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Two artists have been chosen for a public art project being planned at the Brattleboro courthouse. And they'll exhibit their preliminary ideas for it later this week.
Julia Zanes and Donald Saaf have been recommended to design and oversee the fabrication and installation of art at the building. It houses the family court and Vermont District Court.
They'll make a presentation Thursday at Brooks Memorial Library. The public is being invited to weigh in with their thoughts on the concepts.
The project is part of an art in state buildings program, a partnership between the Vermont Arts Council and the state Department of Buildings and General Services.
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. -- Two artists have been chosen for a public art project being planned at the Brattleboro courthouse, and they'll exhibit their preliminary ideas for it this week.
Julia Zanes and Donald Saaf, of Saxtons River, have been recommended to design and oversee the fabrication and installation of art at the building, which houses the family court and Vermont District Court.
They'll make a presentation at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at Brooks Memorial Library, and the public is being invited to weigh in with their thoughts on the concepts.
The project is part of an art in state buildings program, a partnership between the Vermont Arts Council and the state Department of Buildings and General Services.
MONTPELIER — Dorset Theatre Festival's founder John Nassivera will be honored at the Vermont Arts Council's Annual Meeting on Thursday, June 4 at 4 p.m. the State House in Montpelier.
Following a short business meeting, Nassivera will be presented the prestigious Walter Cerf Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. Jane Lendway will receive a Citation of Merit Award for her commitment to Vermont's Historic Preservation and grant recipients including musician Anais Mitchell, poet Stephen Cramer and visual artist Brian Cohen will showcase their work.
Members in good standing can cast their vote for proposed bylaw changes and trustee nominees by mail, in person, or online at www.vermontartscouncil.org. Balloting on the day of the event begins at 8 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m. Trustee nominees include David Carris of Marshfield, James Clubb of Dorset, Jay Hathaway of Dorset, Melinda Moulton of Huntington, Gary Reis of St. Johnsbury, Gerianne Smart of Vergennes and Steve Swayne of Quechee.
The Walter Cerf Award was created to honor Vermont artists who have made significant contributions to the development of their field, and to the quality of life and culture in America. John Nassivera was as the 2009 recipient for his dedicated work as producing director and co-founder of the Dorset Theatre Festiva . Under his direction, DTF has been a launch pad for acclaimed plays and playwrights, receiving the Moss Hard Award for Outstanding Theatre in 1995 and 1997.
Nassivera received a National Endowment for the Arts Playwriting Award and has authored several plays that have been presented in the U. S. and Canada. He is currently working on a play titled Sherlock Holmes and the People's King, and an adaptation of George Aiken's 1852 dramatization of Uncle Tom's Cabin.
He is also writing two non-fiction books, Keywords and Becoming Roman Catholic: a secular humanist's story.
By Theodore Hoppe
"Art of Vermont" is a celebration the 170- year evolution of the Vermont State Art Collection, as well as 20 years of commissioned work created through the Art in State Buildings Program. In 1837, the Vermont Senate vote to purchase a painting of George Washington by artist George Gassner for the newly constructed statehouse. The State of Vermont has been collecting art ever since. With the creation of the Vermont Arts Council in 1964, the state art collection begin to expand beyond the walls of the capitol itself. Throughout the 70' and 80's the Arts Council continued to install art in public facilities like the Pavilion State Office Building. In 1988, the General Assembly passed the Art in State Buildings Act "in recognition of the need to encourage Vermont artists." As David Schutz, the State Curator, explains,"...it is (this) public art program which has allowed the placement of a wide assortment of works of art in facilities all over the state."The State collection includes the work of hundreds of artists, and can be found at twenty-eight state facilities across Vermont.
The Department of Buildings & General Services, with the help of Paul Gruhler, working with the Vermont Arts Council, has created a show of paintings and photography from the collection by some of the best artists in Vermont. The first of four 2009 exhibits will be at the River Arts Center in Morrisville from May 8-July 5. The River Arts Center is proud to host a version of the "Art of Vermont" exhibition that features the works of many Lamoille Valley artists.
Another version of the tour travels to St. Michael's College in Colchester, from June 5, 2009 until August 8,2009 with an opening reception on June 5, 5-7 PM. Since the dates of these two exhibits overlap they will feature different works from the collection. There are shows planned for the Brattleboro Museum and at Catamount Arts in St. Johnsbury later in the year, with more dates planned for 2010.
There is also a beautiful glossy catalogue developed by Paul Gruhler, for "Art of Vermont" that presents a sampling of the State Art Collection. In it, David Schultz says, "Art helps define who we are as people. As we look back over the works that constitute the State Art Collection, we cannot help but be struck by the amazing messages that are conveyed about Vermont and its people."
