Bob Gold :: September 1, 2010

Bob Gold loves Vermont. It seems that every cell of his body is in love with the people here.

For 25 years, Bob was a dentist in Manchester, NH and taught dentistry at Harvard. At 65, Bob developed an illness that forced him to retire and ultimately left him homeless. Searching for help led him to Vermont. He noticed that the ups and downs of his situation created a pattern: Each time he was in a more social setting, he improved; each time he was in isolation, he declined. 
Bob is also an artist. For 50 years he has worked with charcoal, water colors, pen and ink, photography, and sculpture. He credits Vermont’s Vocational Rehabilitation with helping him continue and expand his art. “The people there have been wonderful support for me,” he says. Struggling with an old Macintosh computer he bought last year and using Photoshop “in a completely wrong way,” he has developed a new process he casually calls “digitally altered multi media.” His press kit defines it this way: “Refining and perfecting his interpretative vision of combining art and photography utilizing digital cameras software and 'giclee' style printing and archival inks have created a unique artistic style. At first blush the viewer is not sure whether they are looking at a lithograph, a print or a watercolor.  It is a marriage of all three.”

Since he took part in the Arts Council’s “Breaking Into Business” program earlier this year, Bob has set up a studio and has begun to sell art. He says the workshop was pivotal in his new career.  It was the first place he began to show his work to other artists, and he received positive feedback. It is also where he got his first commission. All of this gave him the drive to move forward. He says he has produced more work since that workshop than in the previous 49 years.  He recently completed a show at the Ilsley library in Middlebury and sold several pieces.

Bob told us what his move to Vermont has meant to him. “What’s really important is that the people of Vermont know how important they are to my feeling better,” he said. “I’ve gone from using a walker and living in assisted living to walking on my own and living independently. I resided at Living Well in Bristol for 3 months and with their help I got stronger and healthier until I was able to live on my own. Now, I’ve got a studio in Brandon and am able to talk to other artists. I can’t even tell you how important the people who I’ve come to count on for support really are.”

Breaking Into Business participants were eligible to apply for Artist Development grants as follow-up to the concepts they were taught. Bob received a grant to help build a website has recently been completed. You can view it at http://www.robertgoldart.com

Carving Studio & Sculpture Center :: August 18, 2010

This fall a marble bench made by students at the Carving Studio and Sculpture Center will be dedicated at its permanent home in Rutland’s Giorgetti Park. The bench is a last working of public art, created in five pieces that fit together.  A team of teens from Vermont and Peru collaborated on all the necessary elements to make the project come together. 

Carol Driscoll, Executive Director of the Carving Studio, said that working in stone requires a great deal of planning.  The groundwork for this project was laid in previous programs at the Studio.  Since 2004, the Peru Exchange Program has sent instructors to Ayacucho, Peru to teach carving skills to help teens reclaim their cultural heritage. Nora Valdez is an experienced sculptor and instructor in this program.  A large part of her career has been spent creating public art projects and giving workshops at a variety of urban institutions. Nora believes that in public art projects “Art becomes not just a way to explore issues of human rights but to have a direct effect on them as well.”

This year, with the help of an Arts Learning grant of $4,750, eight Rutland area students had the opportunity to work with Nora and two Peruvian students selected for advanced training as teacher assistants in Vermont.  The first step was to identify the components that would make up the marble bench. Sketches and models were made individually, then discussed within the student group. This conversation included the articulation of personal visions and thoughts about the proposed designs. Through this dialogue the young carvers decided how they would express their vision of humanity being at a turning point with environmental concerns, and the immediacy of acting. The symbols chosen for the bench included hands, a face, and a landscape in relief.

“There was cultural diversity and interaction in and outside of the working environment,” Carol said. “Nora and one student spoke Spanish and could act as an interpreter when necessary. Speaking Spanish also enabled one of the area students to deepen his friendship with the Peruvians and show them Vermont’s hiking trails, lakes and a video arcade.”

The collaborative experience is one Carol would love other students to be able to experience and she believes something special happens at the Carving Studio.  “Students breathe the marble dust, observe the historic remnant, and experience the creativity of a center dedicated to sculpture making!”

Community College of Vermont :: July 22, 2010

Imagine for a moment that you are teaching a science unit at the largest high school in Vermont. Let an image come to your mind. Did you picture yourself in the rec yard at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Center? That image could be accurate.  Community High School of Vermont (CHSVT) is the state’s largest high school, serving more than 3000 students every year.  There are sixteen campuses: one at every correctional facility in Vermont and at eight probation and parole offices around the state. The school is fully accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and designed to serve Vermonters involved with the Department of Corrections. For individuals in custody of the DOC and under 23 years of age with no diploma, attendance is mandatory. Attendance is optional for anyone over 23 or high school graduates.

Students in the school have individualized graduation plans.  CHSVT teachers design and offer courses that will allow students to meet the goals of these plans. Len Schmidt is one of these teachers. On behalf of the school, he applied for an American Masterpieces grant from the Vermont Arts Council and received funding to bring  Judy Dow to the Chittenden Regional Correctional Center campus for two activities. The first was a professional development workshop for CHSVT instructors on teaching math using handcrafts.  The second  was a two-week residency for students titled “The Art of Nature.”  Judy taught participants about ecosystems and reinforced the concepts through creation of a traditional art project. Each student created their own felt sewing project  and received course credits in either science or art.

Judy is an Abenaki master basket maker and outdoor educator focused on experiential, interactive programs to teach biodiversity and cultural diversity. She is an American Masterpieces artist and is on the Council’s Teaching Artist Roster. Len praised the learning environment Judy was able to create, saying, “There were so many elements in the residency that really worked with our students. Judy’s knowledge of the community and the connections she created made this real to them. We have people who have not been successful in traditional schools. Students really connected with Judy’s stories.”

Having a classroom in the rec yard also immerses the artist in another culture. Len recounted a story where students were working on identifying elements of ecosystems between a  building and the perimeter of the yard. A tiny spider web in one of the squares of the chain link fence offered a great teaching opportunity. But as Judy reached for it, several students warned, “Don’t touch the fence!”

You can see Judy’s listing on the Council’s Teaching Artist Roster here.

