Notes From Outside the Box | November 2019
Professional Development
Two Programs, Six Opportunities

Big Heavy World, TheaterEngine, and the Vermont Dance Alliance have come together to present a new learning series for artists and creatives. These free workshops focus on key fundamentals for success:
  • digital marketing basics (November 19)
  • how to get press (December 3)
  • where to get funding (December 17)
All workshops take place at Burlington City Arts (135 Church Street).

Following each 8 p.m. session, participants can gather for networking at The Whiskey Room (173 College Street). The mixer is hosted by the Chittenden Zone of the Vermont Creative Network.

Generator JumpSTART Business of Art in partnership with LaunchVT and Center for Womean and Enterprise.


Generator's JUMP START Business of Art Program is also offering three free programs in November:
  • Nonprofit Exhibition Model: Curator, Artist, and Grantor (November 6)
  • Artist Panel: the DIY Model (November 13)
  • Finances for Artists (November 20)
All workshops take place at the Generator, 40 Sears Lane, Burlington.

 
More about the JUMPSTART Program for artist entrepreneurs, sponsored in part by the Vermont Arts Council.
Surveying the Music Sector   
Photo by Taylor L. Cook.
Calling all musicians,
concert venue owners, and businesses supporting music in Vermont . . .

Big Heavy World is gathering information about Vermont's music sector.

The collected data will supplement the statewide creative economy survey hosted by the Vermont Creative Network. (And, a huge thanks to everyone who completed that survey, by the way; we had a great response!) Understanding the current challenges and opportunities in the music sector will help Big Heavy World, the Vermont Creative Network, and ultimately the legislature and other stakeholders learn and act on community and economic development priorities that will strengthen music industries in Vermont.

James Lockridge, executive director of Big Heavy World, said, "With input from individuals all over Vermont, this project will bring a better understanding to the work of improving our music economy. It's also a demonstration of the power of our music community when it works together to face challenges and discover opportunities."
 
Inside the Creative Economy 
Thriving in Central Vermont

Culmination, a new sculpture by Sean Williams, stands in a newly constructed pedestrian walkway in Barre. The granite piece honors the stonecutters who shaped the culture of the city beginning in the late 1800s. The site lies next to a building the owners of the Vermont Salumi Company are refurbishing to hold their relocating business.

All this activity indicates the creative economy is alive and well--as it always has been--in the self-proclaimed granite capital of the world. Specialty food production, historic sites, artist studios, and other markers of a heritage based in granite quarrying take their place next to a quarter mile auto racetrack and acclaimed mountain bike trails. This video by the Barre Area Development Corporation highlights the community's richness and their embrace of creative enterprise.

 
802.828.5423  | vermontcreativenetwork.org


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.