Touring Group Winter Update
The Young Tradition Touring Group wrapped up rehearsals at the Montpelier Performing Arts Hub in January, grateful for such a welcoming space. Beyond learning the repertoire, rehearsal highlights included a basement sing-along of holiday favorites, many improvisational moves on the dance floor, frisbee out on the lawn, and a hilarious full-group game of rock paper scissors evolution-style. Think crouching like an egg, flapping like a chicken, and making T-Rex dino arms—sadly there is no photographic evidence!
Vermont Community Fellows Program Launches!
The Vermont Community Fellows Program (VCFP), a partnership between Vermont Folklife and Conversations from the Open Road, is a three-year initiative to build statewide capacity for community-based, action-oriented field research. This year the program accepted 15 applicants into its first cohort. Over the next 12-18 months, the Fellows will receive in-depth training to inform and guide their ongoing work with the people and places that matter to them most
Did You Know? - Tony Barrand and the Atwood Family
Tony Barrand was a professor of anthropology, as well as an avid folk dancer, musician, and collector of traditional material. In his later years, he came across the music of the Atwood family of West Dover, VT. He eventually partnered with folk musician Keith Murphy to create a series of recordings capturing this music.
Partner Profile - Mary Simons
The recently launched Vermont Community Fellows Program is a partnership between Vermont Folklife and Conversations from the Open Road. CFTOR founder Mary Simons has worked with Vermont Folklife for over a decade, the relationship evolving from thought partners, to collaborators on a wide variety of projects. We are thrilled to be partnering with Mary on the Vermont Community Fellows Program, where she will be mentoring primarily student fellows over the next two years.
Touring Group Fall Update
Beginning in September and continuing through December, one Saturday a month Touring Group musicians travelled to the Montpelier Performing Arts Hub to make music and friends while rehearsing this season’s repertoire. A lucky few aren’t traveling far this fall as they live right in the Montpelier area, but some come from quite a ways to participate - from Brattleboro to Burlington and as far away as Maine. That’s a lot of mountains crossed to get to rehearsals! Group members are ages twelve to eighteen and play fiddle, 5-string banjo, harp, ukulele, guitar, and keyboard. They all sing, too!
Congratulations to Bob Hooker on 18 marvelous years at VT Folklife!
After 18 years at VT Folklife, Bob Hooker is retiring! Bob has been an indispensable part of the organization for many years, filling more roles than we can count, a small number of which include: greeting everyone who walked through the doors of our Middlebury gallery; conducting mailings and thanking donors; organizing, decorating, and managing our building; and planning and executing our winter Gingerbread House exhibit.
Tibet Festival Celebrates 20th Anniversary!
This past Saturday the Tibetan Association of Vermont hosted its 20th Annual Tibet Festival at the Old North End Community Center in Burlington, VT. In keeping with its reputation, the Festival featured an impressive array of Tibetan cultural dances, songs, and instrumental performances, alongside a fashion show, the beloved yak and snow lion dances, tashi shoepa folk opera, and remarks from community leaders.
The Vermont Community Fellows Program Connects Youth and Adults to Address Complex Local Issues
Vermont Folklife and Conversations from the Open Road announce the Vermont Community Fellows Program (formerly titled Youth Community Action Corps), a three-year initiative to build statewide capacity for community-based, action-oriented field research. In Fiscal Year 2024, Senator Bernie Sanders secured $665,000 in Congressionally Directed Spending for this program through the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Sanders was proud to secure this federal funding so that young people can help tell the story of Vermont for generations to come. Applications for the first cohort of Fellows will be accepted from November 1 to December 15, 2024.
Student-Made Comics Reflect on Climate Change
As a project in her highschool science class this past spring, Essex Junction resident Thalia Kolovos (yes, Andy’s daughter!) set out to interview a number of Essex High School students about climate change, how they see their lives being affected by it, and how all this makes them feel.
