Vermont Arts Council Sponsored Events

Champlain Valley Stage: Sponsored by the Vermont Arts Council

Champlain Valley Stage Events Lake Champlain Quadricentennial Celebration  July 4–12, 2009 Champlain Valley Stage – Burlington’s City Hall Park Sponsored by the Vermont Arts Council (all performances are free) July 4:  2:30pm to 7pm Rick and the Ramblers Gary Farmer and the Troublemakers Susannah Blachly and Friends July 5:  2:30pm to 7pm. Gregory Douglass Mia Adams Steve Hartmann Clayton Sabine July 7 -- Kids’ Day: 10am to Noon and 1pm to 3pm. Woody Woodhead and FOOLZ Jon Gailmor Peter Burns Marty Morrissey and Robert Resnik July 8 -- Franco-American Day:  Noon to 2:30pm and 3:30 to 6:30pm. Michele Choiniere Beaudoin Legacy Va-et-Vient Trio Gusto July 9 -- Blues Day:  Noon to 2:30pm and 3:30pm to 7pm. Seth Yacavone Blues for Breakfast Lowell Thompson Jennie Johnson July 10 -- Quebec All Stars: Noon to 3pm.   Les Charboniers de l’Enfer (Coal Miners from Hell) Inuit singer songwriter Eliaspie Isaac Quebec youth musicians Young Traditions July 11 -- Cultural Crossroads: 12:30pm to 4pm Nightingale Atlantic Crossing Taiko Drummers Kilamanjaro Samantha Moffatt July 12:  Noon to 4pm Tammy Fletcher Kilamanjaro Scott Ainslie Other Arts Council sponsored events: June 12: Je Me Souviens, Harwood Union High School in Duxbury, 6:30 PM Jeremiah McLane and Pete Sutherland are among the performers in this celebration of the rich history of the Lake Champlain region, anchored in the 1609 arrival of Samuel de Champlain.  To connect the past to the present, the program also explores the present day influences of these historical events, Quebecois culture, and the current presence of Francophone countries around the world.  Donations requested.   June 19 & 20: St. Albans Franco-American Heritage Festival Michele Choiniere and her band perform as part of this festival that focuses on the cultural heritage of the Lake Champlain basin. Other musical performances include Don Roy, the Fiddleheads, De Temps Antam, Benoit Bourque, and Josee Vachon.   June 27: Envoye a Maison: A Franco-American Homecoming with Genticorum and Michéle Choiniére, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, 7 PM Genticorum offers a rich repertoire of captivatingly-crooked traditional Québécois tunes and tongue-in-cheek songs, sung with energized harmonies and upbeat rhythms. Michéle Choiniére was born into a musical Franco-American family in northern Vermont.  Her performances blend traditional Franco-American and Québec folk songs with jazz standards and original compositions.  Open Seating. $22 adults / $18 students with a valid ID   Counterpoint: July 8, Burlington’s Unitarian Universalist Church at 8 PM Vermont choral ensemble, under the direction of Robert de Cormier, performing a repertoire of French Canadian songs, lake ballads, and other Champlain-themed music. Ticketed event ($18).   puzzlePALOOZA:  July 11, Burlington’s Battery Park, 10AM – 4 PM As part of the Vermont Arts Council’s statewide community arts project, Art Fits Vermont, thousands of large pieces created by artists from Vermont, New York and Quebec will be joined to create the World’s Largest Puzzle. Exhibit will take place under a giant tent with the official Guinness World Record count at 2 PM.   July 17 & 18:  Vergennes Opera House "Veillee" Pete & Karen Sutherland & Jeremiah McLane at a traditional French-Canadian supper. Music and dance workshops will reenact the entertainment commonly shared by early French-Canadians.