WASHINGTON — With an hour to go before her performance, Peoples Academy senior Audrey Kiely was nervous. She was one of 12 finalists in the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest, narrowed from 53 state finalists and an original group of nearly 300,000 national participants. Kiely checked her hair as she waited backstage. “I’m psyched to have made it this far,” she said, adding, “This was definitely the goal.”
Kiely, who will be attending Wesleyan University in the fall, first made the competition a goal when her older brother, Henry, became the Poetry Out Loud Vermont state champion in 2007.
“I heard about it from him, and it was such a cool thing that I decided I wanted to be a part of it,” she said, crediting “tremendously supportive” English teacher Reeves Larson, drama director Marcel Freda, and Morgan Irons of the Vermont Arts Council with helping her practice for the contest, which is run by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.
To take part in Poetry Out Loud, high school students must memorize and recite three poems from an anthology of more than 600 poems. They advance from the classroom level through school — and statewide competitions before reaching the national finals, which was held Monday and Tuesday in Washington, D.C. This year’s finals were judged by a panel that included “A Prairie Home Companion’s” Garrison Keillor and actress Tyne Daly.
According to Kiely, finding success in front of the panel is not just about picking the right poem.
“This has also, for me, been partly performance. It’s a really nice mix of the two; it’s about finding that balance, but not letting the drama get bigger than the words,” she said.
When it was her opportunity to step on stage and find that balance, Kiely’s recitations of Molly Peacock’s “Altruism” and John Donne’s “Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness” were greeted with enthusiastic applause.
The judges’ scores did not send Kiely to the top five, costing her the top prize and the chance to recite her third poem, “Winter” by Marie Ponsot, the piece that scored her highest marks during the state competition. However, she was awarded a medal by the acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and the president of the Poetry Foundation. She also received an event award of $1,000 and a stipend of $500 for Peoples Academy to use toward the purchase of poetry books.
Kiely congratulated winner William Farley from Virginia and posed for pictures before leaving the stage. “He really did deserve to win,” she admitted with a smile.
When asked what she planned to take home from the experience, she said she hoped to inspire more Vermont schools and students to become involved.
“It’s a really terrific opportunity,” Kiely said. “You don’t realize how awesome it is until after it’s over. Getting through the memorization is the hardest part, and afterwards you get to have fun with it. So if you can just get through that first part, it’s totally worth it.”
The Art Jobs Grant Program, funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, will support nonprofit arts organizations whose jobs are in jeopardy or have been eliminated as a result of the current economic climate. Competitive, one-time grants are available to support staff salaries, as well as artist or consultant fees. Organizations with annual operating budgets under $150,000 can apply for up to $5,000. Organizations with budgets of $150,000 or more can apply for up to $10,000. The Vermont Arts Council anticipates being able to support 25 to 30 organizations with these funds. The application deadline is May 13. For more information, go to www.vermontartscouncil.org.
By Cristina Kumka
Paramount Theatre executives and the state Legislature agree — times are tough and people need entertainment.
The theater recently announced it received a $13,313 grant out of the state's capital budget to install a state-of-the-art big screen, projection equipment and enhanced sound capabilities for a cinematic project in the works — a film series that would add a "seventh genre" of entertainment to the theater's presentation lineup, according to Bruce Bouchard, the executive director.
But according to theater executives, the movie lineup won't be as racy as it once was.
"In one year we have gone from pop music to classical music to theater, theater development, family, comedy and film," Bouchard said recently.
"This will expand the offerings for the greater Rutland community."
The grant, awarded after Bouchard applied for the money and showed he could match the grant with donations and in-kind contributions, was administered through the Vermont Arts Council, in collaboration with the state's Division for Historic Preservation, the Vermont Historical Society and the Vermont Museum and Galleries Alliance.
The grant and matching donations totaling $26,626 are being used to purchase a $3,000 screen about 30 feet wide and 18 feet high, and various elements of a projection system that will be installed above the theater's stage, including wiring, bulbs and projection booth outfitting, according to the project's coordinator, Paramount board member David Giancola.
Giancola, president of Edgewood Studios, said he and fellow board member Dan Querrey are donating some of their expertise and materials to the project but about 20 other contractors were contacted during the bidding process for the screen, electrical wiring and projection equipment.
The screen has been ordered from a company in Massachusetts and Querrey's company is constructing the frame for it, Giancola said.
The men are hoping the project gets completed as soon as possible.
"It will be blow-you-away awesome," Giancola said.
