BRATTLEBORO-Indivisible Brattleboro hosts "What Does Democracy Look Like? An exploration in art and discussion" on Sunday, Nov. 16, from 4 to 6 p.m., at Brattleboro's Latchis Theatre.
Designed, according to the event press release, to "celebrate democracy through art, music, poetry, and discussion," the open-to-all event welcomes people from "across the political spectrum. Come together to find common ground, celebrate local creativity, and discuss the future we all share."
The Commons spoke recently with event co-organizer Katie Allaway. From Wyoming, she moved to Vermont in 2019 where, in Brattleboro, she's "found a community that inspires me and nurtures my family as we raise our young children. A space to call home."
In a career that promotes violence prevention work, Allaway works for Element 74, software that collects the data for domestic and sexual violence shelters across the U.S. She also "does federal reporting, grant tracking, and data storytelling across the nation," she explains.
As a volunteer, Allaway has been involved locally with Swords to Plowshares and Interaction Youth Services & Restorative Justice. This year, though, she's committed most to the Brattleboro chapter of Indivisible, a nationwide network of political action and response groups.
This latest Indivisible Brattleboro event was conceived as a vehicle for collective community expression by "a group of really dedicated individuals," at a meeting in March, she recalls.
In a breakout session, she and others dialed in on a few seminal questions: "What does democracy mean to our community? And how can we collectively reach out across barriers and polarizations that we individually experience to really learn how to communicate better, how to envision what we want for our future together across the polarities, to really say, 'regardless of where you come from or how you've come to be who you are now, how do we work together and move forward as we find ourselves in this really unique juncture of time?"
The team "started to dream this event up, and it's turned into something really exciting," Allaway continues. More than 30 visual artists will display work demonstrating what democracy means to them, and they will be joined by more than a dozen performers.
The lineup includes visual artists C. Tinsley, Carol Dodge Davis, Candace Jensen, Christine Triebert, Deidre Scherer, Diane Shamas, Ellie Weiss, Eric Stewart, IVPP (Izzy Victoria Perez-Poulson), Jane Kolias, Josh Allen, Karen Kamenetzky, Kat Gooch-Breault, Kirsten Ullrich, Kris McDermet, Lindsey Britt, Marie-Pierre Py, Naomi Lindenfeld, Pat Dodge, Phoebe Sparrow Wagner, Raul Gracia, Susan Bonthron, Suzanne Flynt, and Swords to Plowshares Vermont with related writing by Michael Louis Bosworth, B.H., and Cerina Heartwell. Their work will be seen in the entryway to the theaters and in Latchis's Theater One.
Bosworth's poem "Hemispheric Emigres" was created in collaboration with his wife, ceramicist Naomi Lindenfeld, as a tribute to her parents, who immigrated to North America in the 1930s.
The poem starts: "Come, wander no more, America has let you in./You were the lucky ones. We are the lucky ones." It is complemented by a ceramic wall hanging reflecting emigration from the Eastern Hemisphere to the Western.
"This piece made with colored porcelain is my vision for refugees who are fleeing a tumultuous situation in their home country," Lindenfeld explains. "I hope for them a safe journey, to be welcomed in America, to have the opportunity to weave the fabric of their lives, and put down roots in this new land. We must speak out on their behalf and keep being a nation of compassion."
South Newfane photographer Christine Triebert has contributed "We the People," an exhibit of photographs she's taken at the area's resistance demonstrations and marches over the past six months.
"I wanted to make something that would speak powerfully to this moment in history when we are facing the potential loss of our democracy," she says.
"I came up with an idea to design a large fabric piece based on the elements of the American flag but printed in reverse," Triebert continues. "A reversed flag represents how the flag appears when it's being carried into action, and it's used on all military uniforms as a symbol of courage and patriotism. To me, the people protesting the Trump administration are also patriots, marching to save our country's rights and freedoms."
One of fiber/textile artist Kris McDermet's submitted pieces is "The Veil - Restore Democracy." She says it represents "what we have lost and what we hope for."
Performers and readers on stage in Theater One will include Addy Russell, Alex Lockie, Andy Burrows, April Ossmann, Daniel Kasnitz, Jessica Stilling, Judith Reichsman, Mike Mrowicki, Tim Kieschnick and Wendy Fiering, and Verandah Porche and Patty Carpenter. The Good Trouble Choir, organized by Becky Graber, will also perform.
Of her and Carpenter's contribution, Porche says, "collaborating and sharing our songs is the best response to hard times like these."
The creative duo wrote "Good Trouble" for the Indivisible rally honoring American civil rights activist and statesman, the late John Lewis, she said. Another tune, "In this Kitchen," "makes a meal of celebrating food and love and inclusive community," Porche says.
Meg Mott, a retired political science professor who bills herself as "Constitution wrangler" and speaks often on the freedoms and constraints of the nation's organizing document, will moderate a panel discussion among Brattleboro resident and Representative Town Meeting Member Gemma Seymour, former State Rep. Tristan Roberts, and Susie Webster-Toleno, a Congregational Church minister.
The discussion will be focused, says Allaway, on how one can hold different beliefs "and still hold dignity for each other, still allow each other to be human, and really practice listening. What does it mean now to listen to someone who doesn't think the same thing that you do and to give them space and allow them to be heard?"
Allaway adds that an after-party is planned at Sages Pub in the Latchis complex, "where people all across the spectrum can get together and maybe practice communicating in ways that we don't get to do normally anymore in our social media worlds."
Among events hosted nationwide by Indivisible chapters, this one is unique to Brattleboro, says Allaway.
"Indivisible has a method whereby if your community has done something unique, you end up creating a handbook. How did you do what you [did]? Was it successful? Lessons learned? So it might be a starting point for other communities to be able to really take it and do their own thing."
She adds, "what you end up doing with your democracy is community specific. So Brattleboro being what it is, it makes sense that this is really coming out of our community. This is beautiful."
Looking back on 2025, Allaway reflects that seeing area action has been inspiring, "seeing how many people have really come to our Indivisible events, how many volunteers there are really working to make this possible."
"I do feel a sense of hope," she says. "I've not seen this or experienced this before in movement-making where people are just so ready to actually put their feelings and their thoughts and their values into action."
And, Allaway says, "regardless of our politics, our world really needs us to show up right now."
Admission to this event is free, but donations to Indivisible Brattleboro are welcome at the door. To register, visit indibrattleboro.org.
This Arts item by Annie Landenberger was written for The Commons.