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Two artists have been chosen for a public art project being planned at the Brattleboro courthouse. And they'll exhibit their preliminary ideas for it later this week.
Julia Zanes and Donald Saaf have been recommended to design and oversee the fabrication and installation of art at the building. It houses the family court and Vermont District Court.
They'll make a presentation Thursday at Brooks Memorial Library. The public is being invited to weigh in with their thoughts on the concepts.
The project is part of an art in state buildings program, a partnership between the Vermont Arts Council and the state Department of Buildings and General Services.
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. -- Two artists have been chosen for a public art project being planned at the Brattleboro courthouse, and they'll exhibit their preliminary ideas for it this week.
Julia Zanes and Donald Saaf, of Saxtons River, have been recommended to design and oversee the fabrication and installation of art at the building, which houses the family court and Vermont District Court.
They'll make a presentation at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at Brooks Memorial Library, and the public is being invited to weigh in with their thoughts on the concepts.
The project is part of an art in state buildings program, a partnership between the Vermont Arts Council and the state Department of Buildings and General Services.
MONTPELIER — Dorset Theatre Festival's founder John Nassivera will be honored at the Vermont Arts Council's Annual Meeting on Thursday, June 4 at 4 p.m. the State House in Montpelier.
Following a short business meeting, Nassivera will be presented the prestigious Walter Cerf Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. Jane Lendway will receive a Citation of Merit Award for her commitment to Vermont's Historic Preservation and grant recipients including musician Anais Mitchell, poet Stephen Cramer and visual artist Brian Cohen will showcase their work.
Members in good standing can cast their vote for proposed bylaw changes and trustee nominees by mail, in person, or online at www.vermontartscouncil.org. Balloting on the day of the event begins at 8 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m. Trustee nominees include David Carris of Marshfield, James Clubb of Dorset, Jay Hathaway of Dorset, Melinda Moulton of Huntington, Gary Reis of St. Johnsbury, Gerianne Smart of Vergennes and Steve Swayne of Quechee.
The Walter Cerf Award was created to honor Vermont artists who have made significant contributions to the development of their field, and to the quality of life and culture in America. John Nassivera was as the 2009 recipient for his dedicated work as producing director and co-founder of the Dorset Theatre Festiva . Under his direction, DTF has been a launch pad for acclaimed plays and playwrights, receiving the Moss Hard Award for Outstanding Theatre in 1995 and 1997.
Nassivera received a National Endowment for the Arts Playwriting Award and has authored several plays that have been presented in the U. S. and Canada. He is currently working on a play titled Sherlock Holmes and the People's King, and an adaptation of George Aiken's 1852 dramatization of Uncle Tom's Cabin.
He is also writing two non-fiction books, Keywords and Becoming Roman Catholic: a secular humanist's story.
By Theodore Hoppe
"Art of Vermont" is a celebration the 170- year evolution of the Vermont State Art Collection, as well as 20 years of commissioned work created through the Art in State Buildings Program. In 1837, the Vermont Senate vote to purchase a painting of George Washington by artist George Gassner for the newly constructed statehouse. The State of Vermont has been collecting art ever since. With the creation of the Vermont Arts Council in 1964, the state art collection begin to expand beyond the walls of the capitol itself. Throughout the 70' and 80's the Arts Council continued to install art in public facilities like the Pavilion State Office Building. In 1988, the General Assembly passed the Art in State Buildings Act "in recognition of the need to encourage Vermont artists." As David Schutz, the State Curator, explains,"...it is (this) public art program which has allowed the placement of a wide assortment of works of art in facilities all over the state."The State collection includes the work of hundreds of artists, and can be found at twenty-eight state facilities across Vermont.
The Department of Buildings & General Services, with the help of Paul Gruhler, working with the Vermont Arts Council, has created a show of paintings and photography from the collection by some of the best artists in Vermont. The first of four 2009 exhibits will be at the River Arts Center in Morrisville from May 8-July 5. The River Arts Center is proud to host a version of the "Art of Vermont" exhibition that features the works of many Lamoille Valley artists.