"It will have the brightest, crispest picture we can get, have Dolby digital stereo sound, and the biggest screen in central Vermont."
Special means giving the Rutland public something they may have never had before, according to Bouchard.
"One can only imagine the children in the greater Rutland area who have never seen a big-screen film," he said.
Ticket prices will be lower than what the public is used to paying for the movies, according to Bouchard, and the movies shown at the theater won't be the latest box-office hits.
The flicks will be shown over weekends at the theater but Bouchard declined to say what some of the titles may be.
According to Sonia Rae, community programs manager for the council, the Legislature approved $180,000 this year for projects like the Paramount's film series "to assist Vermont nonprofits and municipalities expand existing facilities to expand cultural activities."
"In the view of the council's panel, the Paramount put together an excellent proposal and had a great deal of community support," Rae said.
"They launched an effective and successful fundraising effort and made a case on how it would help the Paramount reach out into the entire community in a way that's fun and affordable."
The Paramount applied for the grant in November of last year and received it in December, according to Bouchard.
The matching $13,313 was raised after two phone calls that led to Bouchard solidifying two $5,000 commitments and more than $3,000 in in-kind contributions from private donors in the community.
"We had to submit, with the application, that we had two reasonably firm pledges to match the matching grant requirement," he said.
The idea for the film series materialized in September of last year when the film "Moonlight and Mistletoe," was shown at the Paramount with a digital projector donated by Giancola.
It was the first film to be shown at the theater since 1981, Bouchard said.
Before last year's showing, some of the last films to be shown at the theater in the 80s were pornographic in nature, according to Stephen Carbine, the former chairman of the Paramount's Board of Directors.
The films would be played late at night and on weekdays, Carbine said.
"Typically, the second floor would be nurses from the hospital cheering" at the some of the more racy scenes, he said.
After the movies, proprietor Robert Shannon would invite movie-goers to his "outrageous penthouse" in the Richardson building next to the theater for after parties, according to Carbine.
Eric Mallette, assistant director at the Paramount, said the films shown in the upcoming series will not be pornography.
A film screening and DVD release for 6 Vermont Artists in Conversation, a documentary by Deb Ellis, assistant professor of film studies, will take place Thursday, April 23 at 7 p.m. in 101 Fleming.
Ellis created the documentary in collaboration with the Vermont Arts Council's Big Read Project, an initiative of the National Endowment of the Arts to revitalize the role of literature in American culture. This year's book is Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and a series of statewide events are offering an opportunity for Vermonters to discuss the role of art as social commentary.
"I was thrilled to have the opportunity to do what I like to do best — talk to artists engaged in their work and the world," says Ellis, whose documentary — a copy of which will be sent to every library in the state for free— features artists Peter Schumann, founder and director of Bread and Puppet Theater; Lisa Merton and Alan Dater, filmmakers; Drew Cameron, papermaker; and UVM colleagues poet Major Jackson and performance artist Janice Perry.
"I was committed to working with artists from different mediums, and to expand the concept of 'artist' beyond traditional modes to include poetry and performance," says Ellis, who worked with the Vermont Arts Council to choose the artists. "I was also committed to working with artists who represented the geographic breadth of the state."
Ellis is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and an active participant in the independent media community in Vermont. Ellis' documentary, Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train, was short-listed for an Academy Award in 2005. Her current work focuses on Iraq war veterans living in Canada.
By Shari McBride, Editorial Assistant
As part of the “Art Fits Vermont” statewide puzzle piece projects sponsored by the Vermont Art Council, the faculty and students of Park Street School have decided to memorialize the Park Street school with a mural of memories that will eventually hang in the wall of the school.
Students are busy drawing these memories with pictures of the school before the fire, as it looks today and a story sent in by a former student in which she tells the story of wearing the same dress to chemistry class because she knew that she would get chemicals on it.
Park Street School will be closing in 2010 and to help keep the memories of the school alive, retired teacher Pat Graves and teacher Karen Peck have delivered questionaires for people to fill out asking for their stories of Park Street.
Art teacher Melanie Levine-Kinne has run an ad on SAPA requesting information with some success.
If you have any stories or memories that you would like to share please call Park Street School at 885-4774.
The Vermont Arts Council will get $290,000 through the federal stimulus package.
The Arts Council says the money is supposed to help preserve jobs in the arts.
It's part of $20 million that the National Endowment for the Arts has distributed throughout the country.
In Vermont, the Arts Council has created a competitive grant program it calls "Art Jobs.''
Non-profit arts groups can apply for grants of up to $10,000 to pay staff salaries and to pay artists or consultants.
