Day of the Bats: Welcoming Bat Conservation International to DSI
Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Time: 3:30 – 6:00 pm ET
Location: MFA DSI Studio, 136 W 21 Street, 5th Floor
RSVP REQUIRED
Day of the Bats: Welcoming Bat Conservation International to DSI, A Celebration of Bats, Blooms, and Día de los Muertos
Every year, bats travel north along a trail of agave, a corridor of blooming plants that feeds them, and us, along the way. That corridor is disappearing. Bats and agave both take their time, an agave flowers once in its life, and a bat has one pup a year. Restoring this landscape means working at the pace of the living things in it.
The School of Visual Arts MFA Design for Social Innovation Program (MFA DSI) welcomes Dr. Kristen Lear, bat scientist and Director of Bat Conservation International’s Agave Restoration Initiative, to our studio. Her bi-national work across the U.S. Southwest and Mexico restores habitat for threatened pollinating bats while strengthening the rural livelihoods that depend on the same land.
Day of the Bats arrives during Bat Week and Bat Celebration Month, and alongside Día de los Muertos, when people offer alebrijes at the altar. Come in at 3:30 pm, wander the studio, and make an alebrije-inspired bat of your own. At 4:00 pm, settle in for Kristen’s talk on restoring the nectar corridor and what “scaling” can mean when growth is slow. Welcome into the world of the Bats!