Press Release: Vermont Folklife Moves from Middlebury Building to Boost Statewide Impact
Vermont Folklife plans to sell the historic John Warren building in Middlebury, which has been its home since 2006. The sale of the building will advance Vermont Folklife’s goal to better serve constituents across the entire state.
Reflecting on a Year of Listening
For the past nine months, Vermont Folklife has been hosting events around the state that invite people to come together and share the experience of listening–deeply–to voices, sounds, and songs from across the state and across the years. Called “Listening Parties,” these events are a bit like DJ sets of audio drawn from the Vermont Folklife Archive. Since October 2023, people in Lincoln, Burlington, Manchester, Windsor, Winooski, and Waitsfield have joined us for this community listening experience.
Young Tradition Touring Group’s 2024 Quebec Tour
with a spectacular tour of Quebec! Read all about their week-long tour, playing gigs, exploring cultural sites and the natural landscape, taking workshops from expert dancers and musicians, and participating in some of the best jam sessions in Quebec.
Partner Project: 50 Years of Feeding Champlain Valley
For the past two years, VT Folklife Associate Director, Andy Kolovs and Executive Director, Kate Haughey have been conducting research in partnership with the Champlain Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO). Last year we produced the exhibit “In our words, in our community” for CVOEO. More recently, we completed a second exhibit, celebrating 50 years of Feeding Champlain Valley (formerly known as Feeding Chittenden.
Applications now open for 2024-2025 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program
Vermont Folklife is pleased to announce the 33rd year of its Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (VTAAP). With funding from the National Endowment for the Arts through a partnership with the Vermont Arts Council, this program supports the continued vitality of Vermont’s living cultural heritage. Information about the program is available in fourteen languages spoken within the state, including Dari, Pashto, Somali, Nepali, Spanish, and Ukrainian.
Turkey Tales on Air!
For the past year or so we’ve been working with VT Fish & Wildlife and the National Wild Turkey Federation on a project to mark the 50th anniversary of Vermont’s first legal turkey hunting season following the successful reintroduction effort that began in the late 1960s.
We hope you’ll stay tuned on this project, since we are also making an episode of our much neglected but much beloved podcast VT Untapped celebrating this success story of wild turkey preservation, which will be available for listening later this summer.
2024 Young Tradition Festival Highlights
The 19th annual Young Tradition Festival took place May 10-12, 2024, in Burlington. This year’s festival featured extraordinary performances, community outreach, and celebrations of youth involvement in traditional music and dance.
Touring Group Winter Update
The Touring Group resumed rehearsals in January, welcoming Artist Leaders Pascal Gemme and Véronique Plasse from Quebec for a weekend of music learning and workshops!
2023 Year in Review
2023 has been a tremendous year for Vermont Folklife—we’ve fully integrated Young Tradition Vermont’s programming, carried out successful research projects, and shared our work with people across the state through events, exhibits, listening parties, and more. We hope you’ll take a minute to help us celebrate the accomplishments your generosity helped make possible.
Touring Group Fall Update!
The 2023-2024 Touring Group had two terrific rehearsals this fall, spending time together learning new tunes, singing in French, and getting to know each other. Artist Leader Pascal Gemme taught a tune, Le Brandy, and a song, De terre en vigne (la voilà la jolie vigne!) and the Youth Artist Leaders have introduced their sets.
Hey Kids, Comics! Childhood Comic Book Cultures in Vermont 1950-1995
Recently, Associate Director and Archivist (and resident comic nerd) Andy Kolovos has been exploring childhood engagement with comic books in Vermont through the memories of cartoonists in their 40s to 70s, who actively purchased comic books here from the 1950s to the early 1990s. Andy presented a short paper about this recent project at this year’s American Folklore Society conference. With the Non-Fiction Comics Festival coming up this weekend, we decided to share Andy’s paper where he (and the people he interviewed) talk about how comics served as a launching pad for their childhood art-making.