The Arts Council says it expects between 25 and 30 groups will benefit from the grants.
MONTPELIER – On Wednesday, March 25, the Vermont Arts Council will celebrate the achievements of Vermont's creative community in a day-long event at the Statehouse. Arts Achievement Day showcases art and artists, and provides an opportunity for arts advocates to meet with legislators to discuss the important role the arts play in their communities. Events include an accessibility workshop, advocacy training and tips on effective citizen lobbying, lunch with legislators, a tour of the Statehouse art collection, and a viewing of the new Deb Ellis documentary, "Six Vermont Artists." Following the film will be a discussion panel, "Arts: Part of the Solution." The panel will include members of Burlington City Arts, VSA Arts and River Arts. The day will conclude with a reception at 4:30 in the Statehouse cafeteria. As part of the reception, an Arts Citation Award will be presented to Mark Vogelzang of VPR. Jon Gailmor and other Arts Council grant recipients will perform during the reception.
For a schedule of events or to find out more about any of the day's activities, visit the Vermont Arts Council's Web site www.vermontartscouncil.org.
Arts Achievement Day will be celebrated Wednesday at the Statehouse in Montpelier with events beginning at 9:30 a.m. and continuing to a 4:30 p.m. reception in the cafeteria. Mark Vogelzang, former president of Vermont Public Radio, will be honored at the reception; musician Jon Gailmore will perform.
The event, free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Vermont Arts Council. Activities include a tour of the Statehouse's art collection, a screening of the documentary, "Six Vermont Artists," and a panel discussion, "The Arts: Part of the Solution."
For information, visit www.vermontartscouncil.org.
 By Cristina Kumka (Staff Writer)
The artistic expression of Rutland students has recently been displayed in many forms - as complex as creating music with professional bands and as simple as self-portraits drawn on hundreds of paper puzzle pieces. So how important are the arts to Rutland students?
Teachers and students who gathered this week at the Diamond Run Mall for an Art Fits Vermont display of student drawings said the arts are alive and well in area schools and community arts leaders have begun to partner with students in projects outside the classroom to keep art on Rutland's radar.
Student Leah Zoesch, 10, searched the mall's walls Monday for the self-portrait she worked on in art class at Rutland Intermediate School.
Her dad, Jeff, wasn't far behind.
"Our teacher lets us do whatever we want," Zoesch said, after showing dad her unique creation.
"You draw or paint and after you're done, you can show everybody what you've done … all they gave us was a white piece of paper."
Jeff Zoesch, a self-described art lover, said he completely supported the school's art initiative.
"It gets them (students) to think … instead of the standard way, it makes them invent," he said.
While educators nationwide were busy this week promoting March as Youth Art Month, leaders from the Vermont Arts Council were conducting a statewide listening tour to find out what more was needed to keep nonprofit arts organizations up and running in a near-debilitating economic recession.
Minutes before the tour's Monday stop at Stafford Technical Center began with a broadcast on Vermont Interactive Television, Peter Miller, the Rutland City Public Schools fine arts coordinator, said partnering with schools and students is an important part of keeping the arts alive.
"When students think outside of the box, exciting things happen in other parts of life," Miller said.
"It's the difference between discrete learning skills and process-oriented skills."
When students create art, they aren't looking for correct answers like when they take a multiple-choice test, according to Miller.
There are not set answers - students find themselves in foreign territory and they are forced to accept the discomfort, he said.
"Art is a metaphor for life … it's something we have to work with, vision and possibility," he said.
Mary Crowley, arts mentor and member of the board at the Chafee Arts Center, said students, when creating self-portraits, are forced to choose what to include in their image and what colors to use.
"They have to really think 'Who am I?'" Crowley said.
"Any creativity makes the brain more alive for everything else."
Schools have become an integral part of bringing excitement for the arts out of the classroom and into the community, according to Patricia Kreitzer, coordinator for Rutland Creative Economy.
In 2008, the Vermont Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts awarded Rutland Creative Economy $5,000 in seed money to put on ArtHop Rutland downtown, a Friday night event featuring bands and local art.
To subsidize the costs of paying for the weekly event, the Rutland Creative Economy partnered with Stafford - the school pays part of the cost of hosting the band in exchange for education, according to Kreitzer.
This past Friday, students in Stafford's music program mixed tracks with the Brooklyn, N.Y., gyspy klezmer tango band Luminescent Orchestrii at the school, Kreitzer said.
Professor Bill Comstock and students in Stafford's Jazz and Contemporary Music program opened their in-house studio to Luminescent to work with the group and learn from them during the day.
