Like the rest of state government, The Vermont Arts Council’s fiscal year starts July 1 and in just a few days I will be out on the State House Lawn with 15,000 of my closest friends celebrating the new year and July 4th weekend.
Only I’m kind of wondering what’s to celebrate…
The news is generally not good. The state is laying off people, so is IBM. The Red Sox are firmly in second place behind the Tampa Bay Rays. The Mountaineers are barely one game over 500, the Ravens have yet to win a game. There are floods all along the Mississippi and bad fires in the southwest. (I’m waiting for reports of pestilence or a plague of locusts before I start rereading my King James Bible.) Algae is doing its thing in the Lake, as is Red Tide off the Maine coast, and green algae off the coast of China where the Olympic sailing venue is.
Vermont last week issued its first-ever Amber Alert. Oil is trading over $140/barrel; gas is well over $4.00 a gallon; and I can “lock in” at a possible $4.89/gallon for my heating oil. I’ve just purchased “green” firewood for $225 a cord (and been told it’s a deal!). A perfectly ripe melon from Shaws just set me back $5.00; they have no more vegetable seeds at Agway so my two pole bean plants that managed to survive a recent attack by a couple of deer have all six poles to choose from in my vegetable garden.
There is just not a lot to celebrate.
Well okay, there’s Andrew Wheating who just became the first Vermonter to ever make the US Olympic Track and Field team. That’s pretty cool. And later this week I head north with my son Flynn to attend the Quebec 400 celebration, part of which will feature not only the Lois McLure but a sampling of some of New England’s finest folk and traditional artists playing the “Grande Place” at Espace 400 in the heart of Quebec City’s old port. That will be a once-in-a-centennial celebration, for sure.
Now that I think about it, and taking a quick scan through the voluminous Summer Arts Guide that Jim Lowe and the Times Argus folks put out about a month ago, there is a LOT to celebrate—or at least to celebrate with. Beyond the usual big name activities (Trapp Family Lodge concerts, Shelburne Farms, Mozart Festival, Marlboro Festival, Weston Playhouse, etc.) there are a host of more intimate things to celebrate: the Adamant Music School and Concert Series, Quarry Works Theater and Unadilla Theater, Music at Guilford, and—even more “local” than these—your basic weekend farmer’s market featuring street performers and works by local artisans.
Most of these events may be found on the Vermont Arts Calendar if you happen to have misplaced your Summer Arts Guide.
But even beyond all that, there are a few things I like to do that for me, celebrate the summer New Year in a way that can only happen in Vermont.
Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors performed in Knight Point State Park up in North Hero is one.
Circus Smirkus’s summer extravaganza is another (I see it in Montpelier but it tours the state).
And of course, the various “Art Fits” events that local communities have dreamed up all over the state is still another.
Okay, there may not be too many reasons to celebrate. But once you’ve decided you DO want to celebrate, you have options…lots of options. Best of all, a lot of those options won’t cost you a lot of money to get to from where you live. They are all over the state.
So, even with gas at $4/gallon, go ahead, celebrate the New Year.
And if you’re a visual artist, watch Artmail for a pretty amazing new commissioning project we are announcing…and celebrate some more.
Showing posts with label community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
MEET ART
It’s an “in-between” time of year. Our annual meeting is finished, and our new board leadership is still organizing itself. The legislature is done for the year and the campaign season hasn’t really started. Some kids are still in school while others have graduated and started their summer jobs or are catching up on sleep. Spring is pretty much over, but summer has not quite begun. I haven’t received my three cords of wood for next winter, but I haven’t finished paying off my latest fuel oil bill either.
During these “lull” times I like to catch up on all those things I’ve been waiting to find time to do. I’ve started a book by former NEA Chair Bill Ivey called "Arts Inc." It’s a good read but I can tell when I’m finished I’m going to want to feel good about our society, so I’ll probably re-read Dan Pink’s "A Whole New Mind".
Whenever I have the chance, I always enjoy exploring and learning about Art. I encourage you to spend some time on our website where you, too, can get acquainted with many forms of Art….
We’re celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Art in State Buildings Program which has funded two dozen public art commissions in new or renovated state buildings over the years. Paul Gruhler and David Schutz have put together a representative exhibition of works from the AISB program as well as other works the state has collected since 1847 and brought them on tour. This tour is called the Art of Vermont and will be in venues all over the state in the coming year. Once you’ve clicked on the link, you’ll find instructions for downloading many of the images as a computer screensaver. It’s quite a collection.
Related to this exhibition is a new Art Trail built on a Google Maps platform that describes how to get to all the permanent works of art in the State collection that can’t tour (like floors, banisters, windows, and other parts of a building’s infrastructure that doesn’t hang on a well-lighted wall). The Art Trail also showcases photos, directions, and several videos of artists talking about his/her work. Let us know what you think of it.