The Vermont MIDI Project :: June 23, 2010

The Vermont MIDI Project (VMP) is a community of music educators, college music education majors, and professional composer mentors who encourage and support music composition for students, most of whom are in Vermont.  Currently, close to 4,000 youth in 37 schools participate by posting work in progress for online feedback from their mentors. There are also students who are home-schooled and others who take part without school association. Each year VMP hosts two performance events, each called an OPUS, where some of the young composers hear music they have written played by professional musicians.  Having sensitive, experienced musicians play a composition is an exciting opportunity for any composer, and a cherished experience for VMP’s  apprentices. As of OPUS 20 this spring, the Project had premiered 350 new works.

The first OPUS event took place in the spring of 2000. The National Symphony Orchestra was touring Vermont and, with some influence from the Arts Council, VMP was given access to the musicians. Sandi MacLeod, the Program’s Coordinator explained the impact very well in saying, “Live performance of student work brings the process of composing full circle. When a piece of music, often created with the assistance of notation software, moves from the computer to talented musicians, it comes to life and inspires emotional responses.”

The OPUS events of today have a live rehearsal where the composer and performers work together to polish the piece. Sandi gives great credit to the artists, and believes it takes a special kind of person to be a student mentor.  “You can’t ask just anyone to do this. The events are interactive; there are conversations between the young composers and the musicians.” She has relied on players from the Constitution Brass Quintet, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble among others.  Some groups will take a favorite composition for another performance or tour. VMP works have been heard on Vermont Public Radio, National Public Radio and in the Vermont State House. Pieces have been performed in Chicago, IL ; Portland, ME; Washington, DC; Providence, RI; and Minneapolis, MN.

OPUS events include students who are composing for the first time and experienced students with a passion for composition. Students frequently say they have “learned to listen, perform, and think differently about music.” Mark Green and Laura Gaudette of Putney said, “[This was a] transformative experience for our 10 year old daughter. Through her own hard work and creativity and with the support of all those involved with the VT MIDI project, she now not only has a deeper appreciation for music and the process of making music, but also now stands taller as she beams with pride at her achievements.” 

The VMP experience sometimes inspires a lifelong interest in music composition.  Matt Podd started with MIDI in 7th grade and became deeply involved in the art. He studied composition and theory at North Country Union High School in Newport, VT, delved into Composition at Ithaca College, and specialized further by going for a Master’s Degree in Jazz composition at Eastman School of Music. He is now an online mentor, workshop presenter and teacher trainer with VMP. As a high school student, he once summed up his high school OPUS experience by saying “hearing my music played live gave me a reason to compose.”

Click here to learn about Opus 20, including recent audio files from the performance as well as student bios and descriptions of the work.

See the project home page.

Meet the composer mentors.

David Budbill & Lost Nation Theater :: June 9, 2010

Montpelier’s Lost Nation Theater opened its 2010 season with the world premier of David Budbill’s A Song for My Father.  Simultaneously, another sort of premiere was taking place behind the scenes—an impressive array of new theater lighting was also making its debut. This particular opening night had been in the works for years and support from the Vermont Arts Council helped along the way. 

In 2005, David received a $3,700 Creation Grant for the first draft of a new play: LOVE AND RAGE: FATHER AND SON.  Over the next five years the somewhat autobiographical story of David’s relationship with his aging father was further developed.  It’s a play “about a father and son and about the attachments and conflicts between them and how time and education separate them,” says David.  “It’s about growing old and dying.”

The first staged reading of the work took place in 2008 at the Vermont Contemporary Playwrights Forum.  The second was two months later at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA.  The following spring, Oldcastle Theatre Company did a staged reading in Bennington.  For the next year, David honed and refined the script. When it premiered in April it had a new title, a talented cast, and rave reviews.  “Budbill has created a work that aspires to classic heights while staying true to his own life and, in many ways, the lives of everyone,” said Brent Hallenbeck of The Burlington Free Press.

During those same five years, Lost Nation Theater was renovating the municipal auditorium in Montpelier’s City Hall into a multi-purpose performing arts space.  Their first Cultural Facilities Grant in 1999 supported the installation of a curtaining track system.  Another grant in 2004 helped purchase 48 digital dimmers and some sound system components.  Other enhancements have included new seats and a remote, digital communication system that makes it possible for technicians to talk to each other efficiently and quietly during performances.  The final phase was to replace old lighting instruments with new, energy efficient ones.  In January, Lost Nation received a $20,000 Cultural Facilities grant to do just that.

“A typical set design is often accomplished for $500 or less,” says Kim Bent, Lost Nation Theater’s Founding Artistic Director. “Therefore lighting is a particularly important aspect of our production support.  The new lights will also help fulfill the Arts Center’s role as a venue for other community events, providing efficient, creative lighting for non-theatrical uses of the space.”

Installation was completed in just in time for the opening night of “A Song for My Father” and the enhancements were noted by many.  Among them was Jim Lowe, Arts Editor for the Times Argus, who wrote, “The consistency of the overall production was amazing, as well as its high quality. Donna Stafford’s minimal staging was simple and effective; Jeffrey Salzberg’s not-so-simple lighting (with Lost Nation’s new lighting system) dramatically enhanced the production.” 

To learn more about David Budbill, visit www.davidbudbill.com

To learn more about Lost Nation Theater, visit www.lostnationtheater.org
 

Friends of the Opera House at Enosburg Falls :: May 26, 2010

The Artist in Residence (AIR) Cooperative Gallery in Enosburg Falls had a problem.  It seemed that some local residents perceived the gallery as expensive, intimidating and unappealing.  AIR has a strong commitment to community involvement, so the gallery’s board of directors came up with a creative, collaborative outreach project.

Partnering with the Opera House at Enosburgh Falls, AIR applied to the Vermont Arts Council for a Community Arts grant.  They received $2,500 to showcase members of the community through stories and art. The project organizers wisely enrolled other community partners including the Enosburgh Historical Society, Enosburgh Conservation Commission, and Enosburg Falls High School. These groups, in turn, helped engage a wide range of constituents.  

Long-time residents of the town and staff at the Historical Society helped identify people to be featured in the project.   Twenty-eight interviews of both groups and individuals were conducted by a team that included an interviewer, photographer, and artist.

The groups were varied and included young, old, and multi-generational “Burghers” as well as newcomers to town.  Three generations of the Wright Family were interviewed.  The Judd sisters, three women whose father was a prominent local physician and a part of a pioneering family, also took part.  One of the individuals interviewed, Mark LaRose, is a local mechanic and gas station owner, and the second generation to own the family business. A book of stories and photographs was assembled and artists, working in all mediums, created interpretive pieces to complement the accounts.  