"None of us can do it alone," Kreitzer said, on art revival in the area."
Thursday February 12, 2009
Nina Keck
(Host) Charitable and corporate giving is down, fewer grants are available and state funding is being slashed. It's a combination that's putting a hard squeeze on nonprofit organizations in Vermont.
Today as part of our Hitting Home series, VPR's Nina Keck reports on the fight to save a landmark arts center in Rutland.
(Keck) Pat Hunter opens the heavy wooden door that leads inside one of Rutland's most historic mansions.
(Hunter) "Welcome to the Chaffee. . . . this is the foyer and right before us is this grand beautiful, wooden staircase. It's just very impressive when you come in and the woodwork is gorgeous, the detail that was done on this building when it was built is just magnificent."
(Keck) Hunter is President of the Board of Directors of the Chaffee Arts Center. For nearly fifty years the Chaffee has been a hub for exhibits, art classes, lectures, social events, and children's programs. While initially called the Rutland Area Arts Association, the group changed its name to the Chaffee Arts Center in 1982 when it bought the stately Queen Anne Victorian built by George Chaffee.
(Hunter) "Well, it's lovely, and yet to keep this up is a tremendous expense. You can see just standing here, just heating this building. . . they did not insulate buildings the way they do today. So this place is a fortune to keep heated."
(Keck) To save money, the board closed the mansion for the winter and cut staff. But Hunter says it still costs three thousand dollars a month just to maintain the building. She says the board has come to realize the only way to save the organization may be to sell the house. But voting members of the Chaffee aren't so sure.
(sound of meeting) Can I have your attention??".
(Keck) At a recent public meeting to rally support for the art center, many argued that the location, grandeur and tradition of the mansion were integral to the Chaffee's identity. Others worried that if the Chaffee tries to operate without a headquarters - even for a short time - it will cease to exist. Christine Holshuh echoed the emotions of many.
(Holshuh) "When I came to Rutland what I was looking for were cultural things that I could get involved in so I could be part of the community. And I went to the Chaffee right away and put in my information for volunteering and all that. And I was never called. And then I read in the paper that it was going to be closed. And it just made me so sad because I felt like as a new member of the community, having places like the Chaffee, the Paramount and the Carving Studio - Those places, those wonderful places that bring such cultural depth to the community are so important."
(Keck) But those types of places are especially vulnerable in a recession. Just last month, Frog Hollow, the Vermont state craft center, suspended operations at its Middlebury location and nonprofit organizations around the state are struggling. Alex Aldrich directs the Vermont Arts Council.
(Aldrich) "I think the biggest challenge to nonprofits is their allegiance to their mission. A mission is a very powerful tool in good times, but it is also one of the greatest inhibitors of progress during economically challenging times."
(Keck) Sound business decisions can get clouded by emotions he says and there's often no room for innovation. He says that may be the case with the Chaffee. What they do he says is more important than where they're located. Board President Pat Hunter agrees and says Rutland's Paramount Theatre has offered space if the art center relocates. She says they've also been approached about possibly locating in the as yet un-built Berwick building - a multi story downtown project that's currently in the planning stages.
(Hunter) "To be able to design a place based on what our needs are, what our drives are - I find that an exciting opportunity. People say well, that's not now and no it isn't. But it's coming."
(Keck) Members of the Chaffee will have a chance to decide when they vote on whether or not to sell the mansion February 24th.
For VPR News, I'm Nina Keck in Rutland.
Black River Academy Museum in Ludlow received an $18,000 award from the Vermont Arts Council recently to assist it in completing its project to install an elevator in the historic building.
At the ceremony, the Vermont Arts Council announced the recipients of 2009 Cultural Facilities Grants. Governor Jim Douglas presented the awards to sixteen organizations in a ceremony at the Vermont State House on Thursday, January 15. The grants, totaling $180,699 will be used to improve existing facilities and expand their capacity to provide cultural activities for the public.
The Cultural Facilities Grant program is administered by the Vermont Arts Council in conjunction with the Vermont Historical Society, the Vermont Museum & Gallery Alliance, and the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation. The program is funded through an annual appropriation in the Capital Budget.
At the ceremony, Governor Douglas addressed the recipients saying: “You're [all] doing a great job, and I know some of [your grants] are for things like plumbing and electrical work that aren't the sexy part of what a cultural facility does and presents, but it's very important, as is access for people of all physical abilities.
Everything you do is really important to your communities and to our state.” The Cultural Facilities Grant program has helped nonprofit organizations and municipalities improve, revive or refurbish historic Vermont buildings for 20 years.
