Mary Wesley Named New Director of Education and Media
We are delighted that Mary Wesley, who has worked with Vermont Folklife in a wide range of capacities since 2009, has been promoted to Director of Education & Media as of May 22nd. Mary first connected with Vermont Folklife through a joint internship with VT Folklife and Young Tradition Vermont. She returned in 2013 to coordinate the New Neighbors Music educational project. She was also involved with the formation of Young Tradition Vermont as a nonprofit and throughout its existence.
In 2018 Mary formally joined VT Folklife staff as part-time education and media instructor. Since then, Mary has served as the backbone of our education efforts through three transitions of Education Directors/Coordinators.
In addition to providing continuity to our educational programs the past five years, Mary’s diverse range of expertise and skills have contributed to (and improved) nearly every VT Folklife program. She launched our VT Untapped podcast, co-coordinates our apprenticeship program (VTAAP), collaborates with Andy and Kate on research projects, trains fellow Vermonters in learning and employing ethnographic methods in their own communities, and played a key role in supporting the Young Tradition Vermont transition to VT Folklife (among many other successes!). Please join us in congratulating Mary for her superb contributions thus far, and to many more to come!
Mary has a degree in Anthropology from McGill University, and a graduate certificate in audio and multimedia storytelling from the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies. Mary also works as a contra dance caller, and collaborates on other audio projects and podcasts, including the Country Dance and Song Society’s “From the Mic” podcast.
The Director of Education role was previously held by Sasha Antohin, who stepped away earlier this spring to pursue her interests in academic research, writing and editing. We are grateful to Sasha for her many contributions to our mission and wish her the very best in her new endeavors.
