Pennie Beach

Pennie Beach grew up at Basin Harbor Club, a summer resort on Lake Champlain, owned and operated by her family since 1886.  She received her education at Vergennes Union High School and the University of Vermont.  After a Basin Harbor guest commented that no one’s learning was complete without working in New York City, she moved there and pursued various lines of work before returning to Basin Harbor in 1974.

She was active in sales and marketing for the resort, and then, in 1990, Pennie and her brother, Bob Beach, Jr., assumed control of the resort operations and property at Basin Harbor, where they co-manage the company.  Today this fourth generation business has a year ‘round staff of 35 and a seasonal staff of 350 who come from near and far to cater to the every need of guests.  Many guests have vacationed at Basin Harbor for generations, describing the experience as “returning home” with each visit. 

Pennie is a member of the board of directors of the Vermont  Business Roundtable,  the American Hotel and Lodging Association and Immediate Past Chair of its Resort Committee.  She is a member of the Governor’s Council on Travel and Recreation, a board member of the Vermont Hospitality Council, and also the Resort Hotel Association, an insurance captive.

Pennie is married to Peter Morris, an architect, and they have two children.  The family enjoys travel together whenever possible.  Pennie’s interests include cooking, reading, walking her dog, and collecting the work of Vermont artists.  She takes particular joy in the appreciation of her surroundings.

“Our state's natural beauty is a constant inspiration, not only for artists of all disciplines but also people like me who just like being an observer.  There are so many talented people among us.  I look forward to being on the Vermont Arts Council to help foster that home grown capability.”

Carlos Haase

Over the last few years, Carlos Haase has worked for various non-profits in Vermont, going from Goddard College’s Community Radio Station, Focus on Film’s Green Mountain Film Festival, the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, to most recently, the South End Arts and Business Association (SEABA), best known for organizing the South End Art Hop in Burlington.

Born in Mexico City, he came to Vermont to pursue a BA at Goddard College.  By the time he had graduated in 1999, he had deeply grown to cherish and embrace the collective Vermont culture in which social capital and quality of life take top priority.  This world view has translated into policies that support our relatively speaking, clean environment, safe communities, and of course, vibrant arts and cultural activities. 

Through his jobs as the Managing Director of the Green Mountain Film Festival, and later as SEABA’s Executive Director, Carlos has been fortunate enough to directly participate in art and economic activities lately referred as the “creative economy.”  Consequently, he has been able to learn about the successes and challenges that each of these organizations, their constituents and their host communities face when trying to implement these new models, which ultimately contribute to the bottom line of our Vermont social capital and quality of life.

"Mexico City will always hold an important place in my life.  For that reason I enjoy visiting family and traveling throughout Mexico as much as I can.   Every time I return to Vermont however, I also feel proud and lucky to live here and despite the cold winters, I remain excited about the many opportunities that we have for continuing to make of Vermont the place in which we all love to live and work."
 

Stephanie Jerome

Stephanie is the co-owner of the Visual Learning Company with her Husband Brian Jerome.  Visual Learning Company is the producers and distributors of science programming for students in grades 3-14.  Visual Learning is unique in that it is a total production company: writing scripts, filming original footage, producing animations, employing its own salesforce and shipping its products – all from its Vermont headquarters.  It employs a staff of nine talented people to accomplish the tasks at hand.  The company has specialized in the production of high-quality, core-curricular, and visually appealing science videos since it first production in 2000.  Each video is accomplished by an extensive teacher’s guide, which saves the classroom teacher countless hours of prep time by providing assessments, lab activities and cross-curricular activities.  The programs are sold throughout the United States to individual schools, media centers, educational consortia, television stations, and to state departments of education.  In addition, there is a growing interest in Visual Learning’s core-curricular programs in Europe, Latin America and Asia. 
   
The visual Learning Company is proud of its ability to stay at the forefront of educational visual media.  Its first productions were in VHS and then progressed to DVD, and all broadcast formats.  Now, all productions are available in H.264 and WMV, and in formats compatible with viewing on iPods and other hand-helds.  In addition, middle schools videos are available in Spanish language narration, and all programs are closed captions or subtitled for the deaf and hard of hearing.  All teacher’s guides are available in .pdf, as well as hard copy.  The website www.visuallearningco.com details the earth, life, physical science, health, biology and integrated science programs that have been produced, as well as provides clips of the videos, sample teacher’s guides and journal reviews. 

