MONTPELIER, VT—The Vermont Arts Council announces 48 recipients of two major awards: Creation Grants to support artists in creating new work and Arts Impact Grants to assist nonprofits, municipalities, and schools in their efforts to expand access to the arts.
Twenty-five Vermont artists were awarded a Creation Grant, the Council’s most coveted award for artists. This year’s program was extremely competitive, with a large number of high-caliber artists applying. A record 218 applications were received, totaling $870,188 in requests. Recipients were selected by two independent panels composed of 38 practicing Vermont artists and arts professionals.
Writers, musicians, filmmakers, visual artists, and more comprise this year’s group of recipients, with proposals ranging vastly in scope, style, and discipline. Among these projects are an immersive cyanotype exhibit of Lake Champlain, a marionette performance exploring the notion of liberty, a magnetic participatory mural, and a documentary focused on immigrant dairy farm workers in Vermont.
Grant awards are $4,000, which the artist may use for time spent developing new work, to purchase materials, or to rent equipment or space for the process.
Since its inception in 2009, the Creation Grant program has supported 180 Vermont artists. The award is only available to artists who have not received a Creation Grant within the last five years.
The Council typically has funding to support 12-15% of proposals for the annual grant. Partnership with the Vermont Community Foundation has allowed the Council to expand both programs, increasing the number of Creations Grants from 10 in 2018 to 25 in 2022, supporting operating grants in the Arts Impact category, and raising the maximum grant to $4,000.
For Arts Impact Grants, 23 grants were awarded out of a total of 55 applications, which collectively requested a sum of $207,295.
Vermont nonprofits, municipalities, and schools can apply for the grant, which supports projects that broaden access to the arts and cultural activities, engaging individuals with limited access due to age, race, ability, income, or other factors. Arts Impact Grants range from $1,000 to $4,000 in funding for either operational or project grants.
This year’s approved projects include a therapeutic theater program for children, an international music residency workshop, an event celebrating the creative work of older adults, and a youth-led storytelling performance focused on the narratives of African refugees.
Proposals must demonstrate a meaningful impact on community collaboration and an emphasis on arts accessibility for all.
Since its inception in 2017, the Arts Impact program has awarded 107 grants to 84 Vermont organizations totaling $310,097 in funding.
“We are proud and grateful to recognize the outstanding work of these 25 individual artists and 23 cultural organizations in communities across Vermont,” said Vermont Arts Council Executive Director Karen Mittelman. “They exemplify the depth and breadth of artistic riches across our state, and the remarkable creative spirit that has sustained us all during the pandemic.”
The Council’s grant programs are made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the state of Vermont, and private donors.
For more information about the Creation Grant program, visit https://www.vermontartscouncil.org/grants/artists/creation.
For more information about the Arts Impact Grant program, visit https://www.vermontartscouncil.org/grants/organizations/arts-impact.
Julian Barnett (Burlington) to support the creation of a new dance work exploring the feelings of precipice and instability within our climate crisis
Naomi Bindman (North Bennington) to support the creation of a memoir that weaves together childhood stories and maternal relationships
Dustin Byerly (Montpelier) to support the creation of Boomslang's final album honoring Johnny Morris' creative legacy
Thomas Dunn (Bennington) to support the creation of an installation entitled "Epochal Songs,” a posthumous collaboration with Keith Haring
Leslie Fry (Winooski) to support the creation of two outdoor sculptures
Jonathan Gitelson (Brattleboro) to support the creation of a new series of interactive installations for the "Sonic Blanket" project
Ariel Goodman (Waterbury Center) to support the creation of a collaborative documentary project exploring food and resistance with immigrant dairy farm workers
Renee Greenlee (Huntington) to support the creation of cyanotypes of water for an immersive exhibition that invites the community to engage with Lake Champlain and its watershed
Dylan Hausthor (North Bennington) to support the creation of new photographs for a monograph exploring the complexities of storytelling, faith, folklore, and the inherent queerness of the natural world
Sarah King (Ripton) to support the creation and recording of a solo full-length album