The book was published in March 2010 and celebrated with an exhibition and community gathering in April.  More than 200 people attended.  Interviewees were given a copy of the book and their photograph, and an invitation to comment on the process. The afternoon was a moving experience with lots of laughter and a few tears.

The benefits of this project reached deep into this small community of 3,000.  People became better acquainted with each other and with the Gallery.  Visitation by residents has dramatically increased since then, and the Gallery is a stronger part of the Enosburgh region as a result. Project organizers were thrilled with the results. “This project has been so much more than we ever imagined,” said Nancy Patch, AIR’s Executive Director. “The human experience was well worth the effort. The art and photographs that emerged are truly stunning. Perhaps the intimacy of the process inspired the artist’s creativity, but over and over I heard them say this was some of the best work they had ever created.”

Orange Center, Washington Village & Tunbridge Central Schools :: May 12, 2010

What do Orange Center School, Washington Village School and Tunbridge Central School all have in common? A clearly dedicated and enterprising music teacher named Jenny Chambers. Jenny recently took advantage of the Arts Council’s new Teaching Artist Express program to bring Pete Sutherland to these three schools to teach songwriting.

The Artist Express was created as a fast and easy grant program for schools that have limited experience collaborating with artists. Grants of up to $500 are available to hire artists from the Council's Teaching Artist Roster for one or two-day residency programs. The programs must emphasize collaborative learning and the Council encourages applications from schools that serve rural and underserved populations. This was a perfect match for Jenny and the schools she works in.
 
Pete Sutherland of Monkton is one of the artists on the Roster. Pete is a traditional musician and songwriter with decades of experience performing  and teaching. Jenny was thoroughly impressed with both his musicianship and teaching style. “On day one, he sang a cappella for them and taught that concept right away,” she said. “He talked about lyrics. I loved that he was able to show the kids how the words create a slideshow; the song is a series of slides made from the snapshots of life. He also told back stories about songs he has written. The kids were completely enthralled with his experiences and his stories.”

Jenny described Pete as “just the salt of the earth,” and praised his uninhibited and relaxed nature. She credits those characteristics with really allowing the students to open up. He led them through some free writing exercises based on open-ended concepts such as sharing an early memory or a family story. From there they moved to songwriting and Jenny saw the creative process come alive. She said her students let go of a need to rhyme and the rules that govern so much of the writing they otherwise engage in. “Pete is really comfortable with silence, and allowing some room to think,” she said.

Some of the students were not familiar with Pete’s instruments–including mandolin and banjo–and Jenny said they were riveted by the live performance. Some youth had more experience, even parents who were fiddlers, and they were excited to share information about that. This is success for the Artist Express grant program and Teaching Artist Roster. As a result of those programs, three rural Vermont schools had an opportunity to engage in collaborative learning experience with a high-quality artist and an enthusiastic music teacher.
 

VT Contemporary Music Ensemble :: April 28, 2010

The Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble (VCME) is a group of musicians dedicated to performing and commissioning today's music. Since 1987, they have commissioned 76 new works of music, and have premiered 93. They are one of the longest-standing groups of this type in the U.S.

Steve Klimowski is the group’s founder and Artistic Director. He took time from practicing his clarinets to talk about the past season and the Community Arts Grant VCME received from the Arts Council. Steve stressed that he “shops local.” A portion of the $2,500 grant helped with artist fees for the eleven Vermont performers. The grant also helped to fund a four-color brochure featuring images by Vermont painter Frank Woods.  

The 2009-10 season included nine concerts featuring seven premieres and five commissioned pieces, including one student work. The four programs, Sextet Breakdown, Kissed by the Wild, 2 New Too, and To Reach! To Sing! were each performed in Burlington and Montpelier plus at one house concert. 

New this year, Dennis Báthory-Kitsz and David Gunn narrated the program in the style of their long-standing radio show, Kalvos and Damian’s New Music Bazaar. They describe their show this way: “These may be mythical guys (Kalvos & Damian) alternately played by Dennis Báthory-Kitsz and David Gunn, but they're real flesh and are both pretty darn good composers themselves.”  They also created podcasts of the performances which are available on their website. 

VCME’s reputation, versatility, and incorporation of technology suggests that more intriguing seasons lie ahead. “What we want to do is reach audiences with music they haven’t heard, and we want them to really ‘get it.’ We want them to enjoy it,” Steve says.  He can hardly contain his excitement about the potential for future concerts. He says the new production aspect of last season was an experiment. He is toying with the idea of mixing the narrative with poetry or prose, and he muses about the theatre lighting possibilities the Flynn Space offers. Dennis is already fine tuning the program narration concept for next year and will be in charge of presentation ideas. Are these elements that will guarantee VCME’s success?  Maybe. But Steve suggests he has a secret weapon that is also helpful. “Not many people are nearly as stubborn as I am,” he says.

• For more information on the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, click here.
• To download a pod-cast click here.
• To see VCME performing a piece by Dennis Báthory-Kitz, click here.
   

Teresa Stores :: April 14, 2010

From time to time, grantees send the Arts Council an update on their career.  We recently heard from Teresa Stores of Newfane. She is currently on sabbatical from her position as Associate Professor of English at the University of Hartford (CT), and is living with her family in a small village in southern France.

“Thank you again to the Vermont Arts Council for your ongoing support of my writing!” she wrote. “I couldn't have gotten this far in my career without you! I am a three-time grantee from the VAC. My most recent novel, Backslide, (2008, Spinster's Ink) began as a collection of short stories, which was funded in 1998, my first VAC grant. The story collection, Frost Heaves, (funded with a 2006 grant) is currently seeking a book publication contract, and I am in the revision process for my young adult novel, Letters to Holden, which was funded with a 2009 grant.”

The title story from Frost Heaves was recently selected as winner of the 2009 Kore Press Short Fiction Prize. In addition to $1,000 cash prize, the award includes publication of the story as a chapbook, which just became available.  Kore Press also nominated the story for a 2010 Pushcart Prize.  In Tayari Jones’ review of the book she said, “Set against the beautifully drawn landscapes of a small town in Vermont, this is the story of a thaw, both literal and metaphorical.”  Three other stories from the collection have also received attention. “Fisher” was nominated for the 2003 Fish Story Prize (United Kingdom), and “Big Night” was nominated in this year’s competition. The shortest story in the collection, “Labyrinth,” won 9th place in the Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Contest and will be published in the magazine this summer.