Stephanie lives and works in Brandon, Vermont a small town of 4,000 people nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains.  Here, she and her husband, Brian Jerome, have raised their children, ages 15, 13, and 10.  Their science programs are used in the local elementary, middle and high school, which their children attend.  They are incredibly busy keeping up with their children’s academic, musical and sports activities.  In addition, they are active in the local Nordic ski community and teach 40 children to cross-country ski each Saturday, having started the local Bill Koch league three years ago.  Each summer, they take an extensive filming trip with their children, and also travel and film throughout the year.
   
In Brandon, Stephanie and Brian have totally renovated an 11,000 square foot “Granary” into 14 working artist studio spaces.  This circa 1900 building had been used as a grain mill, long underwear factory, and woodworking manufacturer during its long life.  This ongoing renovation currently house the Brandon Arts Guild’s off-site salon space, as well as jewelers, weavers, painters, sculptors, photographers, fabric artists, and poets.  “The Granary” has become a hub of the local arts community.   

Statement: "I am looking forward to the opportunity to serve on the board of the Vermont Arts Council.  As an active member of the Brandon business, arts and education community, it would be my pleasure to serve on a boader statewide level.  Over the past ten years, I have witnessed the economic benefits. civic pride and townwide enthusiasm that the arts can bring to a small rural community."

Caro Thompson

The arts have been a core component of Caro Thompson’s life since childhood. Taking piano lessons, singing in school and church choirs, acting in high school plays and studying dance in college established her lifelong joy in the performing arts.  In college, she studied voice at the Eastman School of Music for 2 years, while taking extensive dance classes with the Garth Fagan Dance Company. Her degree in Art History from the University of Rochester, New York, added a deep respect and appreciation for the visual arts. Special studies in dance film and video there led to her career in communications.

Caro’s media career began in New York City while studying with the Jose Limon Dance Company. She worked as production assistant and videographer for a company that documents live dance performances. She went on to direct the video documentation project at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Lee, Massachusetts. As a videographer/editor at the ABC affiliate in Albany, New York, broadcast television finally provided ongoing year-round employment.
She moved to Vermont in 1988. A position at Catamount Arts in St. Johnsbury as marketing assistant and production coordinator for their live performance schedule provided her with a memorable first experience with the extraordinary local arts scene in her adopted state. While there, she also produced “High Water: Behind the Scenes,” a video documentary about Jay Craven’s first narrative film based on a Howard Frank Mosher story.

Since 1994, Caro has been capturing the spirit, history and rural activities of Vermont and New England as an independent producer and filmmaker through her company, Broadwing Productions. Her programs have been broadcast on Vermont Public Television.  Documentaries In Days Gone By and Barns: Legacy of Wood & Stone received Boston/New England Emmy nominations.  Other programs include New England’s Great River: Discovering the Connecticut, Noble Hearts: Civil War Vermont, the Rural Free Delivery series and Connecting Vermont: Digital Communication. Her most recent documentary, Champlain: The Lake Between, garnered a Boston/New England Emmy award for historical/cultural documentary. In 2009, the Vermont Historical Society, honored her with its Richard O. Hathaway Award for research on Vermont.

Currently exploring a new integration of her media, outreach and writing experience, Caro works as the admissions communications manager for the national headquarters of the Student Conservation Association in North Charlestown, New Hampshire. She continues to live in the Northeast Kingdom and complete video projects in her “spare” time.

"Art is a tricky word. It encompasses eternal works that inspire awe, hang in museums and are heard and seen in special spaces, where one sits quietly to take in magnificent performances.  But art must also embrace a second-grader’s drawings pinned to the refrigerator, and new visions, which may only be seen by a few in out-of-the-way galleries.  In my perfect world, everyone would be encouraged to sing, dance, draw, and write without judgment. People would participate in art on a regular basis… not just look at it or listen to it.  Art and life would be intertwined, bringing joy and satisfaction and contemplation into living rooms large and small.  With this broad foundation of shared experience, individuals who choose the rocky path of Art as a way of making a living would find the support they need abundantly near at hand."

Greg Worden

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."