Forums on the Future

Champlain Quadricentennial: Forums on the Future July 6-11: Contois Auditorium, Burlington City Hall Noon-1:30 p.m. Daily.  Free. As we pause to consider the meaning of Samuel de Champlain's 1609 voyage and look at where we are four centuries afterward, it's an occasion to also imagine what our world will be a hundred years from now. In keeping with the Quadricentennial's spirit of visionary introspection, Fran Stoddard of Vermont Public Television hosts and moderates daily panel discussions on our future from various perspectives on Monday, July 6 through Saturday, July 11. Bring your lunch, or just yourself, and sit in on a lively, fast-paced presentation of ideas, followed by discussion and questions from the audience.  The sessions will be recorded by educational cable-access TV channel RETN for future broadcast, and forum pages on the festival's website offer a place to continue the conversation. Monday, July 6 Creating and Utilizing Visions of the Future Following a brief overview of how Burlington marked the Samuel de Champlain anniversary in 1909 and 1959, we’ll look at the State of Vermont’s work at “visioning” over the last century, and track how forward-looking studies become governmental policy. Panelists include State Archivist Greg Sanford;  former Governor Madeleine Kunin, creator in 1987 of the Governor's Commission on Vermont's Future; Karen Meyer, UVM Vice President of State and Federal Relations, Vermont Council on Rural Development Executive Director Paul Costello, who recently released findings from the Vermont Commission on the Future; and communications entrepreneur and media commentator Bill Schubart. Tuesday, July 7 Writers' Visions of 2050 Budding scribes from the Young Writer’s Project and professional regional authors will present personal journal entries from a day in the year 2050.  Readings of the best entries will be followed by discussion with writers and our audience. Entries continue to come in, but confirmed authors include Burlington novelist Mark Estrin (Golem Song), post-peak oil prophet James Howard Kunstler (The Long Emergency), youth author, Tanya Stone (Elizabeth Leads the Way) nonfiction writer Jim Tabor (Forever on the Mountain), and poet-playwright David Budbill (Judevine), , playwright Kathryn Blume (The Boycott). Wednesday, July 8 The Evolution of Sustainable Agriculture in Vermont In a session on the opening day of the Taste of Champlain Food Festival, we'll sound out the challenges and possibilities for the future of Vermont’s food industry. Panelists include Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Roger Allbee, UVM food science professor and author Amy Trubek (The Taste of Place), Vermont Fresh Network Executive Director Meghan Sheradin, Tom Stearns of High Mowing Seeds and Hardwick's Center for an Agricultural Economy, General Manager Clem Nilan of City Market/Onion River Co-op and Natural Resources Manager for Ben and Jerry’s, Andrea Asch. Thursday. July 9 Artists Envisioning Our Future What does it mean to be a Vermonter, and how does our collective cultural output reflect our sense of place and community? Artists Val Hird, Annemie Curlin and John Miller with Lyman Orton's “Art of Action” initiative,  architect John Anderson, and The Vermont Movie filmmaker Nora Jacobsen discuss their creative processes as part of a multi-disciplinary panel. Friday, July 10 How the Past Informs the Future An air of nostalgia envelops ideas of “the real Vermont.” Are we who we think we were? If there were a genetic code for “real Vermonters,” would we clone more? Key visionaries from a variety of sectors offer sweeping observations and debate visions of the future. Panelists include CEO/President of Earth Turbines, David Blittersdorf, Montpelier lawyer and historian Paul Gillies, Jungian and spiritual teacher Sue Mehrtens of Waterbury, communication technology consultant Steve Shepard, preservation activist, Paul Bruhn, Green Mountain Power CEO, Mary Powell and author and UVM political-science professor Frank Bryan. Saturday, July 11 The Future of Diverse Communities in Vermont Explore the future of Native Americans from our region as well as new, culturally unique communities who have settled or are now settling in Vermont. How do members of these populations imagine their future in the state, both in the short term and generations hence?  How does past experience influence their vision, and what is the impact on the state? Panelists include Brent Bjorkman of the Vermont Folklife Center; Bosnian community leader Mehida Jusufagic; Jacob Bogre of the Association of Africans Living in Vermont;  Wanda Heading-Grant, Associate Provost for Multicultural Affairs and Academic Initiatives at the University of Vermont; Abenaki historian and storyteller Marge Bruchac; and Tracey Tsugawa of the Vermont Human Rights Commission.

