The Vermont Prize is a new endeavor to (1)“celebrate and support the best visual art being made in Vermont today.” Four of Vermont's leading contemporary art institutions launched the initiative: the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC), Burlington City Arts (BCA), the Hall Art Foundation, and The Current (formerly the Helen Day Art Center).
“Although Vermont is a small state, there is an astonishing variety of exceptional visual art being created by Vermonters today,” BMAC director Danny Lichtenfeld said in a news release. “Our hope is that this initiative will bring about greater recognition and appreciation of this particular thread in Vermont's rich cultural fabric.”
(2)The prize will be awarded to one artist annually. The winner will receive $5,000, and their work will be showcased and archived at vermontprize.org and on social media. Applications will be accepted from visual artists currently living and working in Vermont.
The Vermont Prize is open to individuals as well as collaborating artists. Artists working in any visual medium are welcome to apply. There is no application fee. The application deadline is March 31, 2022.
Recently retired Town Manager Peter Elwell has been named the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce (BACC) 2021 Person of the Year. BACC Executive Director Gregory Lesch said Elwell earned the award “for stepping up to the plate and taking on the task of helping Brattleboro become a better place...
The Brattleboro Music Center hosts the 15th annual Northern Roots Traditional Music Festival, Friday and Saturday, Jan. 28 and 29. Now a cornerstone of the traditional music calendar in New England, the festival showcases a unique variety of northern musical traditions, including Irish, Scottish, English, French Canadian, Shetland, and,
Elks donate $4,000 to Home at Last BRATTLEBORO - Brattleboro Elks #1499 recently received a $2,000 Grand National Lodge Grant, and the membership voted to match it for a total donation of $4,000 to Home at Last, a local nonprofit that provides permanent housing and support services to homeless veterans. In a news release, Home at Last Chair Tom Appel thanked the Elks for their donation. “This will go a long way to meet the urgent needs that have arisen...
College news • Kaie Quigley of West Wardsboro recently participated in the annual Career Readiness Symposium at Lasell University in Newton, Mass. Quigley shared work from the fall semester on behalf of the 1851 Chronicle, Lasell's student-run newspaper. The presentation incorporated the NACE competencies of professionalism, leadership, and career & self-development. Quigley is the paper's editor-in-chief. • The following local students were honored for academic achievement during the fall 2021 semester at Castleton University. Named to the President's List were...
Health Care and Rehabilitation Services (HCRS), southeastern Vermont's nonprofit community mental-health agency, has announced that its 472 employees are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. A vaccine requirement was implemented at the agency as of Dec. 1, and all of the agency's current staff have complied. “Many of the people the agency supports are at much greater risk for severe illness,” the agency said in a news release, noting that its clientele is considered a vulnerable population. Staffing was another consideration. According...
People who have experienced mental health conditions and are in recovery are invited to attend training for the National Alliance on Mental Health's In Our Own Voice, to be held virtually on Saturday, Feb. 5. The 60-to-90-minute public education presentation raises the awareness of mental health conditions and recovery with a short video, personal testimony, and a question-and-answer session that allows for honest and open dialogue. As described in a news release, presenters “engage audiences with their brave and gripping...
Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA), Vermont Everyone Eats (VEE), and the many partners and participants who make this program possible all celebrated a milestone recently when the program's two millionth meal was served. The COVID-19 response program provides meal assistance to Vermonters while supporting local restaurants, farmers, and food producers. The program will continue until April 1, thanks to a recent contract extension with the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development, with SEVCA serving as the program administrator. The...
Due to the ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases, two big events at the Latchis Theatre have been postponed to April. The 18th (Almost) Annual Collegiate A Capella Concert to benefit the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center will be held on Saturday, April 9, at 7:30 p.m. For tickets, visit bit.ly/648-acapella or call 802-257-0124, ext. 101. The Livingston Taylor concert will be Friday, April 29, at 7:30 p.m. Taylor still plans to offer a master class as a fundraiser for Latchis...
I was recently in Washington, D.C. at the National Portrait Gallery. While walking through the various rooms I came across a painting, “Surrender of a Confederate Soldier,” by Vermont-born artist Julian Scott. The placard read: “At the age of fifteen, Julian Scott lied about his age to enlist in the Union army. He rose from drummer boy to infantryman, and for his service he earned the Congressional Medal of Honor.” “After his discharge he became an artist, initially focusing on...
I find several reasons to take issue with Kurt Daims's piece. I question both its premises and its conclusions. Specifically, the idea that one should adopt a 224-page report and its 41 recommendations without examining the details included within, how the information was gathered, and each recommendation individually is clearly incorrect. The Community Safety Review Committee and its two facilitators did a tremendous amount of work in a short period of time, and their work deserves a close look, not...
Water bottles, wine bottles, and carbonated and non-carbonated drinks continue to be cast aside on our Vermont roadsides and fields, and our longstanding bottle deposit program is begging to be expanded to include them. A proposed bottle bill gives our Vermont state representatives and senators that opportunity. The current state deposit program has proved to have substantial merit. It has been shown that bottle deposit programs offer a consistent quantity of raw materials for new containers - aluminum, PET (polyethylene...