Teresa describes herself as a late-bloomer in most things, and said that her writing career is no different. “I grew up a Southerner, listening to stories under my grandmother’s kitchen table. I wrote stories and told stories all my life, but I never really believed I could be a writer until I took a fiction workshop with Alix Kates Shulman when I was almost 30. She told me I should be a novelist. After a few years of working, I went Emerson and earned my MFA, and my thesis there became my first novel, Getting to the Point.”

Teresa says she has grown into the writing process.  “Each piece, I think, tends to take on a kind of life (or dream) of its own as it progresses. That’s a little scary sometimes, like setting out on a very long dark road on a journey with an unknown destination and no flashlight. I think that the limitations I sometimes set myself (and which I often ditch) are a feeble attempt to believe that I am in control of the writing when (really) I’m not very much so. Characters do things that I do not expect (or want). Endings occur before I’m ready. Minor elements explode or sneak their way into becoming pivotal parts. Writing, for me, takes a lot of faith that if the flashlight batteries fail in the middle of the forest, I’ll still find my way to the end of the path just as I’m supposed to do. It’s scary, but it’s also a big thrill when it (finally) works. And now, at this phase of my career, I’m starting to really look forward to those moments in the dark—even hoping that the flashlight batteries will die—because that’s when the magical part of being a writer happens.”

Teresa’s experiences in France are chronicled in her blog.

For more information on her work, visit Kore Press.
 

Eleva Chamber Players :: March 31, 2010

Eleva Chamber Players were founded in 2006 with a very clear mission: to use music to elevate the human spirit. Founder and General Manager Willie Docto explained the programming choices as pieces “that are uplifting, fun, and lively. Our goal is for people to feel differently after the concert than before.” To set the stage, the season’s program was titled “Brilliant.”  The group chose their principal players carefully and with their mission in mind, that is, players with certain abilities and sounds were selected as principals. John Lindsey is the concert master. Scott Woolweaver serves as principal violist. Linda Galvan serves as principal cellist, and Lou Kosma covers principal bass.

Eleva’s goal is to reach out to the community.  To that end, they received a FY10 Community Arts grant of $1,000 to provide senior citizens with access to performances, and to offer musical coaching to youth.  This season’s performances took place in Waterbury and Barre. In order to make the concerts affordable for elderly audiences, free tickets were distributed through the senior centers in both communities and fifty percent of them were redeemed. The downtown venues for the concerts were accessible which also made it easier for people to attend.

The music coaching sessions took place at U-32 Middle School. Twelve string players participated in John Lindsey’s workshop during their school day. Lindsey is an experienced educator. Docto described him saying, “He is very direct about the behavior and techniques that are expected.”  Feedback from U-32 music teachers was quite positive.  They commented that there was great value in infusing classroom lessons with the real-world experience a professional musician can offer. Students gained both knowledge and enthusiasm for music and live performance that day. Docto relates the coaching back to the mission, remarking that “students were very happy to receive the coaching and to hear a professional orchestra” and that it is “important to get young people involved with music.”

What’s ahead for Eleva Chamber Players? In the year ahead they are planning a series of house concerts around Vermont and beyond, expounding that intimate settings such as these is the way that chamber music was meant to be heard. The concerts help to build audiences in other parts of the state and, most importantly, inspire listeners and lift their spirit.

To learn more about Eleva, visit: www.elevachamberplayers.org

Puppetkabob :: March 16, 2010

What can you learn from a shadow? Quite a bit if you are in third or fourth grade at the Georgia Elementary School!  An FY10 Teaching Artist Residency grant allowed the school to hire Sarah Frechette and Jason Thibodeaux of Puppetkabob for a recent residency. Concepts from the science and social studies curriculum were introduced through shows using shadow puppets and string puppets (see Sarah Frechette’s 11/4/09 profile). The ideas were further explored as the students mixed art and design to create original puppet shows of their own.

A unit titled "Shadow and Light" kicked off with Puppetkabob’s whimsical portrayal of the life cycle of a frog.  A pond, dragonflies, tadpoles, and frog shadows emerged in a story featuring Sarah as a young girl exploring the pond and its life…even kissing a frog! The third and fourth graders then turned their attention to the creation of their own puppet show while investigating the concepts of opaque, translucent, and transparent objects, depth perception and planes. Each classroom worked from different visual story boards, all of which Puppetkabob linked to the science curriculum. The resulting shows depicted the life cycle of a salamander, butterfly metamorphosis, underwater food chain, the cycle of a seed, states of matter (snow to rain to ice), recycling, and germs.  A shadow theater was set up in the Georgia School's small gym and each class performed behind the shadow screen as all the other third and fourth graders cheered them on from the other side.

Sarah was very pleased with the way the project came to life. She said, “Jason and I were really happy with how focused the kids were during the building process and then even more so during rehearsals for their final show. It was very important to them to perform well for their friends and peers. Having the students perform for each other created a very cool energy. We had so much fun! There was a feeling of pure JOY in the end.”

Students learned a number of skills in this project including research, drawing from personal experience, and teamwork. With vivid interest in Sarah’s work as a puppeteer and Jason's work as an artist, questions came up about making a career as an artist.  On the last day of the residency Sarah performed her newest marionette show "The Snowflake Man.”  It was an educational and entertaining treat for the students after their week of hard work!

Judith St. Hilaire is one of the teachers who brought the project to the school.  “We are finding art is the perfect tool to bring the students’ attention to these ideas,” she said. “Students were able to make connections that would not have existed prior to the residency. The learning opportunities provided were of the highest quality, and I would love to see more promotion of artists like Puppetkabob throughout our Vermont schools.”

Puppetkabob is one of the 78 artists on the Vermont Arts Council’s Teaching Artist Roster. Grant funding for programs featuring artists from this roster is still available.  

Click here to view the Teaching Artist Roster.

To learn more about Puppetkabob, visit www.puppetkabob.com.

Paramount Theatre :: March 3, 2010

The Paramount Theatre in downtown Rutland is alive and well!   Executive Director Bruce Bouchard says the theater is “rapidly achieving its goal to be the night time economic driver of south-central Vermont!” 

