Gretchen Babcock is currently the Director of Government Relations for the University of Vermont. She is an attorney and has worked in the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, where one of her first cases was the investigation of an art investment scam involving Picasso prints. She held a number of positions in state government, including Commissioner of Banking, Insurance, and Securities, before moving to Washington, D.C., where she was in charge of state government relations for the national Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association for ten years. Gretchen is a former trustee of the Wood Art Gallery in Montpelier and is doing graduate work in historic preservation. She is also a print collector (no Picassos!).
"I strive to be a steward of the artistic landscape of Vermont. I hope to nurture budding artists, protect and preserve the best cultural stock, and propagate innovative and colorful expression."
David Carris lives in Marshfield and is a Senior Financial Advisor and Vice-President with a national financial services firm. His professional career has spanned the arts, community, and economic development.
In the 1980’s he worked with historic preservation organizations in Vermont, Philadelphia, and Connecticut. He returned to Vermont in the late-80’s to develop community design and planning programs as a Council staff member and also taught in UVM’s Graduate Program in Historic Preservation. At the VAC he founded the Vermont Design Institute, directed the initial Art in State Buildings projects, and worked to help start the Vermont Crafts Council. He has been either on the board of or employed by nonprofit community organizations since high-school. He holds a B.A. in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.S. in Historic Preservation from the University of Vermont.
“This is an exciting time to be a VAC Trustee. The Council is uniquely positioned to help grow the bonds between artists and the places where they live and practice, between teachers and students, between visitors and residents, and between neighbors. Arts are unmistakably economic drivers as well as a deeper ingredient in thriving communities.”
Sam was born, raised and educated in Vermont. She has lived in Hubbardton for the past 26 years and has served on the Castleton-Hubbardton School board, the Alumni Board for Castleton State College as well as the Crossroads Arts Council in Rutland.
She worked for the Middlebury School District as Business Manager for 18 years, then for Castleton State College as Director of Development and Alumni Relations. She has been a "silent partner" (most of the time) for her husband's lighting business, Hubbardton Forge.
Her passions include sailing, photography, gardening, and collecting fine art.
"It is an honor to be selected as the Governor's appointee to the Vermont Arts Council. I am an advocate, supporter and have a deep appreciation for artists and their diverse talents. I strongly believe that 'arts in education' is a fundamental ingredient to fully develop our youth and to get the arts in the education, we must support our local artists."
Since moving to Vermont 12 years ago, Alison has devoted her energy to two primary areas - life management and community service. As a life manager, she orchestrates the lives of her spouse, Oliver Goodenough, and their two sons, Ward and William. Before moving to Vermont, Alison was a theatre producer in New York for 15 years. She produced plays both On and Off Broadway and helped found the New York Theatre Workshop.
Alison has been involved with a number of artistic, educational, environmental and community organizations and has served on over eight boards and on countless committees in the last 26 years. Two recent projects she is proud of include helping to triple the size of Woodstock’s Mt. Peg Park and co-chairing her 25th college reunion. In December 2002, Alison was honored as the Woodstock Rotary Citizen of the Year. Alison has also served as a Representative to the Vermont Legislature from Reading and Woodstock.
"It is a pleasure to serve on the Vermont Arts Council Board. To advocate for the importance of the arts in our lives is a pleasure. I believe that the health of a society can be measured by the fullness and richness of its cultural life. Art integrated into our daily lives makes us more aware, intelligent, thoughtful people. So, to enable, even in small measure, the arts in our corner of the world, is important life work - work I embrace with my whole heart.
Brian Cosgrove is manager of government relations at Entergy Vermont Yankee Nuclear in Brattleboro. His career has spanned journalism, teaching, marketing and political campaign management.
"As a journeyman writer and photographer, I have some appreciation for these endeavors. During the 1970s I spent five years working full-time in an arts-based Title One teaching project with juvenile delinquents in Boston, so I have some first-hand experience with the educational aspect of the VAC mission. I also believe that the private sector has a responsibility to support the arts. Mostly though, I regard being a VAC trustee as a learning opportunity.