We are currently showcasing the works of the Arts Council’s first Executive Director Art(hur) Williams in our Spotlight Gallery. His is a retrospective of all the works he has created that have been inspired by his lifetime association with the coast of Maine. In addition to the pleasure of having these small and very approachable works in our gallery, we have all been delighted to spend some time with one of Vermont’s most beloved eminences gris.
A few clicks away is Art of a different nature: (drum roll please) Art(hur) Fitz, the new mascot of our second statewide community arts project, Art Fits Vermont. Art has been pleasantly surprised by the reception he’s gotten, given that he’s the shy and retiring sort. If you go to our home page, the link to his introductory video is in the left-hand column—he’s holding a puzzle piece that says “Chittenden” on it. Art’s got a puzzle piece for every county, trust me!
Of course, if the art on our website doesn’t grab you, by all means check out what’s happening all over state by searching our statewide Art Calendar. This time of year the days and nights are filled with pretty much anything you could wish for, from food fairs to caber tosses; Mozart Festival concerts to exhibitions at the Shelburne Museum.
So to recap: there’s Art in State Buildings, Art of Vermont, Art Trail, Art Williams, Art Fitz, and Art Calendar. All good stuff, all worth checking out, and all about Art.
Okay, the lull is over. Back to work!
During these “lull” times I like to catch up on all those things I’ve been waiting to find time to do. I’ve started a book by former NEA Chair Bill Ivey called "Arts Inc." It’s a good read but I can tell when I’m finished I’m going to want to feel good about our society, so I’ll probably re-read Dan Pink’s "A Whole New Mind".
Whenever I have the chance, I always enjoy exploring and learning about Art. I encourage you to spend some time on our website where you, too, can get acquainted with many forms of Art….
We’re celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Art in State Buildings Program which has funded two dozen public art commissions in new or renovated state buildings over the years. Paul Gruhler and David Schutz have put together a representative exhibition of works from the AISB program as well as other works the state has collected since 1847 and brought them on tour. This tour is called the Art of Vermont and will be in venues all over the state in the coming year. Once you’ve clicked on the link, you’ll find instructions for downloading many of the images as a computer screensaver. It’s quite a collection.
Related to this exhibition is a new Art Trail built on a Google Maps platform that describes how to get to all the permanent works of art in the State collection that can’t tour (like floors, banisters, windows, and other parts of a building’s infrastructure that doesn’t hang on a well-lighted wall). The Art Trail also showcases photos, directions, and several videos of artists talking about his/her work. Let us know what you think of it.
We are currently showcasing the works of the Arts Council’s first Executive Director Art(hur) Williams in our Spotlight Gallery. His is a retrospective of all the works he has created that have been inspired by his lifetime association with the coast of Maine. In addition to the pleasure of having these small and very approachable works in our gallery, we have all been delighted to spend some time with one of Vermont’s most beloved eminences gris.
A few clicks away is Art of a different nature: (drum roll please) Art(hur) Fitz, the new mascot of our second statewide community arts project, Art Fits Vermont. Art has been pleasantly surprised by the reception he’s gotten, given that he’s the shy and retiring sort. If you go to our home page, the link to his introductory video is in the left-hand column—he’s holding a puzzle piece that says “Chittenden” on it. Art’s got a puzzle piece for every county, trust me!
Of course, if the art on our website doesn’t grab you, by all means check out what’s happening all over state by searching our statewide Art Calendar. This time of year the days and nights are filled with pretty much anything you could wish for, from food fairs to caber tosses; Mozart Festival concerts to exhibitions at the Shelburne Museum.
So to recap: there’s Art in State Buildings, Art of Vermont, Art Trail, Art Williams, Art Fitz, and Art Calendar. All good stuff, all worth checking out, and all about Art.
Okay, the lull is over. Back to work!
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
CULTURAL FACILITIES COMES OF AGE
A lot of people had fun last Friday morning. Sixteen organizations receiving Cultural Facilities Program funding sent representatives to our grant awards ceremony in the State House’s Cedar Creek Room. They were met by 11 Arts Council staff, two trustees, the Governor, and more than 20 of their elected state representatives and senators.
It was a party. Or, as is usually the case in the State House, it was a “multi-party.” For about an hour Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and Progressives set aside their differences over health care, property tax reform, transportation funding and other big ticket issues and celebrated the core of Vermont’s Creative Economy—its theaters, concert halls, libraries, historical societies, grange halls, town hall auditoriums, and even a church facility.
Grants totaling more than $200,000 were awarded for physical improvements that will expand facilities’ capacity to support more varied cultural programs and serve broader audiences. For most, grants will be used to improve physical access for people with limited mobility. Thanks to the Governor, however, one grantee will have a special charge.
