Newsletter
Notes From Outside the Box (NFOTB) was the Vermont Creative Network’s monthly newsletter. In 2020 we retired NFOTB, but new issues of the Arts Council’s ArtMail newsletters, and an archive of past NFOTB issues, are available here.
The Vermont Creative Network maintains a mailing list to distribute news as needed. Sign up to receive updates from the Vermont Creative Network.
Current Issue
July 27, 2021 new board officers | explore Stages in the Sun this summer | Vermont Made podcast coming soon | animating the Alexander Twilight Educational Trail | RFP for advocacy services | Council grant opportunities | Art in the Time of Covid: River Arts and Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival
Past Issues
covid-19 support, remote-working tools, state and federal impact surveys, and more…Past Editions
2021
July 2, 2021 Features Edition Interviews with Dana Walrath and Lauren Larken Scuderi | First Person with KeruBo | Addison/Rutland Creative Zone Profile: Lisa Mitchell | Vermont Curators Group exhibits
June 22, 2021 Grants Edition Covid-19 Cultural Recovery Grants | new Artist Development grantees | revamping New England’s creative sector directory | Creative Aging informational webinar | promote your event through Stages in the Sun | Vermont’s creative economy makes waves | more arts news and classified ads
May 2021 Features Edition interviews with Poetry Out Loud national finalist Irén Hangen Vázquez and Flynn ED Jay Wahl | Creative Zone Profiles: Randi Solin | Pat Musick’s June 17 artist talk | Vermont Crafts Council’s Spring Open Studio Weekend | Words in the Woods | Stages in the Sun
May 2021 Grants Edition Animating Infrastructure grantees | American Rescue Plan funds and new NEA awards | 40th Congressional Art Competition winners | creative aging teaching artist trainings | Stages in the Sun | CreateVT launch progress | Council grant opportunities
April 27, 2021 reopening arts and culture venues | 2021 Vermont Arts Awards nominations | SVOG application portal reopens | new funding for creative aging | VPR poetry moments | Pat Musick’s Spotlight Gallery exhibit | Amy Blanchard Darley obituary | CreateVT Action Plan launch party | Creative Zone Profiles: Russ Bennett | Council grant opportunities | meaningful art | interviews with Swan&Stone Millinery and Veronica Stevens | I AM… 2021 concludes
March 23, 2021 Better Places grants awarded | the 2021 Poetry Out Loud champion | arts recovery updates | call for poetry submissions for VPR | Vermont’s creative sector action plan advances | Creative Zone Profiles: Erin Burdock | Council grant opportunities | interviews with Elise Brunelle, Riki Moss, Leaf Silver, and Kate Donnelly | I AM… 2021 artist talks continue
February 22, 2021 10 NEA grants to Vermont | making the case for creatives | powering out communities with creative industry | Creation Grants open | New England States Touring grants open | an interview with Ben Doyle of Preservation Trust of Vermont | I AM… 2021 launches with packed (zoom) house | virtual POL champion showcase March 15
January 27, 2021 director’s arts advocacy update | five new board members | 2020 highlights | upcoming grant rounds | the Spotlight Gallery’s first virtual exhibit | interviews with Danny Lichtenfeld, Keisha Luce, and Dona Ann McAdams | Vermont Poetry Out Loud’s Champion Showcase in March
2020
December 22, 2020 creative placemaking through Better Places program | the CARES Act report to the community | our commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, and access | Poetry Out Loud goes virtual | an interview with Sarah Audsley
November 23, 2020 Covid impact and relief by the numbers | artist development grants support digital pivot | Roxbury Fish Culture Station trout sculpture | Animating Infrastructure grantseeker workshop | IdeaJam: Strategies on Dec. 1 | Creative Zone Profiles: Carrie Caouette-De Lallo | an interview with Erin Evarts | I am a Vermont Artist: KeruBo
October 26, 2020 new Expanded Economic Recovery program | Cultural Facilities Grants awarded | North Bennington’s new sculpture kiosk | interviews with Frances Cannon and Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup | I am a Vermont Artist: Alexa Rivera | Creation Grantee Otto Muller at Kents Corner | Poetry Out Loud is back | Vermont Creative Network’s IdeaJams
September 28, 2020 2020 Vermont arts awards recipients | FutureJam with Vermont Creative Network | VERGCO grants | new technical assistance program | Creative Zone Profiles: Tara Lynn Scheidet | Creation Grant recipient profiles | Art in the Time of Covid: Musicians Uncovered
September 3, 2020 Features Edition: poetry in the mail, from Mary Ruefle | Vermont’s mask-making artists | an interview with new Vermont Studio Center director Elyzabeth Holford | a look at this year’s Vermont Humanities Fall Conference and Vermont International Film Festival | I am a Vermont Artist: Amber Skye Arnold | a first-person account of SculptureFest 2020 | Art in the Time of Covid: Bully No More!