More than 75 organizations have been funded in the past five years alone. The enhancements resulting from this program have made it possible for citizens of all ages and abilities to enjoy more cultural events and increase their participation in the heritage of their communities.
By Matt Sutkoski • Free Press Staff Writer • January 25, 2009
ESSEX JUNCTION -- Information is power -- power that belongs in everyone's hands, said Amy Goodman, the author, syndicated columnist and executive producer of the "Democracy Now!" radio program.
Goodman made her remarks Saturday at Essex Junction High School for the start of Vermont's Big Read, a nationwide effort to encourage reading and reverse what was until recently a decline in literary reading. In Vermont, the Vermont Arts Council is having as many people as possible read "Fahrenheit 451," the Ray Bradbury novel about a society where books are routinely burned, the government suppresses learning and citizens stay in a drug-induced and media-saturated state of indifference.
The Arts Council hopes the book will spur discussions on the spread of information, how artists help people think about social and political issues, and the kinds of societal changes that can grow from the artists' work.
Goodman focused her discussion on how writers, artists and regular citizens make a difference through their actions, and how inaction stifles needed change. She celebrated those who made sure important stories and information got out, or as she put it, "people who don't go looking for trouble but when it comes to them, they stand up."
She showcased Connecticut high school theater students who tried to stage a play about Iraq war veterans' experiences. Their principal wouldn't let them proceed, they resisted, and were later rewarded by putting on the play in New York's theater district. She discussed librarians in Connecticut who resisted a Bush administration National Security Letter that demanded information on library patrons' Internet searches.
The Barack Obama administration bodes well for more open, responsive government, but only if people hold the president's feet to the fire, Goodman said. The rich and powerful will lobby Obama as they do all presidents. Obama must be able to tell the lobbyists, "If we do that, they will storm the Bastille," Goodman said.
Goodman also brought up the case of Raed Jarrar, an American citizen who was ordered by Transportation Security Authority to cover up his T-shirt at New York's JFK Airport in 2006 as he prepared to board a JetBlue flight to Oakland, Calif. The T-shirt had writing on it, in Arabic that stated "We will not be silent."
Earlier this month, Jarrar was awarded $240,000 in compensation for the incident. "We will not be silent" refers to a pamphlet members of a Nazi resistance movement in World War II Germany wrote. The authors were executed by the Nazis, Goodman said.
She said the media must step up and challenge those in charge. "We need a media that covers power, not covers for the power," Goodman said.
The "we will not be silent" phrase "should be the Hippocratic Oath of the media today," Goodman said.
By Mike Ives
Vermont kicks off “The Big Read” on Saturday, January 24, at Essex High School Auditorium at 2 p.m. Free and open to the public. Info, 878-6955, 828-3292 or lharty@vermontartscouncil.org.
“Can a book be a weapon? And if so, should it be removed from society?”
That’s a question Kat Redniss, a young-adult librarian at the Brownell Library in Essex Junction, will be asking adolescents this spring. Why? Because “The Big Read” is coming to the Brownell, and this year’s featured title for the statewide, federally funded reading project is Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, a 1953 classic that addresses the subject of censorship.
The ambitious initiative — imagine your book group on steroids — promotes reading for “pleasure and enlightenment.” It is underwritten in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The Vermont Arts Council first applied for “Read” funds last year, when the featured title was Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 detective novel The Maltese Falcon. Funds for this year’s project have been doled out to about 300 communities nationwide, notes Diane Scolaro, communications and development director for the arts council. Vermont’s grant is the only one administered on a statewide scale.
Scolaro notes that the VAC is enhancing its “Big Read” project with a few local touches. Last year’s participants will recall that the council asked Montpelier’s Lost Nation Theater to stage dramatic Falcon readings, and recruited local mystery authors such as Newfane’s Archer Mayor to talk about the craft. This year, Scolaro explains, the council is planning a kickoff event that explores the theme of “social commentary.”
Aptly, alt-media queen and “Democracy Now!” radio host Amy Goodman was chosen to deliver the keynote “Big Read” address this Saturday at the Essex High School Auditorium. Then Middlebury filmmaker Deb Ellis will preview a film about artsy local activists; Peter Schumann of Bread and Puppet Theater and Drew Cameron, an antiwar artist from Burlington’s Green Door Studio, will also perform.
Later, librarians and teachers across the state will stage their own Fahrenheit-inspired events. At the Brownell Library, for example, Redniss is thinking of putting on a “Read and Recite Night” to which guests bring a book — or a passage — they’d want to preserve in the face of censorship. “I’m a librarian,” she states. “I think we should have as many books as possible.”
