Category: Art in the Time of Covid

Millinery is the art, craft, and trade of hat-making, and for milliners Nora Swan and Samantha Stone, it is at its best a highly social affair. Nora, Sam, and their sheep produce handcrafted felt hats on their farm in Brandon, and pre-pandemic they loved touring craft shows and connecting with… Read More

When the pandemic hit Vermont, musician and youth counselor Emily Musty Zanleoni was quick to adapt her work for a digital world. In fall 2019, Emily started working with a new program of the Upper Valley Music Center (UVMC), Musicians as Mentors (M2), to connect youth with professional musicians. Raised… Read More

Students across Vermont are returning to school in varying ways—from fully remote to fully in-person, and many variations between—but how are the arts returning with them? That question has been top of mind to the creators of Bully No More!, a musical that empowers young people to stand up… Read More

Artists everywhere have felt the social, economic, and cultural pressure of the pandemic since quarantines first began rolling out around the country. For many artists, however, the alone time has not been so unwelcome, or at least unfamiliar. Like the poet Mary Ruefle, fellow Vermont writer Shanta Lee Gander… Read More

Since 2007, husband and wife team Justin Lander and Rose Friedman have toured New England as Modern Times Theater, an old-fashioned puppetry and novelty music show that Boston’s WBUR radio has called “part funny-serious puppets, part jaunty live 1920s band, part serious social critique, part shenanigans.” Rose and Justin… Read More

Like many arts organizations around the state, Vermont Dance Alliance has been hit hard by the mass cancellations, quarantines, and social distancing necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Loss of ticket sales, fundraising event revenue, and artist morale have left many in the creative sector with more questions than answers—but… Read More