Candice Hopkins Leads Indigenous Art Initiatives at Bard College and Forge Project

Candice Hopkins has joined Bard College's Center for Curatorial Studies as Fellow in Indigenous Art History and Curatorial Studies. She continues as executive director of Forge Project, a Native-led organization in Upstate New York's Hudson Valley. Forge Project maintains an activist collection of over 150 works by living Native artists, addressing gaps in mainstream institutional collecting. The organization supports food sovereignty through Sky High Farm and runs public programs like 'Gentrification is Colonialism' examining Indigenous displacement. Bard College and Forge Project announced a $50 million gift from the Gochman Family Foundation and George Soros's Open Society Foundation to transform Indigenous Studies. This includes renaming American Studies to American and Indigenous Studies, cluster faculty hires, and scholarships for Native students. Hopkins is curating 'Indian Theater,' an exhibition opening this summer at CCS Bard exploring performance and visual sovereignty in Native art. The show draws from Forge's collection and loans, accompanied by a reader featuring republished essays and oral histories. Forge collaborates with organizations like the Stockbridge-Munsee community in Wisconsin and Dancing Foxes Press. Hopkins emphasizes self-determination as foundational to decolonial movements, noting institutional changes following Black Lives Matter protests.