Another version of the tour travels to St. Michael's College in Colchester, from June 5, 2009 until August 8,2009 with an opening reception on June 5, 5-7 PM. Since the dates of these two exhibits overlap they will feature different works from the collection. There are shows planned for the Brattleboro Museum and at Catamount Arts in St. Johnsbury later in the year, with more dates planned for 2010.
There is also a beautiful glossy catalogue developed by Paul Gruhler, for "Art of Vermont" that presents a sampling of the State Art Collection. In it, David Schultz says, "Art helps define who we are as people. As we look back over the works that constitute the State Art Collection, we cannot help but be struck by the amazing messages that are conveyed about Vermont and its people."
WASHINGTON — With an hour to go before her performance, Peoples Academy senior Audrey Kiely was nervous. She was one of 12 finalists in the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest, narrowed from 53 state finalists and an original group of nearly 300,000 national participants. Kiely checked her hair as she waited backstage. “I’m psyched to have made it this far,” she said, adding, “This was definitely the goal.”
Kiely, who will be attending Wesleyan University in the fall, first made the competition a goal when her older brother, Henry, became the Poetry Out Loud Vermont state champion in 2007.
“I heard about it from him, and it was such a cool thing that I decided I wanted to be a part of it,” she said, crediting “tremendously supportive” English teacher Reeves Larson, drama director Marcel Freda, and Morgan Irons of the Vermont Arts Council with helping her practice for the contest, which is run by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.
To take part in Poetry Out Loud, high school students must memorize and recite three poems from an anthology of more than 600 poems. They advance from the classroom level through school — and statewide competitions before reaching the national finals, which was held Monday and Tuesday in Washington, D.C. This year’s finals were judged by a panel that included “A Prairie Home Companion’s” Garrison Keillor and actress Tyne Daly.
According to Kiely, finding success in front of the panel is not just about picking the right poem.
“This has also, for me, been partly performance. It’s a really nice mix of the two; it’s about finding that balance, but not letting the drama get bigger than the words,” she said.
When it was her opportunity to step on stage and find that balance, Kiely’s recitations of Molly Peacock’s “Altruism” and John Donne’s “Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness” were greeted with enthusiastic applause.
The judges’ scores did not send Kiely to the top five, costing her the top prize and the chance to recite her third poem, “Winter” by Marie Ponsot, the piece that scored her highest marks during the state competition. However, she was awarded a medal by the acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and the president of the Poetry Foundation. She also received an event award of $1,000 and a stipend of $500 for Peoples Academy to use toward the purchase of poetry books.
Kiely congratulated winner William Farley from Virginia and posed for pictures before leaving the stage. “He really did deserve to win,” she admitted with a smile.
When asked what she planned to take home from the experience, she said she hoped to inspire more Vermont schools and students to become involved.
“It’s a really terrific opportunity,” Kiely said. “You don’t realize how awesome it is until after it’s over. Getting through the memorization is the hardest part, and afterwards you get to have fun with it. So if you can just get through that first part, it’s totally worth it.”
The Art Jobs Grant Program, funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, will support nonprofit arts organizations whose jobs are in jeopardy or have been eliminated as a result of the current economic climate. Competitive, one-time grants are available to support staff salaries, as well as artist or consultant fees. Organizations with annual operating budgets under $150,000 can apply for up to $5,000. Organizations with budgets of $150,000 or more can apply for up to $10,000. The Vermont Arts Council anticipates being able to support 25 to 30 organizations with these funds. The application deadline is May 13. For more information, go to www.vermontartscouncil.org.
By Cristina Kumka
Paramount Theatre executives and the state Legislature agree — times are tough and people need entertainment.
The theater recently announced it received a $13,313 grant out of the state's capital budget to install a state-of-the-art big screen, projection equipment and enhanced sound capabilities for a cinematic project in the works — a film series that would add a "seventh genre" of entertainment to the theater's presentation lineup, according to Bruce Bouchard, the executive director.
But according to theater executives, the movie lineup won't be as racy as it once was.
"In one year we have gone from pop music to classical music to theater, theater development, family, comedy and film," Bouchard said recently.
"This will expand the offerings for the greater Rutland community."
The grant, awarded after Bouchard applied for the money and showed he could match the grant with donations and in-kind contributions, was administered through the Vermont Arts Council, in collaboration with the state's Division for Historic Preservation, the Vermont Historical Society and the Vermont Museum and Galleries Alliance.
