"I may be changing careers, but I will never stop advocating for the arts," said Alex Aldrich upon announcing that he will leave the Council in April. "My passion for the arts goes back to my childhood, and arts administration has been a focus of my career for the past 40 years."

Rep. Bill Botzow recalled, "Twenty years ago I had the honor of chairing the search committee that brought Alex Aldrich, his skills, his vision, and his passion for the arts to Vermont. Alex's many accomplishments at the Arts Council will endure thanks to his leadership." Botzow is the chair of the House Economic Development Committee and former chair of the Vermont Arts Council.

Alex joined the Council in 1997, after working for the National Endowment for the Arts, the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in Atlanta, and the Rialto Center for the Performing Arts at Georgia State University. Becoming the Council's executive director enabled him to continue working in arts administration and to move closer to family in Massachusetts and New York. He and his wife, Sue, made Montpelier their home and have raised four children here. Alex will leave the Council April 14 to join the family real estate business.

Alex will be celebrated for his service to the arts in Vermont at the Council's annual meeting on June 5 in Montpelier.

The fascination - and terror - of a " Very Large Moth" was vividly described by Emily Friedrichsen at Vermont PBS on March 16. The Champlain Valley Union High School freshman won top honors at the Vermont Poetry Out Loud State Finals. Emily was one of ten finalists representing schools from across the state. Emily Klar, a student at Lake Region Union High School, was the runner up.

In April, Emily will fly to Washington, D.C. to compete in the National Finals with high school champions from every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These students will vie for a total of $50,000 in scholarship awards and school stipends at the National Finals. The National Champion will receive a $20,000 college scholarship.

Congratulations to Emily Friedrichsen, Emily Klar, and the thousands of students and teachers who participated in Vermont Poetry Out Loud this year.

Alison Bechdel will be appointed Vermont cartoonist laureate in a special ceremony at the Vermont State House on April 6, stepping into the creative shoes of beloved Vermont humorist Edward Koren. The Vermont cartoonist laureate is selected for a three-year term by the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction.

Bechdel's work has appeared in The New Yorker, Slate, McSweeney's, The New York Times Book Review, Seven Days, and Granta. She won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2012, and was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2014.

Find out more about events to recognize Vermont's new cartoonist laureate.

Two site-specific works will be commissioned through the Art in State Buildings program in 2017. The Arts Council is accepting applications from Vermont artists to design, fabricate, and install permanent installations at the Fish Culture Station in Roxbury and the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Randolph Center. Visual, craft, or design artists (or artist teams), in all media, including landscape architecture and interior design, are encouraged to apply. The deadline for applications is April 10, 2017.

These projects are being developed in association with the Vermont Department of Buildings and General Services. Additional information and application requirements are on the Art in State Buildings page.

The Council awards about 10 Creation Grants each year, supporting artists in making new work. When author April Ossmann received a grant in FY2013, she was able to take time off to write.

She recently talked to us about writing, reading, and other goals. Read what she said in this week's featured story, " Reaching for Mastery."