Jay Hathaway studied art and architecture at Paier College of Art in New Haven Connecticut. After a 30 year “leave of absence” Jay has re-entered the world of art. He is most intrigued with two mediums, steel fabrication and watercolor painting. Four years ago, while continuing to work as an independent retail businessman, he strongly believed that he had to return to his passion, metal sculpting. Many of his art pieces are showing up in, and on homes throughout this area. He recently purchased an old hay barn from Hampton, New York. It was dismantled and rebuilt on his property in the village of Dorset. In it is his studio/workshop and gallery.
“Though my art has had to take a back seat to providing a living for our family, it feels as though I have never left. I am very excited about my return to what feels extremely natural to me.”
Nancy is a native of Toronto, Canada and has been living in Vermont since 1988 when she moved to Norwich from Chappaqua, NY with her two children. She has had a long career in fundraising and marketing in New York City and at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. In 1994 she joined Gifford Medical Center in Randolph as Director of Development and Marketing.
Vermont just feels right to her, and she has never looked back since arriving here in 1988. She is active in both her communities – Norwich where she lives and Randolph where she works. She is a member of the Norwich Selectboard and is past President of the Randolph Chamber of Commerce.
"The Vermont Arts Council provided funding for a collaborative poetry residency with Gifford and the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph. The residency with Vermont poet, Verandah Porche, resulted in an award-winning book – They Know the Promise: The Art of Care in a Community Hospital and an accompanying art show which has since traveled from Gifford to Chandler, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon and the Vermont Statehouse. This unusual collaboration made the project even stronger, and we were both able to reach different audiences with the message of caring and healing. Through this project I feel both institutions demonstrated the important role that the arts play on many different levels and the role the arts can play in healing. I hope to be able to use my extensive fundraising and marketing background to further the goals of the Vermont Arts Council."
Marie has spent more than 30 years developing and honing her strategic planning and business management skills for one of the world's largest corporations - IBM. Most recently her work has focused on corporate social responsibility and philanthropy. Marie recently completed three years of service with the board of directors of Central Vermont Adult Basic Education and currently serves on the board of the VT Association of Business, Industry & Rehabilitation. Her committee memberships include the United Way of Chittenden County, the VT Chamber of Commerce Business EXPO Committee, and the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee.
Marie has always enjoyed the arts. In her youth, she produced many small plays for her family and friends. She also worked hard (she thought) at learning the piano and the saxophone, participated in both band and orchestra, but was unable to earn a spot with a local teen rock and roll band. Throughout her school days, Marie was very active in theatre arts, mostly as an actor. Today, her interest in and enjoyment of the dramatic arts continues, primarily as a member of the audience.
"Along with working to help the Vermont Arts Council in any way that I can, I am particularly interested in arts education, making the arts more accessible in all ways, and the impact the arts have on Vermont's economy."
Margaret Lampe Kannenstine is an artist whose landscapes and paintings of performing musicians are centered on the expressive use of color. Her paintings and works on paper have been shown extensively for decades, and are held in the permanent collections of museums, hospitals, academic institutions and corporate collections, as well as numerous private collections.
Margaret (Peggy) is a former Secretary of the Board of Directors of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. Peggy served at the White House Mini-Confernce on Aging. She Co-Chairs the Vermont Arts Council 40th Anniversary celebrations, and rejoined the VAC Board of Trustees, where she previously served as Chair. Peggy served on the Vermont Council on Culture and Innovation (VCCI) which studied policy issues of the Creative Economy for our state. She is a past Board member of New England Foundation for the Arts; was twice President of her local arts council, Pentangle. Peggy also served as Chair of the Board of Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT, and is now on the founding Board of the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Jct. VT.
