VT Community Fellow Alexis Yamashita of Essex Junction, VT. Photo by Macaulay Lerman

This exhibit will be on view to the public beginning June 1 at the Center for Arts and Learning in Montpelier.

On June 1, Vermont Folklife is thrilled to present an exhibit highlighting the work of the first cohort of the Vermont Community Fellows Program (VCFP). VCFP supports Vermont residents in conducting collaborative, community-based research on issues that matter most to the people and places they care about. This program is made possible thanks to Congressionally Directed Spending secured by Senator Bernie Sanders through the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Over the past year plus, Fellows have engaged their communities using ethnographic fieldwork—listening to diverse perspectives, documenting experiences, and working together to imagine and enact positive change.

This exhibit represents the work of the first VCFP cohort, who began their work in February 2025. These Fellows, residents from all over the state, will present their exhibit to legislators at a Vermont State House event in early May.

The exhibit will be on view to the public beginning June 1 at the Center for Arts and Learning in Montpelier and will later tour the state. Topics this exhibit will explore include Asian Jewish life in Vermont, grassroots solutions to housing insecurity in Halifax, life histories of first-generation Tibetan Americans living in Vermont, perceptions of change and resilience in the Mad River Valley, and more.