August 27, 2020 Grants Edition: artist development grants and artists in schools program open | Council resources for grantseekers | our Creative Sector Reopening and Recovery Guide | the Council’s Covid-19 relief by the numbers | NEFA’s New Work New England grants | call to artists for audio diaries | Rauschenberg Medical Emergency grants | recent grantees accounced | Covid-19 impact surveys
July 23, 2020 our reopening and recovery guide | teaching artists can be “leaders of re-entry” | wearing masks at Southern Vermont Art Center | ACCD grant applications still open | emergency grant updates | Vermont’s NEA grant recipients | I am a Vermont artist: Shani Stoddard | casting call for Vermont Creative Network video project | more summer museum and gallery reopenings | rethinking public spaces survey | NEA Our Town grant deadline | Cultural Facilities deadline
June 25, 2020 house approves $5 million to Council | NEA grants to Vermont organizations | I am a Vermont artist: Jericho Parms | six-word quarantine stories | art is essential! | 2020 POL state finalists and original poetry award winners | an interview with Shanta Lee Gander | June museum and gallery reopenings | July grant deadlines
May 27, 2020 the governor’s recovery plan | the creative sector response and recovery | the Vermont Creative Networks covid support survey | Cultural Relief grants awarded to organizations | RRAR grants fund over 400 artists | VACDaRN launches new website | an interview with Modern Times Theater | 20202 Governor’s Institutes go online | new exhibits at Vermont Art Online | submit Vermont artists for us to feature | new round of Artist Development grants | submit virtual arts events to our calendar
April 23, 2020 a letter from the executive director | Council partners with Vermont Humanities on new Cultural Relief fund | Rapid Response Artist Relief fund reopens with NEFA support | Council partners with VT Community Foundation on new statewide Arts Recovery Fund | COVID-19 Q&A for arts and culture sector with state epidemiologist Patsy Kelso | I am a Vermont Artist: Samirah Evans | on art, isolation, and pandemic with Mary Ruefle | Vermont Curators Group goes online with VermontArtOnline.org | Vermont Arts Awards nominations extended through June | Council grant and program changes due to COVID-19
March 2020 the pandemic’s impact on the arts, and art’s imact on community | state and federal impact surveys | staying connected with socially distanced | an interview with Hannah Satterlee of Vermont Dance Alliance | 2020 Vision cancellations, online gallery coming
February 2020 Arts Council grants open | federal funding in question | Making Spaces Safer events launched | Simon Pearce featured | 2020 Vision preview
January 2020 creative sector advocates for tourism funding | AARP VT placemaking conference | entrepreneurs and JumpStart | 2020 Vision launched
2019
December 2019 action plan moves forward | sector represented at rural economy hearing | Arts Council teaching artist roster opens for applications | meet the McBride Company
November 2019 professional development opportunities | surveying music sector | creative economy in Barre
October 2019 creative landscape survey | upcoming NEK zone mixer | Monica Callan is zone agent | Vermont Violins featured
August 2019 Co.Starters in Northern Vermont | Disaster and Resilience Network to launch | Colin Bright joins steering team | VCN updates site
July 2019 77Art hosts two Rutland County events | Vermont Community Leadership Summit and Disaster and Resilience Network Launch approaching | Jason Boughton joins steering team | PBS series: American Creators
June 2019 CCX has strong showing in Montpelier | Rutland County Zone to hold first VCN event | Citizen’s Institute on Rural Design applications open | input on creative careers sought
May 2019 Chittenden County first mash-up held | marketing plans to emerge via 3CVT event | Bellows Falls held as example | why writers and poets love Vermont | where artists cluster
April 2019 national study features Network | April events | Creative Community Fellow applications Open | Forbes loves art
March 2019 New Steering Team Member | Feds Support Creatives | Zones Mashing Up | CCX Registration Open
February 2019 Building on a Legacy of Creativity full study and summary available | Beth Miller to serve on steering team | Vermont Public Radio highlights Broad Brook Grange | artists and scientists to explore partnering at Leahy Center Environmental Summit
January 2019 Action Plan complete | NEA grants open | success in small business | Welding Art to Life
2018
December 2018 call for presenters at Leahy Center Environmental Summit (April) | Kimberly Gilbert now zone agent for 3CVT | call for presenters at CCX (June) | Matt Larock’s auto and art work
November 2018 call for CCX presenters | Convening recap and next steps | health care for small businesses | community space in Worcester, Mass.
October 2018 Convening agenda | sector mashup in Burlington | NEFA Idea Swap | change the world with art
September 2018 Network Convening October | “Crash”-inspired event | Radically Rural preview | Animating Infrastructure
August 2018 SolarFest includes VCN workshop | Crash to Creativity set for August 23 | The Top 40 Most Vibrant Arts Communities in America (2018) published | leadership conference October 1
July 2018 NEK Creative Economy Project launch | ACE director shares experience | creativity at Kohler Company
June 2018 3CVT mash-up | Spark incubator space | rural innovation | Creative Network Hits the Road
May 2018 preservation and downtown conference | New Hampshire’s creative economy | Putney event recap | artisan cheeses
April 2018 First Month Overview | Art and Economy Gathering | Legislative Issues
February 2018 Cunningham joins Council staff | NEK Collaborative | Robert McBride hosts interview show | attracting young workers
January 2018 Steering Team redux | leadership announced | Newark, NJ inspires | 3CVT in action
2017
December 2017 task force work set | Creative Ground | VCN Leader Sought | Aesthetic Perspectives
November 2017 Summit recap | networking champion | Eastes to depart | Culture Track study
October 2017 two weeks to Summit | video game as art? | Rooted in Vermont feature
September/October 2017 Summit speakers | AEP5 enumerates creative economy | on “Tales of Two Americas” | TheaterEngine
August 2017 the Summit and policy development | jobs in New England’s creative economy | call for Our Town | investment resources
July 2017 Network First Report | Town Plan Study 2016 | Arts and Economic Prosperity data | “The Urban Crisis” review
June 2017 The Vermont Rural Innovation Hub | next Summit dates November 8 and 9 | USDA grant to Creative Network | AFTA’s pARTnership movement | tax credits to maker and coworking spaces
May 2017 all Zone Teams established | summit in November | town plan study conducted
April 2017 creative community conferences | zone updates | social investing
February 2017 defining the creative sector | climate change and creative solutions | virtual reality in art | professional development
January 2017 researching town plans | funders gathering in March | strategic planning begins | results, process, and relationships at play | review creative zone meeting | the arts in community | national arts funding questions