The popularity of Warren's contemporary folk art images has helped to position him among the country's most beloved contemporary artists and successful home furnishing designers. Consumers everywhere admire his stylized landscapes, seascapes, animals, and other subjects. His designs are licensed to major names such as Sakura, Springs Industries, and C. R. Gibson, to name a few.
Warren received his formal art training from Syracuse University, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1957. After an early career in advertising, he taught art in the public schools and later joined the art faculty at Castleton [Vermont] State College. He left the college in 1983 to pursue his passion for painting full time.
In addition to serving on the board of The Vermont Arts Council, Warren is a trustee of the Vermont Folklife Center, Green Mountain College, and Syracuse University.
“I have been fortunate to live in Vermont for many years, a place that nurtures the artistic spirit. Living here has provided me the opportunity to become part of a real Vermont community as well as a working artist, both teacher and painter.
I joined the Board of the Vermont Arts Council because I embrace its mission of fostering the arts for all; in communities where it enhances economic development and enriches lives; in schools; and through arts organizations. Through Palettes of Vermont the Council is able to touch a huge number of artists and make a difference.”
Margaret Lawrence is Director of Programming at the Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, one of the original prototypes of campus-based performing arts centers in North America. There, she curates a program of over 50 annual visiting artist events, including the commissioning of new works and approximately 500 arts education activities each year. She is a board member of the national Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP), and has served on panels for the Connecticut, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Vermont arts commissions. Former hub-site advisor for the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, she has represented New England in Australia, Japan, Cambodia, China, Uzbekistan, Mexico, Brazil, and Indonesia; and has taught professional workshops in Russia and throughout the United States.
Lawrence's double BA is from the University of California, Berkeley in Anthropology and Humanities. She has worked in presenting, education, and marketing for the Hult Center (Eugene, OR), Life on the Water (San Francisco), and the Marlboro Music Festival (VT). She is currently co-producing the first North American tour of multiple ethnic minority performers from Yunnan, China, and leads a series of arts management workshops in Central Asia in May 2005.
Barbara Morrow has had a rich, lesson-filled career as an administrator in many kinds of nonprofits, including hospitals, higher education, and economic development. She is a former commissioner with the Vermont Commission on Women, an organization she continues to champion. Barbara is currently the development officer for Sterling College, where her values for environmental stewardship, education, and philanthropy converge nicely. While not an artist (although she comes from a long-line of writers and can spew out a few cogent sentences herself sometimes), she understands the power of the arts for Vermont’s economy, families and individuals, and disenfranchised populations. Barbara has a Master’s degree in Education, and has taken a turn or two at teaching on the college level in addition to having a small consulting practice, Equilibrium.
“Beyond their intrinsic value, I respect the arts for the voices they strengthen and the transformation they inspire. (I adore “outsider” art!) A life or a healthy society is not possible without them. From a practical perspective, participation in the arts challenges and sharpens so many parts of our brain, our thinking ability. They are essential to us as fully functioning humans dealing with complex social, economic, scientific and interpersonal issues.”
Jeff Roberts is president of Cow Creek Creative Ventures, dedicated to helping businesses, higher education, government, and nonprofit organizations, develop innovative solutions in the areas of agriculture and food policy, conservation, the environment, and community development.
During his career, Jeff was a meteorologist, historian, and museum curator. In 1977, he co-founded Clio Group, Inc., consultants in architecture, history, and land use. At the University of Pennsylvania, he was director of development at the Morris Arboretum and Associate Dean for Development and Planning at the School of Veterinary Medicine. In 1995, he became the Vice President for External Affairs at the Vermont Land Trust.
As a co-founder and principal consultant to the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese at the University of Vermont, he is responsible for development of international initiatives, public education programs, and marketing. As an adjunct faculty member at the New England Culinary Institute, he teaches the history and culture of food.