Scolaro says this year’s project seems to have “struck a nerve” with Green Mountain bibliophiles; the arts council’s biggest challenge has been getting enough books to meet the demand. As of last week, Scolaro had received requests for 750 copies of Fahrenheit 451 from more than 60 institutions around the state. In 2008, by comparison, she gave away fewer than 500 copies of The Maltese Falcon to 31 libraries and six high schools.
Maybe the election of author Barack Obama has already made reading cool?
Jack Thurston - WCAX News
The Vermont Arts Council is getting ready for a statewide reading initiative called "The Big Read." The National Endowment for the Arts estimates less than half of Americans read for pleasure. This winter the Arts Council is encouraging Vermonters to pick up Ray Bradbury's 1950s classic Fahrenheit 451. It's about a future in which critical thinking is outlawed.
Vermont is home to several writers and artists like the Bread and Puppet Theater whose work, as the book did, has provoked political and cultural debate. The Arts Council will also spotlight some of those artists at events around the state.
Alex Aldrich, executive director of the Vermont Arts Council, explains, "Great literature is done by artists. So we feel it was okay to take it beyond the literary framework and move it into creative writing, creative thinking, and creative engagement."
The kickoff for "The Big Read" is this Saturday, January 24 at 2:00 in the Essex High School auditorium. Radio host Amy Goodman of the show Democracy Now! will speak. That's when the Arts Council starts distributing copies of Fahrenheit 451 free to schools, libraries, and community groups.
It's not too late to sign up. For more information, contact the Arts Council in Montpelier.
By CHRIS GAROFOLO, Reformer Staff
BRATTLEBORO -- The Dummerston Historical Society and the town of Londonderry are among the 16 grant recipients from the Vermont Arts Council.
Both the historical society and the town have received funding from the 2009 Cultural Facilities Grants, a program administered by the arts council in conjunction with the Vermont Historical Society, the Vermont Museum and Gallery Alliance and the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.
Funding for the program comes annually through an appropriation in the capital budget.
"We're very, very happy with all the legislators that vote in this money," said Cindy Wilcox, president of the Dummerston Historical Society. This is the third such grant received by the group in the past five years to renovate their building space and make it handicapped accessible.
According to Wilcox, the funding will be used to support the construction of cabinetry along the western wall of the old schoolhouse. Prior to this grant, many of the society's collection was housed in members' homes, but now the town's history will be more accessible with the new cabinets at their facility.
"It's all going to look pretty much like the interior of the schoolhouse does now," she added.
The group received $2,714 for the project.
In addition, Londonderry will receive $7,500 to support stage improvements in the town hall.
Sally Ogden, co-president of the Londonderry Historical Society, said the money will aid the installation and rigging of the town's three painted theater curtains, which will enable them to be properly maintained and used for decades.
More than $180,600 was distributed across several counties to help improve existing facilities and expand their capacity to provide cultural activities. The grant program has assisted nonprofit groups and municipalities refurbish historic buildings in the Green Mountain State for two decades.
Gov. James Douglas presented the awards during a Statehouse ceremony last week.
"You're (all) doing a great job, and I know some of (your grants) are for things like plumbing and electrical work that aren't the sexy part of what a cultural facility does and presents, but it's very important, as is access for people of all physical abilities," said Douglas at the ceremony addressing the recipients.
"Everything you do is really important to your communities and to our state," he added.
As producer and host of the radio program "Democracy Now!" Amy Goodman is just the kind of instigator whose books a nervous government might want to burn.
Appropriately, she'll be the keynote speaker for the kickoff of a statewide reading program focusing on Ray Bradbury's classic futuristic novel of book burning, "Fahrenheit 451."
The Vermont Arts Council chose that title for this year's version of its Big Read program, in which Vermonters are encouraged to read the same book, discuss it with each other and attend events designed to expand their appreciation. In "Fahrenheit 451," Bradbury used his art form to critique what he saw as an increasingly dysfunctional American society.
The free kickoff event will be Jan. 24 at Essex High School Auditorium in Essex Junction; Goodman is scheduled to speak at 2 p.m.
The event will include a video interview with Ray Bradbury and a preview of a new documentary by filmmaker Deb Ellis. The film features interviews with Vermont artists whose work targets social issues. One of the subjects, Bread & Puppet Theater's Peter Schumann, will attend with a performance piece on the crisis in Gaza.
For more information on Vermont's Big Read and a list of participating libraries, visit www.vermontartscouncil.org.