In his remarks to the recipients, the Governor registered two eye-popping, hand-clapping moments. The first was his suggestion that some of the grants awarded “weren’t exactly sexy” and referred specifically to the Brandon Town Hall’s grant to fund the installation of a state-of-the-art fire suppression system. When the Brandon contingent stood to receive their award they promised (to lots of laughter and applause) the Governor that theirs would be the first ever, state-of-the-art, sexy fire suppression system.
Hardened State House observers, including the WCAX reporter covering the event, assured me that this was the first time ever that the word “sexy” was bandied about so freely in a formal State House ceremony involving so many elected officials. It is further evidence that, in Vermont at least, the “culture wars” of the early 1990s are truly over.
The Governor’s second eye-popping, hand-clapping moment was towards the end of his remarks when, with no prior indication, he took advantage of the moment to express his commitment to the Cultural Facilities program by publicly stating his intention to recommend continuing to fund the program at its $200,000 level in the FY 2009 Capital Appropriations Budget.
To the untrained ear, this may sound like a non-event. The program is already on the books at $200,000 so what’s the big deal? The Governor is recommending status quo, right?
The big deal is that two years ago the Governor’s recommendation was $0; last year it was $50,000. In both years it was the Senate Appropriations committee that led the charge to increase the program to its current $200,000 level (thank you Sen. Phil Scott and Rep. Alice Emmons). With the Governor’s support at the front end of the appropriations process, not only are the late-session, high-tension negotiations between the House and Senate greatly mitigated (if not eliminated), but we are now able to consider ways to expand the program to include non-traditional venues like farmers markets and other municipal spaces where the public gather. Check out H. 185 submitted by Reps. Botzow, Stephens, et. al. regarding farmers markets. It gained some traction last year, but it will get a lot more if it gets attached as an additional funding stream to the Cultural Facilities bill. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, the Cultural Facilities Program came of age last week and sixteen grantees whose programs and activities serve as the glue that keeps Vermont’s communities so vital, were on hand to celebrate. Congratulations one and all!
It was a party. Or, as is usually the case in the State House, it was a “multi-party.” For about an hour Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and Progressives set aside their differences over health care, property tax reform, transportation funding and other big ticket issues and celebrated the core of Vermont’s Creative Economy—its theaters, concert halls, libraries, historical societies, grange halls, town hall auditoriums, and even a church facility.
Grants totaling more than $200,000 were awarded for physical improvements that will expand facilities’ capacity to support more varied cultural programs and serve broader audiences. For most, grants will be used to improve physical access for people with limited mobility. Thanks to the Governor, however, one grantee will have a special charge.
In his remarks to the recipients, the Governor registered two eye-popping, hand-clapping moments. The first was his suggestion that some of the grants awarded “weren’t exactly sexy” and referred specifically to the Brandon Town Hall’s grant to fund the installation of a state-of-the-art fire suppression system. When the Brandon contingent stood to receive their award they promised (to lots of laughter and applause) the Governor that theirs would be the first ever, state-of-the-art, sexy fire suppression system.
Hardened State House observers, including the WCAX reporter covering the event, assured me that this was the first time ever that the word “sexy” was bandied about so freely in a formal State House ceremony involving so many elected officials. It is further evidence that, in Vermont at least, the “culture wars” of the early 1990s are truly over.
The Governor’s second eye-popping, hand-clapping moment was towards the end of his remarks when, with no prior indication, he took advantage of the moment to express his commitment to the Cultural Facilities program by publicly stating his intention to recommend continuing to fund the program at its $200,000 level in the FY 2009 Capital Appropriations Budget.
To the untrained ear, this may sound like a non-event. The program is already on the books at $200,000 so what’s the big deal? The Governor is recommending status quo, right?
The big deal is that two years ago the Governor’s recommendation was $0; last year it was $50,000. In both years it was the Senate Appropriations committee that led the charge to increase the program to its current $200,000 level (thank you Sen. Phil Scott and Rep. Alice Emmons). With the Governor’s support at the front end of the appropriations process, not only are the late-session, high-tension negotiations between the House and Senate greatly mitigated (if not eliminated), but we are now able to consider ways to expand the program to include non-traditional venues like farmers markets and other municipal spaces where the public gather. Check out H. 185 submitted by Reps. Botzow, Stephens, et. al. regarding farmers markets. It gained some traction last year, but it will get a lot more if it gets attached as an additional funding stream to the Cultural Facilities bill. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, the Cultural Facilities Program came of age last week and sixteen grantees whose programs and activities serve as the glue that keeps Vermont’s communities so vital, were on hand to celebrate. Congratulations one and all!
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