-Susan McClure, executive director of the Vermont Arts Council (VAC), is solid in her reassurances for those working in arts and culture in the state.
Joining her at a Dec. 5 webinar, Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup, executive director of the Vermont Humanities Council (VHC) also made clear that what's known for sure is the unknown, given changes on the horizon at the federal level and the priorities of the incoming Trump administration.
"Our biggest message to you is keep at it, work on your mission, and keep doing the good work that you're doing," Ilstrup said at the virtual event hosted by VHC and the Vermont Creative Network, a project of the Vermont Arts Council.
This month's transfer of power in Washington, D.C., could potentially have a big impact on cultural agencies - the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) among them - as well as on states' funding for the arts.
PUTNEY-Last month, the Colonial Performing Arts Center (CPAC) in Keene, New Hampshire, announced the appointment of Next Stage Executive Director Keith Marks to fill that same role at the Colonial. A Colonial press release notes that "Marks, a seasoned arts administrator with a proven track record of revitalizing arts...
PUTNEY-Next Stage Arts Board Chair Andrew Frost says that the search for a new director will ensue on the heels of a strategic planning process the board ran last year to chart a course for the performing arts nonprofit through the rest of the decade. Having cast a wide...
WILLIAMSVILLE-Theresa "Tego" Maggio has been at it again. Following her homage-driven heart, she's recently created another documentary. Bills Lumber, about the last days of the Bills family's antique sawmill in Wardsboro and the lives of those who ran it, premieres this Saturday at the Williamsville Hall. A filmmaker by avocation for some 25 years, Maggio's latest project dials in on the family and on the divesting of their family business and its 433 adjoining acres. "It's basically about the destruction...
BRATTLEBORO-The Stone Church on Main Street had been hosting an eclectic range of music for several years. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and forced it and other music venues to close. That, recalls Stone Church owner and general manager Robin Johnson, "was a dark day for venues nationwide." While support emerged for small businesses and nonprofits, independent entertainment venue owners were ill served. Thus, the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) was founded in April 2020, about one month...
BRATTLEBORO-Vermont Suitcase Company (VSC) players know how to get folks laughing - belly laughs, slapstick laughs, laughs at poignant ironies, at itchy truths, at innocent manifestations of good-heartedness. Following the success of 2023's popular VSC play about Wenceslas, the 10th-century Duke of Bohemia whose kind and generous spirit made him worthy of his own Christmas carol, the company presents The Continuing Adventures of King Wenceslas and His Page, Edith: A Winter Tale for Winter People, with performances throughout the region...
BRATTLEBORO-According to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets, there are approximately 60 summer farmers markets and 15 winter markets in the state. Of those 15, a key player is the continuously running, November-through-March Brattleboro Winter Farmers Market (BWFM) which is in its 19th season. Support structure under the state's farmers markets is Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT), which assists markets around the state with promotion and consulting, and the Vermont Farmers Market Association, which promotes the...
NEWFANE-Many in the West River Valley remember the inn at the center of Newfane village, right across from the general store, for its old-world-y ambience, the local-color charm of owners Eric and Gundela "Gundi" Weindl, and the exquisite meals served in dining room on the southwest side. The inn had figured prominently in the life of Lori Damato, whose family has had a home in Brookline since the 1960s. Originally from Norwalk and, later, Trumbull, Connecticut, Damato started coming to...