The Paramount received a Cultural Facilities grant in FY09 of $13,313 for the "Big Flicks at the Paramount" initiative. They installed a state-of-the-art large screen and both 35mm and digital projection systems. To date, the “Big Flicks” Series, which focuses primarily on classic film from the AFI Top 100, has brought in 3,614 patrons for ten events (18% were under twelve, and many of them were having their first “Big Screen” experience). They plan to continue the initiative, with another thirty-six screen events scheduled this year. Additionally, the Theater continues to function as a rental space for the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, other performers and promoters, and recently hosted the Vermont Arts Council’s “Breaking Into Business” workshops in the Brick Box meeting space.

The Paramount is in the midst of their “Passages at the Paramount” series. The series is presented in association with Young Concert Artists, Inc, an organization that has been fostering young classical musician careers through annual international competitions since 1961. Among the celebrated alumni are Emanuel Ax, Dawn Upshaw, and Pinchas Zukerman. Two more concerts are scheduled this season: violinist Noi Inui (February 26) and clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester (March 13).  Previous concerts in this series have functioned as “warm up sessions" for artists about to make their professional debuts.  Soprano Carolina Ullrich debuted at the Kennedy Center, cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan at Carnegie Hall and marimbist Pius Cheung at the Lincoln Center.

The Paramount received an FY10 Community Arts Grant of $2,500 to hold master classes in conjunction with the “Passages at the Paramount” series. Prior to their concerts, the artists conduct master classes at Rutland High School with students from other schools in the region. Ullrich’s master class was attended by 125 students. Students in that session learned about the context of art songs and lieder, with five singers receiving coaching on singing technique. Her pianist, Marcelo Amaral, fully participated in the educational exchange, managing to make the class appreciable to players as well as singers. 

Bouchard projects the Paramount Theatre’s economic impact on the greater community to be $1.5-2.0 million during the 2010-2011 Season.  “In the new era of the Paramount, we dreamed of de-mystifying the theatre experience, removing the “elitist” label, and truly becoming a theater for everyone,” he said. “With ticket prices to two of our series at $15 and $10, offerings for a wide range of tastes, and the advent of the “Big Flicks” series at $6 and $4, we have finally laid in the final brick in our programming dream. There is so much potential in Rutland – it is just a matter of discovery, entrepreneurship and hard work. We sense a rich and rewarding future.”

To see the wide variety of upcoming events at the Paramount, visit www.paramountlive.org

 

 

Brendan Taaffe :: February 17, 2010

Brendan Taaffe is a teaching artist whose school residencies focus on the dance traditions of North America and the British Isles and on world folk tales.  In addition, Brendan plays for contra dances and concerts with his band, Magic Foot, and leads adult singing workshops through the vehicle of Turtle Dove, an arts organization he founded and directs. After being accepted to the Vermont Arts Council’s Teaching Artist Roster, he applied for and received an FY10 Artist Development Grant of $400 to create a color brochure. He was completely clear in his application about what his goals are: “…a full time musical career that balances school residencies, performances, and adult workshop experiences.” When you speak with Brendan he is just as clear. “This is what I want to do,” he says with resolve.

Brendan’s first career was as a vegetable farmer. He left farming because it was exhausting, but brought certain lessons with him that are useful in his art. “There is a certain attitude of resourcefulness that comes from farming,” he explains. “The margin of survival is so slim. That ingrained a certain attitude in me. When I need to do something, I ask myself what resources are available. I ask myself how I can do what needs to be done without paying someone.” He says that the payoff is that he doesn’t have to feel limited by income. Describing his life as full of a rich diversity of experiences, he is currently on his way to Scotland to lead singing workshops. “What could be better than that?”

Many self employed artists struggle with marketing and promotion but Brendan has a good handle on that. He has an attractive and easy to navigate website, gets his name listed in directories and rosters, and is creating brochures for broad distribution.  He says, “It would be great if we could just be artists. I would love to wake up, think ‘I’ll compose a new piece today’ and do just that. But I make time to pay attention to other things because I want to play music and work with people as a musician. I also don’t want to be desperately poor. People aren’t going to beat down the door.”

Another challenge artists face is the lack of a clear boundary between work and the rest of life. The day often flows between things that are clearly work related, things that aren’t, and those unclear things in the middle. But those middle-ground events might feed creativity, so it all comes full circle. For Brendan that could be a walk outdoors, taking a bartered puppet lesson with Eric Bass, or making a table. “Good food and wine also seem to help,” Brendan adds.
 

The Carving Studio & Sculpture Center :: February 3, 2010

The Carving Studio and Sculpture Center in West Rutland received an FY09 Cultural Facilities Grant. The funds were used to make their 155 year-old building more accessible to the public.  The $18,000 grant help support a number of enhancements including building an accessible door and ramp for the main building, restoring an existing historic door with access in mind, installing a new ADA-compliant door in Winter Studios Building, and creating an accessible parking area near the ramp. These improvements are the result of thoughtful planning, and according to Executive Director Carol Driscoll, the work wouldn’t have been possible without the grant.

The Carving Studio is facing the challenges of growth. They needed to expand into the Winter Studio next door. At the same time, they had to be sensitive to access while preserving the historic nature of their building. Their plans are broad and proactive. They developed a master plan for the property that was prioritized by Tom Warner, an architect from Middlebury. They are using the current economic climate to focus on some of the necessary building issues and have been able to rely on Nancy Boone, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer for the Division of Historic Preservation, for guidance.

Frequently, people equate access strictly with wheelchairs. “Universal Design” is actually a much broader concept, intended to create spaces that are usable by all people, whether they're young, old, tall, short, with or without limits to mobility. The renovations had an immediate impact.  “As soon as the ramp was done everyone began using that instead of the steps quite naturally,” said Carol.  “Also, between the two buildings, there are two long picnic tables. That became an active space.”

Last fall, the Studio hosted a literary event with about twenty-five members in attendance. This included members who are elderly and have disabilities. Carol reported that everyone accessed the facility through the new ramp and automatic entrance. “Since then we have hosted several tours through the main building, down the access ramp and into the Winter Studios building without concern,” she added.

The Carving Studio’s vision for further improvements continues to be realized. The Board considers this lean time perfect for implementing a plan that anticipates growth in the next ten to twenty years. The next step is a low cost improvement that demonstrates change and viability. They will be working in the sculpture garden to add pathways and to remove invasive plants.  

To learn more about the Carving Studio and Sculpture Center, visit www.carvingstudio.org.
 

New England Center for Circus Arts :: January 20, 2010

The New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA) teaches circus skills to students of all ages and abilities. This year, they received an Arts Learning grant to create a circus arts curriculum in collaboration with the Windham Regional Career Center (WRCC).