In recent years, numerous incidents in Vermont have chased the practice of hounding out of the shadows and into the light. Along with hunting and trapping, hounding is a sacred cow. Its advocates reverently refer to it as a longstanding “tradition.” Its opponents argue that just because it's been practiced for hundreds of years doesn't make it right. And so, the controversy continues to chase its own tail. When hounding, GPS-collared dogs are released from confinement to track the scent...
I have been delivering Meals on Wheels for a couple of years. Each time I do my deliveries it provides another lesson to me about growing older, loneliness, isolation, and what being poor amongst the riches of this country means. I see people struggling with deficient housing, neglected trailers, places littered with trash and peeling paint. I see older people struggle to get to the door. Some are grateful for just a brief greeting or small bit of conversation while...
Vermont Independent Media (VIM), publisher of The Commons, will host a panel discussion with Vermont publishers/editors about the future of local journalism on Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. on Zoom. VIM's panelists will discuss the turmoil in local journalism today and how publishers and editors are dedicated to keeping newspapers alive. Panelists include: Art Cullen, Pulitzer Prize–winning editor of the Storm Lake Times; Tim Calabro, editor/publisher, The White River Valley Herald; Angelo Lynn, publisher/editor, Addison Independent; Randolph Holhut, news...
I enjoyed your recent article on the upgrade of the tire recycling program at WSWMD. However, other recycling programs are also in need of upgrading. The Vermont Bottle Bill is way out of date. Why are so many popular beverages that are packaged in valuable recyclable materials such as aluminum not covered? Why are Vermont hard ciders, for example, not covered? The beverage market its totally different now from how it was in the 1970s when the current law was...
The Vermont Center for Photography (VCP) has gone uptown - to the corner of High and Green streets. The building was formerly known as the Midtown Mall, but since humorist, author, and woodworker Tom Bodett of Dummerston (of “Wait, Wait - Don't Tell Me!” and Motel 6 fame) bought it a few years ago, he has been building an art/craft/skills haven with the handle, “High Street & Green.” The ground floor of the four story, high-ceilinged, historic building houses Wheelhouse...
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) will present a free Lunar New Year cooking demonstration on Tuesday, Feb. 1, at 5:30 p.m., via Zoom and Facebook Live. Organized by the Asian Cultural Center of Vermont, the event will feature artist and chef Cai Xi Silver of Cai's Dim Sum Catering, who will teach participants how to make Chinese chive and pork dumplings from scratch. A list of ingredients will be provided in advance. Register at brattleboromuseum.org.
Mitchell-Giddings Fine Arts, (1)183 Main St., presents “Into the Light,” a curated group exhibit of 11 gallery artists, opening Saturday, Jan. 29, at 11 a.m., and continuing through March 13. Featured artists are David Brewster, Bruce Campbell, Jim Giddings, Petria Mitchell, Rocio Olguin, Chuck Olson, Torin Porter, David Rohn, Donald Saaf, James Urbaska, and Julia Zanes. “This uplifting show will delight your imagination with its diversity and the variety of artistic expression,” according to a news release. “Quotes by several...
With the frosty sound of snow beneath feet in 18 degrees of Vermont cold, three state representatives from Brattleboro met on the steps of the State House last Wednesday to honor John and Mary Carnahan for 64 years of service to community. John Carnahan, 93, arrived in town in 1957 as a Harvard educated lawyer, joining the Fitts and Olson Law Office. From 1958 to 1961, Carnahan served as a staffer for William Meyer, who served in Congress for one...
It's been an up-and-down season for the Brattleboro Colonels girls' basketball team, but they have one thing going for them as they head into the final quarter of the regular season - they have played more games than any other team in Division I. COVID-19 has made a total hash out of the Vermont high school sports schedule for many teams this season, but the Brattleboro girls have stayed healthy and ended last week having played 13 of the 18...
The first article of Vermont's fine constitution begins: “That all persons are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent, and unalienable rights, amongst which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” The Legislature will soon consider a proposal to amend the constitution to include a constitutional right to abortion. Proposal 5's proposed language is as follows: “That an individual's right to personal reproductive autonomy...
Several candidates have stepped up to run for seats on the Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) school board, including two local women of color. Deborah Stanford is running for a three-year term as a Dummerston representative to the board, Lana Dever is running for a two-year term as a Brattleboro representative, and Peter “Fish” Case is also seeking the Brattleboro seat. Neither incumbent in Brattleboro and Dummerston is seeking another term. “The pandemic officially hit just three weeks after I...
After nine days of fending for himself in snow and freezing temperatures, Rudy is safe, sound, and warm. The 12-pound terrier/dachshund mix, who jumped out of a transport vehicle on Jan. 15, finally came in from the cold on Jan. 23 after two volunteers set a trap at a feeding station. “I think he rescued me,” said volunteer Scott Whitehill, who was able to bring Rudy in. “I think he decided I'd been tortured enough and said, 'I can't do...