Yanyi Luo (Bennington) to support the creation of a poetry manuscript entitled “BOUQUET”
Rebecca Mack (Burlington) to support the creation of new choral work
Kekla Magoon (Montpelier) to support the creation of a memoir celebrating the non-romantic relationships that sustain a single adult
Jennifer McCandless (Burlington) to support the creation of a series of sculptures that will explore themes of feminism, environmental issues, oppression, our relationship to ourselves as animals as well as issues around social justice
Matt Neckers (Eden) to support the creation of a large scale, moveable, magnetic, and participatory mural
Mina Nishimura (Bennington) to support the creation of a new dance work entitled "Mapping a Forest while Searching for an Opposite Term of Exorcist”
Barbara Paulson (Randolph) to support the creation of a marionette performance accompanied by original music exploring the concept of Liberty
Aly Perry (Hinesberg) to support the creation of a devised immersive theater piece exploring environmental degradation and grief entitled “Solastalgia”
Hannah Regier (Athens) to support the creation of a body of sculptural fiber art works entitled “Landcesters”
José Rivera (Pownal) to support the creation of a multimedia science fiction work involving diaspora studies and the political and cultural history of Puerto Rico
Maria Robinson (Barre) to support the creation of a novel entitled "Two Winters" that investigates the scaffolding of the self
Lissa Schneckenburger (Brattleboro) to support the creation of a full- length musical album that inspires and invigorates the collective desire to make positive change
Gina Stevensen (Burlington) to support the creation of a play set in a Vermont self-defense center that explores healthy expressions of anger, the lifelong growth that arises through developing physical confidence, and the unique bond that forms when people of different generations, backgrounds, and professions all gather to learn how to defend themselves
Leah Tonino (Ferrisburgh) to support the creation of a creative nonfiction book manuscript about solitude, community, and nature
Kota Yamazaki (Bennington) to support the creation of a new dance work entitled "I, Ghost, The, Other, or You”
FY2023 Arts Impact Grant Recipients:
BarnArts Center for the Arts (Barnard), $4,000 to support the Global Music Residency which brings international artists into Vermont public schools for performances and workshops
Cabot Arts (Cabot), $4,000 to support the 3rd annual Cabot Village 12th Night Celebration
Central Vermont Council on Aging (Barre), $3,000 to support the Creative Aging Celebration event which highlights the artistic work of older adults and uplifts creative aging as an integral part of healthy aging
Fairfield Community Center Association (East Fairfield), $3,210 to support artists, performers, and instructors during the Black Creek Adventure Camp
Lamoille North Supervisory Union (Hyde Park), $3,950 to support a free after-school therapeutic theater program for children in grades K-6 that focuses on social-emotional learning
NFI Vermont - Centerpoint (South Burlington), $4,000 to support a youth-led storytelling project and performance entitled "Telling Beautiful Stories of Refugees from Africa”
Retreat Farm (Brattleboro), $4,000 to support an outdoor winter art exhibit and celebration of community creativity entitled "Artful Ice Shanties”
River Gallery School (Brattleboro), $4,000 to support the Art for Social Change program
Sandglass Theater (Putney), $4,000 to support the production of the 2023 Voices of Community program
Shidaa Projects (Montpelier), $3,500 to support the 2nd annual "Celebration of Community" featuring West African culture
Untempered Ensemble (Thetford Center), $4,000 to support two improvisational jazz performances for the community
Worcester Historical Society (Worcester), $3,340 to support the first arts and artisans’ festival in Worcester
Lyric Theatre Company (South Burlington), $2,000
Main Street Arts (Saxtons River), $3,000
Saint Albans Museum (St. Albans), $3,000
The Aphasia Choir of Vermont (Milton), $2,000
The MINT Rutland Makerspace (Rutland), $2,000
The Outpost Foundation, Inc. (North Bennington), $3,500
About the Vermont Arts Council The Vermont Arts Council envisions a Vermont where all people have access to the arts and creativity in their lives, education, and communities. Engagement with the arts transforms individuals, connects us more deeply to each other, energizes the economy, and sustains the vibrant cultural landscape that makes Vermont a great place to live. Since 1965, the Council has been the state's primary provider of funding, advocacy, and information for the arts in Vermont. Learn more at www.vermontartscouncil.org
CONTACT: Catherine Crawley, Vermont Arts Council Communications Director, [email protected] , 802-828-5422
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