By their nature, circus arts are non-competitive, culturally diverse and socially inclusive. NECCA describes their courses as a place where “creativity and hard work trump traditional discriminations such as gender, sexual orientation, skin color and physical shape and size.”

WRCC is a natural partner for developing a circus arts curriculum. Students at the Career Center attend local high schools for the academic courses necessary for graduation.  They also receive credit for their career and technical education courses at WRCC.  Programs choices vary from accounting and digital electronics to automotive technology and performing arts.

Director David Coughlin has been supportive of the Circus Arts curriculum as an outlet for students needing non-traditional education paths to help them learn important career tools. “Working with the Center for Circus Arts will allow us to expand our programs, providing the necessary balance students require to successfully move forward to Arts careers after high school. Circus Arts provide an engaging way for our students to learn about working with a group, long-range planning, and connecting science, math and language in a cohesive course with clearly visible goals and accomplishments. And in this age of childhood obesity, adding the physical component is also a benefit.”

The idea has been percolating for some time. “We’ve been entertaining the concept for years,” says Elsie Smith, the Artistic Director at NECCA. “The possibility of a grant was the catalyst in moving toward the creation of an actual curriculum. When the Arts Campus first was conceived, there was the hope that the WRCC would be a part of it. The possibility of receiving funding and having enough growth in our business to support this kind of project were clear indicators that it was time to proceed.”

The grant has allowed NECCA to meet with a variety of circus arts educators to begin designing the curriculum.  In addition to the physical learning, students will study history, writing, math and science using circus as a starting point. Students will write about famous circus personalities through the ages, and because of NECCA’s international reputation, they get to interview some of these people as they travel through the area. When learning about the physicality of certain skills, students will investigate anatomy and physiology and how it relates to the movements they are working to accomplish. NECCA is still developing the day-by-day outlines, and specifics about the staffing and homework assignments.

To find out more about the New England Center for Circus Arts, click here.
 

Focus on Film :: January 7, 2010

The Green Mountain Film Festival (GMFF) began in Montpelier in 1997 with a short series of films and no real intention of becoming an annual event. It is an annual event, however, and has grown steadily every year. In 2009, there were 113 presentations and nearly 10,500 attendances for the 10-day festival.

The 2010 Festival will be the largest yet with three film venues in Montpelier (the Savoy Theater, City Hall Arts Center and the Pavilion Auditorium) and satellite screenings at Catamount Arts in St. Johnsbury. Montpelier’s events will take place March 19-28 and St. Johnsbury’s events are April 9-11.

Focus on Film is the organization that presents the Festival. Last spring they were awarded an ARTS JOBS* grant of $5,000 to support the positions of Chief Programmer, Graphic Designer and Web Designer. Funding for these positions has a significant impact on the organization and the Festival’s future course.

“Film programming is the single most important aspect of festival planning,” says Executive Director Donald Rae, “and a more complex process than many would imagine.” The Programmer strives to bring films from all over the world at an affordable price. Film selection for the GMFF is carried out year-round with the assistance of a loose-knit body of about 16 volunteers.

The internet plays a key role in the Festival's promotional strategy. They have maintained a presence on Facebook for several years, and are increasingly using Twitter (@Festivius) to communicate with festival goers. The majority of festival goers are from Central and Northern Vermont, but visitors are drawn from all over the region. Invited guests travel from much further afield: New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, and on one occasion, Tel Aviv.

“Social networking and a functional website are both very important to us,” says Rae. “We have become ingenious by necessity. The real genius is our web designer Carter Stowell of Fig Rig Webcrafters, who every year elegantly bridges the gap between what is possible and what is affordable. The same is true of Linda Mirabile of Ravenmark Design, our Graphic Designer. They’re both based right here in Montpelier. They both like the festival. Online and on paper, our design dollars go a long way.”

To find out more about the Green Mountain Film Festival, visit: www.greenmountainfilmfestival.org

* In August, 2009, the ARTS JOBS program, funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, awarded $606,000 in grants to 42 Vermont arts organizations. The purpose of this funding is to help preserve jobs in Vermont’s nonprofit arts sector that have been threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn.
 

Gordon Stone :: December 16, 2009

Gordon Stone has been writing and performing banjo and pedal steel guitar music for more than thirty years.  His music has been described as “a blend of jazz-flavored groove-driven funk and buoyant bluegrass.” Gordon recently received a Community Arts grant to support the creation and performance of a collection of new songs that reflect Vermont's ethnic diversity. The result of that grant was a performance piece titled The Sacred Forest.

His goal in this project was to work musically with a portion of the diverse cultures that exist in Vermont.  The inspiration for the collaboration began on a day Gordon wore his African-made mud cloth jacket to Shaw’s supermarket. The jacket sparked a conversation with Elhadji Mamadou Ba, a Senegalese percussionist, and led to Elhadji’s playing hand drums on Gordon’s CD, Night Shade. Elhadji, who also teaches dance, choreographed a group of dancers for the two performances of The Sacred Forest (one in Burlington and one in Barre).  The result was both an interesting new piece of music and a DVD. Gordon said he believes this is the first collaboration involving American pedal steel guitar and banjo and Senegalese drumming and dancing.

Gordon described a noticeable difference in the relationship between music and dance in the American and Sengalese cultures. In traditional genres, American dancers respond to the music. In the Senegalese style, the lead players leave the groove of the ensemble and follow the dancer emotively.  During the Sacred Forest performance the djembe player actually moved around on stage with the dancers.

Gordon and his partner, Jennifer Harwood are looking forward to more projects like this as well as the possibility of beginning a new non-profit organization. They have already made contact with Brazilian, West African and Rwandan musicians living in Vermont. The goal would be to bring the sound of Vermont’s own world music to the rest of the globe.


To learn more about Gordon Stone and his music, visit www.gordonstone.com

St. Johnsbury Academy :: December 2, 2009

St. Johnsbury Academy is a private school with a large international attendance. Vermont students can also attend this school by way of a voucher system.  The Academy has a widely diverse population and a philosophy that learning is most effective in a community atmosphere where collaboration and respect for others is part of the common daily business.

The school received a Teaching Artist Residency grant of $1,000 this year to support a residency and culminating performances with Vermont poet Verandah Porche. Verandah, who is from Guilford, VT, conducts performances, workshops, residencies, and collaborative "told poetry" projects. Students from the Academy’s ESL (English as a Second Language) Program and local students worked together during an 8-day residency that explored international poetry forms.

