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.
Did You Know? - Deer Hunting
Although not as central as it once was, hunting remains an important part of Vermont culture, whether out of necessity, for enjoyment of the outdoors or both. In this installment of DYK?, we'll hear from two different long-time hunters: Prentiss Dwinell of Marshfield, VT, and Doug Lawrence of Braintree, VT.
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.
Visions of the Future - Halloween in the VT Folklife Archive, 2024
Spooky Season is upon us! As a part of our partnership with Local Learning and the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Program we recently discovered a wonderful description of a turn-of-the-century Halloween fortune telling game in the VT Folklife Archive. In 1984, Daisy Turner of Grafton, VT shared an account of her sister, Wilhelmina, using the Magic of Halloween to discover the identity of her true love!
VTAAP Spotlight: Ballad Singing, West Glover, VT
In this VTAAP Spotlight meet Lorraine Hammond and Grant Cook who spent their apprenticeship year exploring the practice of unaccompanied ballad singing, in particular drawing inspiration from Oscar Deegrenia’s singing. Lorraine’s family were neighbors of Oscar’s, and she grew up hearing his songs. Their apprenticeship culminated in a free concert last August in West Glover in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, where Oscar was born.
Announcing the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program 2024/25 Cohort
Vermont Folklife is pleased to announce the latest cohort of master artist/apprentice pairs comprising the 33rd cycle of the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (VTAAP)! Seven projects will be supported this coming year, including Franco-American fiddling, warp-weighted loom weaving, Tibetan music and dance, granite carving, and more.
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.