Vermont has many resources for artists who are seeking marketing and small business help.
The Vermont Arts Council (www.vermontartscouncil.org) has just finished two, two-day “Breaking into Business” training programs for Vermont artists of all disciplines (visual, performing, media, literary, crafts and traditional). Since each program is limited to about 24 people, artists must apply for a place. Two more programs are being scheduled now; dates and applications will be posted on the council's website in August.
After completing the workshop training, participants are eligible to apply to the Vermont Arts Council for special grant funding to implement some aspect of their business or marketing plan. This funding is being offered on a competitive basis.
The council also offers ArtMail, a biweekly e-newsletter featuring art news, events and opportunities for the arts community in Vermont and nationwide. For a free subscription, go to the Web site and click on “Resources.”...
Brattleboro • Yard sale benefits Yellow Ribbon Operation S.O.S: Yellow Ribbon Operation Support Our Soldiers (S.O.S) is a community organization of family, friends and supporters of military personnel serving our country. On a regular basis, the group sends “care packages” to personnel deployed overseas. To help pay for the...
Spring. Does it even now seem so far behind us? For me, in this month when summer officially appears, I am simply happy it is no longer snowing. We had a lovely and early spring this year, one filled with such temperatures that in March I was able to...
Coming soon to a West River Valley location is Anita's Body Shop, a women's exercise studio that has been several years in the making. Anita Bean, Townshend's town clerk for six years, said the machines are on the way, and that banking, computer systems and music are being worked out and permits are being obtained. She said a recent visit to her bookkeeper made it clear that running a small business is a tough proposition, but says she's in it...
If local, organic, grass-fed, humanely-raised meat seems like it costs more, it does, but there are ways to compensate: use less expensive cuts and smaller portions, say the meat guys at North End Butchers. Kevin Hildreth, 36, and Chris Barry, 55, longtime former chefs, opened their very high-end meat, poultry, charcuterie, wine, cheese, bread, etc. shop about a year ago in Black Mountain Square, a little south of the Putney Road rotary. Since then, they have expanded their services to...
If there could be anything warmer and more encouraging than 15-year-old Emma Davis as she is, it's got to be Emma Davis with three Olympic medals - two gold, one silver - around her neck. Emma won the honors at Special Olympics Vermont on June 4 and 5 in Burlington at the University of Vermont pool. She was the only Windham County representative, and usually is the youngest in her competitions. As her mother, Robin Davis, pointed out, age is...
twsEuk jtmnolcmlaqz, [url=http://otvragdxvlcp.com/]otvragdxvlcp[/url], [link=http://kqsksgxpjjen.com/]kqsksgxpjjen[/link], http://ahcltmwpdpgs.com/
Brattleboro needs a better way to handle the mentally ill in crisis and people picked up for public intoxication, and, with some state money, local organizations can provide just that. That's what members of the Vermont Legislature's Mental Health Oversight Committee heard repeatedly on June 15 at a special hearing held at the Brattleboro Retreat. At present, the emergency room at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital is the first stop for the mentally ill and substance abusers in trouble. “It's a big,
As the school year comes to a close, we would like to acknowledge an outstanding educator in our community who is embarking on new challenges and adventures. After a number of years working as a teacher and administrator in our area, most recently as the exceptional principal of Oak Grove Elementary School in Brattleboro, Michael Friel is leaving this summer to begin a new position at the American Community School in Beirut, Lebanon. The students and staff of the American...
Saving energy takes a lot of energy. Mike Ghia's all-volunteer, four-member streetlight committee, a subgroup of the Conservation Commission, can attest to that after its members examined every single one of 454 street lights in and around Rockingham. Their mission: To evaluate which lights the town of Rockingham can turn off and remove, and which are essential. The four subcommittee members - Ghia, Guy Payne, Rick Holloway and Alan Fowler - took on the project a little over six months...
The Brattleboro Memorial Hospital Rehab and Sports Medicine Services Department is launching its new aquatic therapy program this summer, with individual, hands-on aquatic therapy at the Colonial Motel pool on Putney Road. BMH registered physical therapists, Carol Bailey, PT, and Gail Roberts, PTA, have taken advanced, intensive training from the internationally-known speaker and owner of Aquatic Therapy Innovations, Peggy Schoedinger, PT. In taking this workshop, Bailey and Roberts learned to safely apply aquatic therapy principles and techniques for patients to...
The battles over pay-as-you-throw trash disposal in Brattleboro and Westminster strike us as being a bit ridiculous. In nearly every town in Windham County, homeowners are responsible for their own trash disposal. Most of those towns also belong to the Windham Solid Waste Management District, which means residents have access to WSWMD's recycling facilities. But the reality is that it costs more to dispose of trash and Brattleboro's recycling rate - about 20 percent - is abysmal. It's estimated that...
