By Shonna Humphrey. Published on January 29, 2026

Bates Dance Festival receives National Arts Relief Fund award

The National Arts Relief Fund from Americans for the Arts has awarded the Bates Dance Festival a grant for $17,500 in support of its general operating and programming. If you see BDF Director Shoni Currier on campus, please congratulate her!

Categories: Recent Grants

A tale of two trees (and one map)

For at least 151 years, a hemlock and its close neighbor, a red oak, have grown up together on the Bates campus, close enough to overlap branches, while buildings popped up around them. Their survival is a mystery but thanks to a new interactive historic map of Bates, their shared history can at least be glimpsed.

MLK Day 2026

Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Bates is not a “day off” — it’s a “day on,” where classes are canceled and faculty, staff, and students instead participate in a day of programming around MLK’s enduring legacy and teachings. This year's theme was “Love, Anger and the Struggle for Justice.”