The Vermont Arts Council kicks off its 2009 Big Read program Jan. 24 with an appearance by Amy Goodman of the radio and television show “Democracy Now!,” who will discuss her latest book, “Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times.” She’ll speak at 2 p.m. in the Essex High School auditorium as part of an event that will include a preview of a new documentary by filmmaker Deb Ellis that features interviews with Vermont artists whose work targets social issues. The celebration will also honor the Big Read program’s 2009 selection, Ray Bradbury’s book-burning book “Fahrenheit 451,” with a video interview with the legendary science-fiction writer. Free.
A Statehouse ceremony will celebrate the awarding of grants totaling $180,699 to various organizations.
The Vermont Arts Council will hold the ceremony at 10:45 a.m. Thursday to recognize the 16 grant recipients.
The grants are to help organizations “improve existing cultural facilities and expand their capacity to provide cultural activities for the public,” according to a release from the VAC.
The recipients include: Flynn Center for the Performing Arts ($17,000); Morristown Historical Society ($18,000); St. Johnsbury Athenaeum ($20,000).
With the constant reminder of our failing economy and the struggles of hard-working Vermonters, it can be disheartening to read the news. However, there is a bright light today in the news.
Weeks ago, the Vermont Arts Council heard that an increasing number of Vermonters were struggling to feed themselves and their families. They felt compelled to help and came up with "Doing our pART," an online auction to benefit the Vermont Foodbank.
The Vermont Arts Council's call to action rallied more than 75 Vermont artists and art organizations who donated concert tickets, classes, private shows, paintings, jewelry, photography and more. Over the course of the week, nearly 200 people placed bids on items, and when the dust settled, the event raised more than $10,000 for the Vermont Foodbank.
On behalf of the Vermont Foodbank and the more than 66,000 Vermonters we serve, our thanks go out to the incredible Vermont arts community. Your generosity is unmatched and we are so grateful for your support this holiday season. You have for years enriched our communities with your creative spirits and inspired the artist in each of us. And when called upon to put forth a collective effort to address the issue of hunger, you answered the call with a resounding yes. Thank you for saying yes and for joining in the fight against hunger in our communities.
And while food shelves, meal sites, senior centers, and after-school programs report a 25-30 percent increase in demand for charitable food, we remain hopeful. We are reminded by events like these that Vermont is about neighbor helping neighbor. It's simple, yes, but it is because of this spirit that we are encouraged that we will celebrate a hunger-free state.
EDWARD FOX and CHRISTINE FOSTER (Interim CEOs, Vermont Foodbank): Barre
Free Press Staff
An online art auction organized by the Vermont Arts Council raised $10,254 for the Vermont Food Bank, according to the council.
The fundraiser, called “doing our pART,” included contributions from 75 artists and arts organizations. Auction items included artwork, jewelry, theater tickets, art classes and more.
“This project showed us that under the right circumstances, art not only feeds the soul, it also feeds the body,” Alex Aldrich, VAC executive director, said in a press release.”
Story by Jack Thurston
Tess Taylor of the Vermont Historical Society sighs, admitting, "It was not an easy decision."
That decision was suspending the History Expo for 2009. For nearly a decade, the event has drawn thousands to the Tunbridge Fairgrounds for a weekend in June, but the Vermont Historical Society's endowment is losing money, its state appropriation was cut, and the group expects donations to drop.
Taylor says, "Sponsors are still willing to help, but they're not sure if they can come up to the mark they were at before."
The Vermont Arts Council's Alex Aldrich says, "Most people are kind of holding their own right now."
Aldrich asked cultural organizations around the state, in both rural and urban communities, how they're doing in this economy. Looking at about 20 responses on people's spending on ticket sales or program registrations, a third of the groups saw declines over a year ago. 39% reported no change, and only a little more than a tenth have seen improvements.
The organizations told the Council they're seeing similar numbers for money from corporate grants and sponsorships, which is vital to arts programming.
Aldrich explains, "People are spending money now that they raised last year. It's the money next year that they're trying to raise now that's going to be a problem."
The Arts Council expects museums and other cultural groups primarily to cope with the recession by relying more on volunteers, turning to reserve funds, or consolidating and cutting programs.
Rutland's Chaffee Arts Center, for example, announced on its website it was closing for the winter, a time heating the building gets expensive compared to the number of visitors.
The Arts Council plans to redo its survey in 5 or 6 months, to see how arts groups are faring. That may reflect the impact of year-end gifts and track changes in consumer spending on the arts.
Back at the Vermont Historical Society, Tess Taylor says, "I'm looking forward to 2010."
The Historical Society hopes to bring back its History Expo the year after next, and spend 2009 focusing on smaller events with regional history groups around the state.
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