Arts News for June 6, 2019    
Animating Infrastructure Grants Announced

Three projects previously supported by Animating Infrastructure Grants.
Top: Jeffersonville, Middle: Waterbury, Bottom: Bethel.
Public art plays a vital role in enlivening a community, particularly when residents are deeply engaged in the planning and implementation of a project. The Council's Animating Infrastructure Grant program aims to blend functional improvements and creative endeavors to enhance livability, walkability, safety, economic vitality, and community vibrancy.  
 
Four Vermont organizations, all recipients of FY2019 Animating Infrastructure Grants, are poised to bring new creative energy to their communities. Congratulations to the grant recipients. We look forward to watching these projects evolve!
 
Downtown Brattleboro Alliance, Brattleboro  
$15,000 to support a new kinetic public art installation entitled Ask the River at the Brattleboro Transportation Center

Middlebury Underground, Middlebury     
$15,000 to support a poetry walk with poems engraved in sidewalks around downtown Middlebury

Paran Recreations, North Bennington      
$15,000 to support a sculptural kiosk for the town of North Bennington

Wilmington Works, Wilmington  
$14,000 to support a work of art to cover the Beaver Street retaining wall
 
When Creating is Learning

Part of a stop-frame animation created by eighth graders at Miller's Run School.
What do model wind generators, stop animation videos, and guitar playing all have in common? Each offers a way of understanding place.

That's what sixth, seventh, and eighth graders at Miller's Run School in Sheffield learned this year. Music, video, and crafts were among their many creations highlighted at the DragonFire Festival on May 31. Teaching Artist Evan Premo played a part in much of it. Read more about that in All About Place, this week's featured story.

Support Creation Grant Expansion
 
Christal Brown received an FY2018 Creation Grant to support a dance collaboration based on the book What We Ask of Flesh. 
A Creation Grant can have a big impact on the life of a Vermont artist. Recent examples include providing individual artists with the gift of time and resources to imagine a new dance collaboration, write an ecological memoir, compose an album of original fiddle music, and produce a theatrical performance built around stories of female veterans.
 
The Council is raising funds to increase the number of grants we can support during our upcoming fiscal year. Our goal is to fund an additional five Creation Grants to nurture the talents of our state's outstanding artists.  
 
Support for arts strengthens and energizes our communities. Please donate today help us to reach this important goal!
 
Head Start Arts Grants Available
 
Where is the Frog_
The Vermont Arts Exchange provides a Head Start Arts Integration Program in Bennington.
Arts-integrated instruction can make a significant contribution to children's academic, social, and emotional growth. The impact is specifically meaningful when working with children living in poverty, dual-language learners, and those with cognitive or behavioral challenges.  
 
The Council's Head Start Arts Integration Program supports arts-integrated experiences for early education students and teachers in Head Start classrooms. Applications are now being accepted from nonprofits such as arts or social service organizations that offer Head Start classes. The deadline for submission is September 16, 2019. 

Make Music Day: Calling All Musicians

Jeremy Brotz. Photo by James Lockridge.
Make Music Day is a free celebration that takes place annually on the same day in more than 120 countries and 800 cities across the globe. Vermont is the only location in the U.S. in which the entire state takes part in the festivities. On June 21, Make Music Day will bring music makers of all ages and experience out to the sidewalks, parks, porches, and public places around Vermont to celebrate the first day of summer.

Thanks to a generous grant from Montpelier Alive, with funds from the Montpelier Downtown Improvement District, the Vermont Arts Council is hosting a Make Music Day stage at City Hall Plaza in Montpelier. Performance slots are available throughout the day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. No monetary compensation will be offered, but we'll provide drinks and snacks for all performers. Join the celebration!
 
Arts Briefs
The Helen Day Art Center seeks a part-time person to manage the physical gallery space, support the administrative needs of the exhibitions program, and manage exhibitions-related web pages.
  Get the details.
ArtisTree Community Arts Center invites entries for UNBOUND Vol IX, the ninth annual juried exhibit of unique works exploring what a book can be. The deadline is June 28.
  Learn more.
Studio spaces are available at the Center for Arts and Learning in Montpelier. WiFi, a shared community kitchen, and 24 hour building access are included.
Upcoming Events
AS ONE: PROTRACK YEAR TWO SHOW
New England Center for Circus Arts
June 7, 8, 9
Brattleboro
ROCHESTER CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY: JOAN HUTTON LANDIS MEMORIAL CONCERT
 Federated Church of Rochester
June 8
Rochester
Goddard College Haybarn Theater
June 8 and 9
Plainfield
WE THREE TOGETHER: BILL COLE, GERALD VEASLEY, AND TERRY JENOURE
ArtisTree Community Arts Center Hay Loft
June 9
South Pomfret
DONA MARA: REFLECTIONS
StART Space
June 8 to July 20
Manchester Center
Brandon Music
June 8
Brandon
Unitarian Church
June 9
Montpelier
Stone Valley Arts
through July 28
Poultney
The Willey Building Auditorium
June 9
Cabot
ANNUAL MEMBERS' EXHIBITION
 The Carving Studio and Sculpture Center
June 8 to July 14
West Rutland
Poetry in Nature
Horsford Gardens and Nursery
June 8
Charlotte
Guilford Community Church
June 9
Guilford
Main Street Landing
Black Box Theater
June 8
Burlington
Middlebury College
Axinn Center
June 8
Middlebury
GAAL SHEPHERD: HALLOWED GROUND
Highland Center for the Arts
June 7 to July 21
Greensboro
The Vermont Arts Council is funded, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts , which requires a 1:1 match from the Vermont State Legislature. Council grants, programs, and statewide arts promotion would not be possible without the critical funding provided by these government agencies.


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