The grant and matching donations totaling $26,626 are being used to purchase a $3,000 screen about 30 feet wide and 18 feet high, and various elements of a projection system that will be installed above the theater's stage, including wiring, bulbs and projection booth outfitting, according to the project's coordinator, Paramount board member David Giancola.
Giancola, president of Edgewood Studios, said he and fellow board member Dan Querrey are donating some of their expertise and materials to the project but about 20 other contractors were contacted during the bidding process for the screen, electrical wiring and projection equipment.
The screen has been ordered from a company in Massachusetts and Querrey's company is constructing the frame for it, Giancola said.
The men are hoping the project gets completed as soon as possible.
"It will be blow-you-away awesome," Giancola said.
"It will have the brightest, crispest picture we can get, have Dolby digital stereo sound, and the biggest screen in central Vermont."
Special means giving the Rutland public something they may have never had before, according to Bouchard.
"One can only imagine the children in the greater Rutland area who have never seen a big-screen film," he said.
Ticket prices will be lower than what the public is used to paying for the movies, according to Bouchard, and the movies shown at the theater won't be the latest box-office hits.
The flicks will be shown over weekends at the theater but Bouchard declined to say what some of the titles may be.
According to Sonia Rae, community programs manager for the council, the Legislature approved $180,000 this year for projects like the Paramount's film series "to assist Vermont nonprofits and municipalities expand existing facilities to expand cultural activities."
"In the view of the council's panel, the Paramount put together an excellent proposal and had a great deal of community support," Rae said.
"They launched an effective and successful fundraising effort and made a case on how it would help the Paramount reach out into the entire community in a way that's fun and affordable."
The Paramount applied for the grant in November of last year and received it in December, according to Bouchard.
The matching $13,313 was raised after two phone calls that led to Bouchard solidifying two $5,000 commitments and more than $3,000 in in-kind contributions from private donors in the community.
"We had to submit, with the application, that we had two reasonably firm pledges to match the matching grant requirement," he said.
The idea for the film series materialized in September of last year when the film "Moonlight and Mistletoe," was shown at the Paramount with a digital projector donated by Giancola.
It was the first film to be shown at the theater since 1981, Bouchard said.
Before last year's showing, some of the last films to be shown at the theater in the 80s were pornographic in nature, according to Stephen Carbine, the former chairman of the Paramount's Board of Directors.
The films would be played late at night and on weekdays, Carbine said.
"Typically, the second floor would be nurses from the hospital cheering" at the some of the more racy scenes, he said.
After the movies, proprietor Robert Shannon would invite movie-goers to his "outrageous penthouse" in the Richardson building next to the theater for after parties, according to Carbine.
Eric Mallette, assistant director at the Paramount, said the films shown in the upcoming series will not be pornography.
A film screening and DVD release for 6 Vermont Artists in Conversation, a documentary by Deb Ellis, assistant professor of film studies, will take place Thursday, April 23 at 7 p.m. in 101 Fleming.
Ellis created the documentary in collaboration with the Vermont Arts Council's Big Read Project, an initiative of the National Endowment of the Arts to revitalize the role of literature in American culture. This year's book is Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and a series of statewide events are offering an opportunity for Vermonters to discuss the role of art as social commentary.
"I was thrilled to have the opportunity to do what I like to do best — talk to artists engaged in their work and the world," says Ellis, whose documentary — a copy of which will be sent to every library in the state for free— features artists Peter Schumann, founder and director of Bread and Puppet Theater; Lisa Merton and Alan Dater, filmmakers; Drew Cameron, papermaker; and UVM colleagues poet Major Jackson and performance artist Janice Perry.
"I was committed to working with artists from different mediums, and to expand the concept of 'artist' beyond traditional modes to include poetry and performance," says Ellis, who worked with the Vermont Arts Council to choose the artists. "I was also committed to working with artists who represented the geographic breadth of the state."
Ellis is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and an active participant in the independent media community in Vermont. Ellis' documentary, Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train, was short-listed for an Academy Award in 2005. Her current work focuses on Iraq war veterans living in Canada.
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