklahoma!, which began its life in 2007 as an undergraduate production at Bard College and was produced professionally at Bard SummerScape in 2015.
In 2019, the production transferred to St. Ann’s Warehouse, followed by engagements on Broadway, in the West End, and on tour in the United States.
Civis Hope Commissions
“Hope may seem daring in this age of angst and uncertainty, but it is at the heart of three major new works coming to the Fisher Center at Bard.” —The New York Times
The Fisher Center at Bard, in partnership with the Civis Foundation, establishes the Civis Hope Commissions, an endowed fund that will support, in perpetuity, the commissioning, development, and production of new performing arts works exploring the subject of hope.
The Fisher Center Artistic Innovation Fund
The Fisher Center Artistic Innovation Fund was initiated by Advisory Board member Rebecca Gold Milikowsky in 2019 to support the development and implementation of daring, innovative, and ambitious projects in the performing arts through Fisher Center LAB.
The Fund provides flexible, multi-year support for artists and ideas at all stages of creation, and beyond to national and international touring and digital dissemination.
Your contribution allows artists the freedom to dream, and the means to transform their dreams into contemporary performances of the highest caliber.
Photo: Jubilee work-in-progress reading by Maria Baranova
Performing Arts Lab
A NEW BUILDING DESIGNED BY MAYA LIN
Situated in meadows to the west of the Fisher Center and overlooking woodlands and the Catskill Mountains, the building will house rehearsal and teaching facilities for artists at all stages of their careers, including students from Bard’s undergraduate programs in Dance and Theater & Performance.
The Performing Arts Lab will also serve as the home for Fisher Center LAB, the center’s acclaimed residency and commissioning program for professional artists.