He is the author of the Atlas of American Artisan Cheese (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007), the first comprehensive directory of small-scale producers. For the US National Park Service, he is co-author of Stewardship Begins with People: An Atlas of Places, People, and Handmade Products (2007).
Jeff is active in Slow Food USA as a director and treasurer of the national board. He co-chaired “Artisan Cheeses of America” at Cheese 2001 and 2003 and the US presence at Salone del Gusto 2002 and 2004. Jeff is a frequent speaker on artisan cheese, sustainable agriculture, and the working landscape. He serves as a director of the Vermont Arts Council and previously was on the Vermont Fresh Network board.
Stephen Sandy was born in 1933, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received his B.A. from Yale College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. His poetry books include Stresses in the Peaceable Kingdom, 1967; Roofs, 1971; Riding to Greylock, 1983; Thanksgiving Over the Water, 1992; The Thread, New and Selected Poems, 1998; Black Box, 1999; Surface Impressions, 2002; and Weathers Permitting, 2005.
His poems have appeared in Atlantic Monthly, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, and The New Yorker. He has received a Rockefeller Foundation residency (Bellagio),an NEA fellowship, an Ingram Merrill fellowship and an award for exceptional accomplishment in literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Heather Shouldice joined the firm of William Shouldice & Associates in January of 2005. She came to the firm having monitored on an informal basis for William Shouldice & Associates during the 2003 legislative session and then representing the Washington-6 District as a member of the Vermont House of Representatives during the 2004 legislative session. Heather was appointed as an Independent by Governor James H. Douglas in October of 2003 to fill the vacated Washington-6 single seat district.
Heather lives in East Calais and is the former co-owner and operator of The Country Store in Montpelier. She most recently has acted as the Montpelier Downtown Community Association’s Executive Director, where she had previously served on the Board for three years; one of which she served as the Board’s president. Heather currently is a co-coordinator for both First Night and the Montpelier Independence Day Celebration. Heather formerly served on the Community Connections Steering Committee, served as a community advisor to Central Vermont New Directions, is a member of the Calais Selectboard, serves as a Corporator for the Northfield Savings Bank, is member of the Montpelier Rotary Club, is a member of the Montpelier Elk’s Club and a former advisor to Women’s Centered. Governor Douglas has also appointed Heather to the Capitol Complex Commission where she serves as the Chair of the Commission and served on the State House Expansion Committee.
Heather attended East Montpelier Elementary School, U-32 High School, and later went on to study business management at Paul Smith’s College and St. John Fischer College.
Caro Thompson’s creative life extends well before and beyond her work as a documentary filmmaker and television producer:
- a singer and performer since childhood, with 2 years of voice lessons at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York
- a dancer beginning in high school, with performances in college and 2 extraordinary years studying with the Garth Fagan Dance Company and 1 year with the Jose Limon Dance Company
- a degree in Art History from the University of Rochester, Special Studies in Dance Film & Video
- a member of the Helen Day Art Center Visual Arts Committee for the past 4 ½ years.
Caro’s media career began in 1981 in New York City as Production Assistant and Videographer for Video D, a company that documented all performances at Dance Theater Workshop and worked with many of the major dance companies there. She went on to initiate and direct the video documentation project at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Lee, Massachusetts for four full seasons, adding an internship program in video production.
Starting as a Videographer/Editor in broadcast television in 1985, her experience includes: News, Sports, Public Affairs, The Arts, History
In Vermont since 1988, Caro spent a year at Catamount Arts in St. Johnsbury, doing marketing, production coordination and also producing “High Water: Behind the Scenes,” a documentary about Jay Craven’s first narrative film based on a Howard Frank Mosher story.
From 1989 – 1994, as a Site Coordinator and Marketing Assistant for Vermont Interactive Television, the regional diversity of my adopted home state was reinforced over and over.
