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.
Did You Know? - Music for Social Dancing
In this month's “Did You Know?” we share archival recordings of four different musicians who provided music for social dancing here in Vermont across the 20th century.
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.
Traditional Arts Spotlight: Judaic Weaving
This month VT Folklife staffer Mary Wesley visited with weavers Adina Daar and Carol Goldsmith who have been working together in the central Vermont region to learn how to make connections between their weaving practice and their Jewish heritage.
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.
Did You Know? - Music of Childhood
In the latest installment of our Did You Know? series about music in the Vermont Folklife Archive, we feature songs and music for children. Across cultures, we use music with children to soothe, to celebrate, to instruct, or to just have fun. This month, we’ll hear a lullaby from China, songs that a Sudanese family sings to their infant son, and Tibetan music that accompanies children’s games.
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.
Did You Know? Communities of Song
In this month’s Did You Know? we continue exploring music in the Archive with a feature on "Community of Song." There are so many reasons people come together and sing–whether for celebrations, spiritual purposes, companionship in adversity, or just to express joy. In this blog post, we hear from three groups of people who join together in song: Jamaican apple pickers in Shoreham, pub singers in Brattleboro, and a Burundian women’s chorus in Burlington.
Did You Know? Music in Vermont: Songs of loss and longing
While interviews make up the vast majority of the audio and video recordings in the Archive, the collection includes a great deal of music as well. This month we feature songs of loss and longing, including hearing from Franco-American singers, Carmen Beaudoin Bombardier and Kim Chase
Traditional Arts Spotlight: Scottish Fiddle and Dance
This month Mary dropped by Joanne Garton and Fiona Stowell’s fiddle lesson in Montpelier, VT. A lifelong musician and and Scottish dancer, Joanne is Fiona’s neighbor. The pair have been working together to explore the Scottish music tradition using both fiddles and feet!
Did You Know: Getting Around in Winter, Part III - The Ice Industry
In this month’s Did You Know? we look at the once-thriving business of cutting, harvesting, storing, and selling ice through the experiences of Albert Morelli. As a boy in the 1920s and 1930s, Albert worked with his father, Frank Morelli, who had an ice business based in Rouses Point, NY, serving New York state towns on Lake Champlain as well as towns in Québec. His stories come from a 1994 interview with Vermont Folklife's Greg Sharrow as part of a collection of interviews about life around Lake Champlain.
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!
“Turkeys and the moon brought us together.” — A very special meet-cute
It’s February 14th, St. Valentine’s Day, a time to celebrate love in all its forms. Here at Vermont Folklife, we often mark this sentimental season by turning our microphones towards friends and neighbors who are in love to ask the simple question, “How did you meet?” This year, we found one in an unexpected place, during an interview for an oral history project centered around the hunting and wildlife management of wild turkeys in Vermont,
Did You Know: Getting Around in Winter, Part II
In this month’s Did You Know we share winter travel stories from Alden Bettis of Waitsfield, Vermont. Alden was born during World War I, and grew up during the Depression. He shares about sledding to school, getting his milk truck out of the ditch using only a piece of rope, and riding an empty gas tank down the slopes at Mad River Glen!
Traditional Arts Spotlight: The Long, Slow Burn of Stone Carving
Mary and Eliza paid a visit to Heather Milne Ritchie’s stone carving studio in Barre, VT where Heather and her apprentice, Becky Lovely of Northfield, VT, wield pneumatic hammers and diamond-blade grinders to bring granite slabs to life.
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.