Prior to Verandah’s arrival, students shared memories and life stories via email. She wrote back, and introduced them to the concept of stories becoming poems. During the residency she helped students set their narratives in poetic form. The poems were shared with each other as well as the St. Johnsbury community.

Robyn Greenstone, the ESL teacher who coordinated the event, described the results saying, “Cross-cultural friendships were made, international poetic forms were experimented with, poetry positively infiltrated the school, and new interests were born.” One student echoed, “…my classmates’ poem helped me know more deeply about their feeling, and I think they also did the same, so that helped us understand each other to help a better friendship.”

Poetry to touch anyone’s heart came from the residency. A student named Trevor wrote this remembrance of his grandmother:

When I was born,
She hold me on her hand
And I cried
(in) the first crying
Three years old
Fighting with neighbor friend
My eye was injured
She took me to doctor
When I was crying
At five,
I came back to city
With my parent
I cried, and
She cried
Since that,
I have gone
To visit her
Every week
Suddenly…
She got sick
When I was six grade
In the hospital she was so weak
Until one night,
She has gone
I cried a lots
For me
And for her…

Find out more about Verandah Porche, who is listed on the Council’s Teaching Artist Roster.  Or, click here for more information about St. Johnsbury Academy.

November 18, 2009 :: Catamount Film & Arts Center

The Catamount Film and Arts Center is in downtown St. Johnsbury. The organization was founded in 1978 and currently resides in a structure rebuilt in 2008 to house two theatres, two classrooms and a gallery space. Catamount presents films, exhibits and performances. They were given an FY10 Community Arts Grant of $2,500 to support the presentation of Vermont performers in three performance series: Music at the Morse (look for Banjo Dan and the Midnite Plowboys in December and the Star Line Rhythm boys in January), School Time Performances (to include Jennings and Ponder, the National Marioneete Thetre, Jeh Kulu and Inkas Wasi) and the Catamount Cabaret (featuring a monthly singer/songwriter series).

Jody Fried is the Executive Director at Catamount Film and Arts, which is one of St. Johnsbury’s current success stories. He has been the Executive Director since March this year. He is a Vermont native who spent years in the area’s small business community, and took this current position to allow him to return to the arts. In this short time, Catamount’s membership has almost doubled and programming has dramatically increased. Increasing membership and programming is usually a parallel; an increase in one will push the other. 

Jody talked about the programming, saying “There is an incredible infrastructure available in St. Johnsbury. We have the Atheneum, the Fairbanks Museum and Catamount Film and Arts. With the grant and other funding sources, we have been able to put some excellent programming in place. On any given weekend you might have opera, a poetry reading, or open mic for high school students. We have offerings to rival any metropolitan setting here in this small town in the Northeast Kingdom.”

The Council’s objectives for Community Arts grants include raising awareness of, and respect for, the value of the arts in community; fostering collaboration between artists, arts organizations, schools, community groups and businesses; and to advance and preserve the arts at the center of Vermont communities. Most recipients of the awards (the Catamount included) acknowledge the role the funding plays in helping to build partnerships and to leverage other funding. These are exactly the kind of cooperative and united alliances grant funding can help to enable.

Find out more about Catamount Film and Arts by clicking here.

November 4, 2009 :: Sarah Frechette

Sarah Frechette makes her living as a puppeteer.  She has loved playing with dolls, costumes, and stages since her childhood in Georgia, Vermont. When she was little, Sarah and her dad would build stone cities on the shores of Lake Champlain, complete with stone characters. She was drawn to the drama program in high school and her interest in creating masks and costumes inspired her to attend the University of Connecticut’s unique Puppetry Arts Program.

Sarah received a $3,000 Creation Grant in FY09 to create a puppet show titled “The Snowflake Man.” It is the story of Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley, the Jericho, VT native who attracted world attention with his pioneering work in the area of photographing and studying snow crystals, commonly known as snowflakes. The characters in the play are primarily string puppets but Sarah is also in the show.

Sarah’s grandfather was her inspiration for learning about Snowflake Bentley. He was a fan of Bentley’s work and owned three snowflake prints which he had purchased in 1927 for five cents each at Camp Abenaki. She describes both her grandfather and Bentley as “gentle Vermont characters” and has created marionettes of both men.

A commitment to learning is a big part of Sarah’s success. She also stresses the importance of collaboration and relationship building. Sarah learned about technique and materials from German Master Puppeteers Albrecht Roser and Phillip Huber (Huber performed the marionette manipulation in Being John Malcovich). The woman who taught her to sew, Kathy Wieland, made the 1927 outfit Sarah wears in the show and her Aunt Donna Ryalls knitted the mittens. Her Uncle Don Bell who “has warmed up to this vagabond puppeteer,” allowed her to use his shop to create the puppets. Artist Jason Thibodeaux sculpted and painted the puppet's heads, and is the show’s director. Puppeteer Carole D'Agostino helped carve puppet bodies and composer Oviedo Menedez will create the music. The stage is a handmade pop-up book with pages painted by watercolor artist Bruce Lee.

Sarah, who is on the Council’s Teaching Artist Roster, says “this project would have been impossible without the Council’s support.” The funding allowed her to purchase most of the materials and to pay a stipend to the other artists involved. “Much of what I do is inspired by the people around me,” she says. “It has been a blessing to have some of my closest family and friends as an instrumental part of this production.”

For more about Sarah’s work, click here.
 

October 21, 2009 :: MRC and Company

Waitsfield’s MRC and Company, Inc. is one of fifteen recipients of this year’s Arts Learning Grants. Their $4,000 award supports the Vermont Young Singers’ Chorus (VYSC), a choral program with high-level musical instruction and outstanding performance opportunities. The program is staffed by Conductors Piero and Andrea Bonamico, Assistant Conductor and Manager Alexis Murphy-Egri and Accompanist Mary Jane Austin-Reynolds. Four groups have been formed. Their five-concert season began in September and will conclude at the Barre Opera House on June 6, 2010. About sixty young people from Central Vermont are already involved in the program and applications for additional singers can still be submitted.

VYSC was created by the Bonamicos with several guiding principles: there is a strong focus on teaching musicianship; enough personnel are available to create an outstanding musical experience; instrumentalists are involved in the performances; and rehearsals are accessible to a broad population. Rehearsals take place at U-32 High School in East Montpelier and at Crossett Brook School in Waterbury. Although not every school has taken advantage of the opportunity, every music teacher in the region has been invited to send two singers (one boy and one girl) at no cost.