Performing Arts • Losing My Religion returns: Sethums Performs will present Losing My Religion: Confessions of a New Age Refugee, a one-man show highlighting the absurdities, paradoxes, and heartfelt qualities of having any kind of spiritual leaning, in a one night only benefit for the Hooker-Dunham Theater on July 1 at 8 p.m. This show escorts the audience through an earnest, sidesplitting depiction of the trials and tribulations of losing and finding one's spiritual path. Seth Lepore uses his fecund...
Citing what he termed accusations “thrown around” by “faceless, guiltless bottom feeders” and “libelous and slanderous remarks” that have made it difficult for him to run his business, Selectboard member and vice chair Bob Thomson is stepping down. Board Chair Thomas MacPhee said that he had spoken several times with Thomson, and “he seemed pretty set in his mind” before the Selectboard's final vote on June 15 to accept Thomson's resignation. His replacement will be selected on June 29 following...
Business may be the orphan child of art. The stereotype of an artist is someone who is out of touch with how money works. The reality is that these days, every artist also has to be an entrepreneur. And an entrepreneur is a business owner. And a business owner needs a marketing plan. “A good marketing and business planning is essential for any business owner, including artists,” said Sonia Rae of the Vermont Arts Council. “It pays back in time...
I write to enumerate the reasons I will vote yes on pay-as-you-throw on June 29. PAYT represents a small change in how we deal with trash. PAYT will require that we place our trash in purchased bags that cost $1 for a 15-gallon bag and $2 for a 30-gallon bag. This will pay for the tipping fee (trash disposal fee) at the landfill. Pickup will take place in the same manner and day of week as currently. First, it provides an opportunity...
EqC46k igxpqgaqertq, [url=http://lpqbrprmxbis.com/]lpqbrprmxbis[/url], [link=http://poshsexraxdc.com/]poshsexraxdc[/link], http://ijpgydezbkzb.com/
If we are familiar with the early warnings of mental disease, many a useful member of the community may be spared and perhaps years of suffering averted. It is a well-known fact that the chances of recovery from mental disease are lessened in proportion to the length of time it is allowed to run without being brought under the influence of appropriate treatment. “I think,” says Dr. Samuel Woodward, “it is not too much to assume that insanity in its...
There will be several contested races on the ballot in Windham County this year, after candidates filed their nomination papers last week. Topping the list is the race for the state senate seat being vacated by Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, who is currently one of five Democrats running for governor this year. In the Democratic primary on Aug. 24, Sen. Jeannette White, D-Windham, Westminster Selectboard member and former state representative Toby Young and former U.S. ambassador Peter...
We, as the original petitioners, are only half way to a goal of defeating PAYT for Brattleboro. I'd like to ask all the voters who voiced their dismay and unhappiness over PAYT back when they were signing the petition for a referendum: please go to either the town clerk to vote absentee or to the selectboard meeting room on June 29 to vote no on PAYT. It's time to prove our value as individual voters and put our votes into...
“I never realized how deep my love for him was,” says Yvonne Shippee, mother of David Snow, who was stabbed to death on Elliot Street last year. On the one-year anniversary of his death, candles, framed photographs, flowers, a sign bearing the handwritten words “Violence is not the answer/Love is” and notes of remembrance marked the spot where Snow was killed on June 15, 2009. In discussions regarding Elliot Street, many people in town refer to Snow's death as “the...
It was a big deal in 2008 when the Leland & Gray Rebels won their first-ever Division III state baseball championship. It was an even bigger deal in 2009 when the Rebels repeated as state champions. This year, the Rebels made it three in a row as they shut out No. 6 Oxbow, 8-0, at Montpelier Recreational Field on June 15. The title game victory gave the Rebels an impressive 18-2 record on the season and cemented Leland & Gray's...
Teachers in the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union have unanimously approved a new two-year contract. The terms of the two-year contract, which takes effect on July 1, call for a salary freeze for all teachers in the first year. In the second year, teachers eligible for step increases will receive them and teachers eligible for longevity, taught for 10 or more years, will receive a pay increase of 0.75 percent. The health insurance premium percentage of 15 percent paid by teachers...
The Crowell Lot, situated at the intersection of High and Union streets, now contains a basketball court, park benches, swing sets and plenty of shade trees. It might soon also be home to Brattleboro's first outdoor skate park. On May 17, the Selectboard approved the lease of the property, which is owned by the Brattleboro School District, to the town. The Crowell Lot won the town's support after a planned skate park near the West River along Route 30 was...