Since 1994, Caro has been capturing the spirit, history and rural activities of Vermont as an independent producer and filmmaker. Her programs are broadcast on Vermont Public Television. Documentaries include In Days Gone By and Barns: Legacy of Wood & Stone received Boston/New England Emmy nominations. Her most recent project was Noble Hearts: Civil War Vermont.
Paul Ugalde is the Director of Development for Population Media Center based in Shelburne. PMC is an international NGO specializing in the use of serial dramas (yes, soap operas) on radio and television in developing nations around the globe. Armed with a passport and various visas, Paul pursues funding from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Bamako, Mali to San Francisco and Seattle on behalf of PMC's projects. Our concerns are with the rapid growth of the human population and its effect on the environment. Paul's career path has included the commercial broadcast industry (WCAX-TV, WEZF radio) and non-profit fundraising (Vermont Public Television, Burlington City Arts). He is a graduate of the University of Vermont. As an actor, he has appeared with Vermont Stage Company, Lyric Theatre Company and other troupes. Paul is trained in the techniques of stage combat and has staged numerous scenes of mayhem and destruction for many Vermont theatre companies, especially Lost Nation Theater. When not wielding a rapier and dagger, he attempts to play classical guitar.
"I am an active participant in the arts in Vermont and have been an ardent and long-term supporter. Any activity that unlocks imagination and creativity benefits us all in very tangible ways. I believe in the power of Vermont's creative sector to enrich lives, broaden understanding and fuel our economy. Each individual, each state and each nation flourishes when it has a vibrant soul. That is the nature and gift of the arts."
A Vermonter (since she was 2), Ruth has enjoyed a lifetime of participation in and appreciation of the arts. Educated in Burlington schools and at Barnard College, she graduated from Yale School of Drama with an MFA in Acting. Ruth spent eight years in New York acting and producing, during the early, heady years of “off-off” Broadway. She taught acting at Jersey City State College, and ran Children’s Theatre Unlimited in Princeton, NJ. Since returning to Vermont in the early 1980’s Ruth has worked in radio, represented the University of Vermont at the legislature, run First Night Burlington for two years, and is currently the Executive Director of the Lake Champlain Islands Chamber of Commerce. In her “spare” time Ruth has performed with many Vermont theater companies. She also serves on the boards of FlynnArts, Vermont Stage Company and Trinity Children’s Center.
"Participating in the making of theater, as an actor, producer, board member, teacher and fan, has provided much enjoyment throughout my life. The arts are a medium through which we interpret our world, never more important than at this present time. Now we find that we have been contributing to the creative economy, which provides added value to the well-being of our communities. As a member of the Vermont Arts Council I look forward to continuing and increasing the vitality of the arts and artists."
For the past 20 years, Greg has provided a place for hundreds of craftspeople and artists to show and sell their works. He and his wife, Susan, own and operate Vermont Artisan Designs & Gallery 2 on Brattleboro’s Main Street. Additionally, Greg has been active in community affairs. He recently stepped down from the Brattleboro Selectboard after serving for 12 years, two as chair.
Greg was a founding member of Brattleboro’s Gallery Walk, a monthly celebration of the arts which has grown to include more than 50 venues that feature art-related openings around town on the first Friday of each month. He also helped found Building a Better Brattleboro and the Creative Communities Council of Windham County, organizations that have helped stimulate the town’s economic and aesthetic activities. He has been an active member of the Vermont Crafts Council, the Vermont State Craft Center Overview Commission and CRAFT (Craft Retailers Association for Tomorrow), organizations promoting American-made craft and artistry.
Before owning Vermont Artisan Designs & Gallery 2, Greg worked as reporter, photographer and assistant managing editor of the Brattleboro Reformer. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, the Defense Information School and the University of Vermont’s Snelling Leadership Institute. He enjoys photography, reading, motorcycling and finding art.
“Throughout my years in our state, it is increasingly apparent that Vermont has a special attraction for artists and thinkers. To be part of a Vermont Arts Council which brings these people together with those who appreciate their talents would be my goal.