Andrea is the Choral Music Teacher at U-32 and Piero has been involved with the Mad River Chorale community chorus since 1996. From MRC also came the Mad River Theatre Troupe (now Café Noir) as well as VYSC’s predecessor, the Mad River Kids’ Chorale. As a conductor and pedagogue, Piero’s sentiments for community chorus are absolutely passionate. He believes that focusing on common good, enabling artistic expression and empowering potential are all part of the process of making music. “These are critical elements in the development of dynamic life skills,” he says. “A community chorus is like a small miracle. People of different backgrounds, interests, and levels of experience come together and make something beautiful.”

Click here to find out more about the Vermont Young Singers’ Chorus.

October 7, 2009 :: Bethel Schools

Bethel Schools received a FY10 Arts Learning Grant to support a dance residency titled Bethel Gets Up and Movin’. The impetus for the project came about at this year’s town meeting when residents called for more dance to be brought to the community. Susan Rule, Bethel Schools’ music teacher, worked with other members of the school community to respond to this demand by hiring Karen Amirault for a week-long school program.  Karen is one of the Vermont Arts Council’s American Masterpieces artists and a member of the Council’s Teaching Artist Roster.

Ms. Rule said that many parents and faculty still remember an Amirault residency that took place twenty years ago, and even one of the school’s lunch ladies was excited to hear Karen would return. Every student in the school had the opportunity to work with Karen. Elementary students spent 30 minutes four times a week and high school students had 90 minutes three times a week. Art teacher Wendy Wells got involved by helping students create journals about  their experience.  On the last day of the residency students reviewed video footage of their work and engaged in self-assessment and further reflection.

A final performance took place on September 24, with eight dances.  Kindergarten students kicked off the event, followed by four two-grade clusters of 1st through 8th graders, and finally two high school groups.  The finale featured school staff and administrators in a routine to Aretha Franklin’s “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” that brought down the house. One parent commented, "It was so good to see K-12 and staff-- ALL participating in the ARTS!"  And many students talked about what a great way it was to start out the year working together as a school.

Andra Bowen, assistant to the principal, noted that while every student participated in the residency, there were a notable number of high school boys missing at the evening performance who may have gotten cold feet at the last minute. But what stood out was the excellent performances of the students who did participate.  One high school student showed up decked out in a head-to-toe tie-dyed outfit, complete with matching wrist and headbands. One parent reflected, "My son gained a new perspective on life during these two weeks of dance."

Karen’s awareness and expertise in modern dance made a strong impression on students who learned that strength and conditioning are critical to the execution of dance. Vermont’s Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities lays out a clear pathway for the skills students should learn in school--and dance is considered a core subject area. However many schools lack the resources to provide an ongoing dance curriculum. Bowen said the $2,787 Vermont Arts Council grant “helped enormously” to bring this residency to the school. Funds were also contributed by the Bethel Council on the Arts, the school Parent Boosters, and the Bethel Historical Society. 

September 23, 2009 :: Chandler Center for the Arts

Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph received an FY10 Community Arts Grant of $5,000 to support the 17th annual New World Festival. The festival is a celebration of Celtic and French Canadian music, dance and culture and is held every Labor Day Sunday. Rebecca McMeekin is the Executive Director of Chandler Center for the Arts and the person who administers the event. Talking to her about the New World Festival is a conversation about relationships and community.

McMeekin lists a number of community players who help create the festival, including Kevin Dunwoody. Kevin has served as the volunteer Music Director since the Festival’s inception and has worked to maintain strong relationships with the artists. Each year he mixes some of the best and most established artists with up-and-coming performers. On one end of the spectrum, there’s Claude Méthé and Dana Whittle. They performed separately at the festival 17 years ago. This year they performed and brought their children as part of Les Poules à Colin, a five-member group of performers under the age of 16. On the other end, there are emerging artists like Hot Flannel, a group grounded in the traditions while exploring new boundaries.

McMeekin sites Randolph’s business community as a key partner in promoting the event. Chandler Center developed a strong marketing plan that included area merchants selling advance tickets and conducting a drawing. Anyone who spent $50 at a local business was entered into a raffle for free admission to the festival. 230 people signed up. The Festival drew about 2,000 attendees from all over New England. They shopped, dined and stayed in the area, thereby returning the investment to local businesses.

Despite economic challenges, the New World Festival has continued to garner sponsor support. “A few reduced their sponsorship levels this year and some passed on the opportunity,” said McMeekin, “but the Arts Council’s grant helped to bridge the gap.”

To find out more about the New World Festival, click here.

September 9, 2009 :: Tim Tavcar

Tim Tavcar is the recipient of an FY09 Arts Council Creation Grant and the artist who created WordStage Vermont. According to Tavcar, “Using letters, diaries, recorded conversations and contemporary chronicles underscored with musical compositions of the era, a WordStage Vermont performance will entertain, inform and educate audiences who have a love of the performing arts and humanities in their purest forms.” Tim says, “Everyone knows who Beethoven is, but including this source material paints a more interesting picture—not so academic.”

Tim has completed the second season of WordStage Vermont performances and is in the process of planning the third. Subjects for the upcoming season include Moliere, Lully and the Court of Louis XIV; Master Luthier Antonio Stradivari; Marcel Proust and Reynaldo Hahn; and members of the infamous Algonquin Round Table. Tim cites the Vermont Arts Calendar as a valuable tool for scheduling presentations and avoiding conflicting dates with other performances.

The “Buy Local” movement is important to Tim and a strong thread in all that he does. In addition to his online research, Tim has purchased many books in local bookstores to pursue the self-described nosiness which drives this enterprise. Tim also feels strongly about hiring artists who have chosen to make their living in Vermont.

How did the Creation Grant help the project? Tim says he was able to put aside some of his contracted commitments (it’s not unusual to find him writing for The Bridge, serving as Chorus Master for Green Mountain Opera, and holding down an administrative position at T.W. Wood Art Gallery all at once), in order to develop a strong second season. The scheduled performances led to two additional commissions and have provided him with momentum for marketing further work.

Tim hopes to use recorded material in marketing efforts that will enable him to take his shows beyond Central Vermont, and eventually, beyond Vermont. He’ll be applying for a Technical Assistance grant to help with that effort.

Click here to learn more about Wordstage Vermont.