Quadricentennial Art & Music Events

Quadricentennial Art & Music Events Date Event Location Mar-20-2008 - Dec-20-2009 Art Fits Vermont: A Statewide Community Arts Program Vermont Arts Council   Sep-01-2008 - Dec-31-2009 The Art of Lake Champlain: Exhibition & Sale at Silver Maple Silver Maple Editions LLC   Jan-01-2009 - Dec-31-2009 Celebrate Champlain Event Series Vergennes Opera House May-08-2009 - Oct-31-2009 Champlain's Lake Rediscovered: Exhibition of Vermont Artists Willowell Foundation, Inc. Jun-05-2009 - Aug-01-2009 Uncharted Territories Firehouse Center for the Visual Arts   Jun-05-2009 - Jun-14-2009 Burlington Discover Jazz Festival Burlington Discover Jazz Festival   Jun-05-2009 - Aug-01-2009 Vestiges, Hues, Fragment Firehouse Center for the Visual Arts   Jun-12-2009 - Jun-12-2009 Je me Souviens   Harwood Union High School Jun-25-2009 - Jul-05-2009 Summer Festival Tour Vermont Symphony Orchestra   Jun-28-2009 - Aug-16-2009 Smirkus Ever After: A Big Top Fairytale Circus Smirkus   Jun-29-2009 Heritage in Harmony Premier Performance and Reception  Vermont Council on World Affairs / The Essex Jun-29-2009 - Jul-11-2009 Frank Gonzales Master Classes  ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center Jul-01-2009 - Jul-03-2009 Circus Smirkus Celebrates Fairytales: “Smirkus Ever After" Champlain Valley Exposition Fairgrounds   Jul-01-2009 Timeline of Vermont CD Release Celebration Concert & Tour Big Heavy World Foundation, Inc.   Jul-03-2009 - Aug-02-2009 Beyond The Inland Sea 215 College Gallery   Jul-03-2009 The Horse Flies and The Lost Fingers Battery Park   Jul-03-2009 VYO Tour Kickoff Concert: Bon Voyage Vermont Youth Orchestra Association, Inc.   Jul-05-2009 Celebrating Our Heritage at Lakes End Cheeses Lakes End Cheeses   Jul-07-2009 Heritage in Harmony Heritage in Harmony in Middlebury   Jul-09-2009 Songs about Lake Champlain Fletcher Free Library Jul-11-2009 - Jul-12-2009 The 2009 Champlain Islands Open Farm and Studio Tour Open Farm And Studio   Jul-12-2009 - Jul-18-2009 31st Annual Middlebury Summer Festival on-the-Green Middlebury Village Green   Jul-17-2009 - Jul-17-2009 French Canadian Dinner and Va-et-Vient Performance   Inn at Baldwin Creek & Mary's Restaurant Jul-31-2009 - Aug-02-2009 Champlain Valley Folk Festival Kingsland Bay State Park   Aug-14-2009 - Aug-16-2009 “Plein air” on-site paint-out on the Burlington Waterfront  Vermont Watercolor Society Sep-06-2009 17th Annual New World Festival at Chandler Chandler Center for the Arts   Sep-24-2009 - Oct-04-2009 Made in Vermont Music Festival  Vermont Symphony Orchestra Nov-06-2009 - Nov-07-2009 INDIECON: The Free All-Ages Big Heavy World Music Conference Big Heavy World Foundation, Inc. Nov-14-2009 - Nov-15-2009 Ladies of the Lake Quilt Show   Shelburne Farms Coach Barn & CV Quilt Guild Nov-19-2009 - Nov-22-2009 Vermont Hand Crafters Fine Craft & Art Show Sheraton Conference Center