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Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Art Council announces the 22 recipients of its most competitive grant funding program, the Creation Grant, which supports Vermont artists in creating new work.
Among this year’s winning proposals are works that span visual arts, literary arts, music, film, and multidisciplinary fields, including a Vermont-set rock opera; a podcast exploring themes of religion and belief; and a multi-disciplinary sculptural installation exploring our relationship with technology.
More than 200 applications were received for the award, with a total of more than $1 million requested in funding. The program was able to support 11% of the requested need.
Grants are awarded to Vermont artists or artist groups in amounts up to $5,000. Funding can be used for time spent developing new work, to purchase materials, or to rent equipment or space for the process. The award is only available to artists who have not received a Creation Grant within the last five years.
Criteria for selection are artistic excellence (60%), impact (25%), and project management (15%). Recipients were selected in two rounds by independent panels comprised of 38 practicing Vermont artists and arts professionals. A total of 50 proposals advanced to the second round of review, which was reviewed by a dozen panelists. Applicants could submit audio or video files for their proposals in place of written applications.
"The remarkable depth and breadth of artistic talent across Vermont is evident in the overwhelming response that we receive each year to the state’s most highly anticipated grant program for artists. We’re thrilled to be able to support the incredible range of talent that these Vermont artists represent and look forward with great anticipation to when their new creations appear in the world," said Vermont Arts Council Executive Director Susan Evans McClure.
The Creation Grant program has supported more than 200 Vermont artists since the program began in 2009.
Creation Grants are supported in part by the Vermont Community Foundation’s Arts Endowment Fund, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the state of Vermont, and private donors.
FY2025 Creation Grant Recipients:
Rachel Bell (Brattleboro) to support the creation of a collection of bal folk music
Bryan Blanchette (Graniteville) to support the creation of an album of contemporary Abenaki/”Abenglish” songs
Michael Bodel (Putney) to support the creation of an interdisciplinary work of dance, sound, and object theater titled “Lost Grain”
Bob Boemig (East Dummerston) to support the creation of a landscape sculpture that will transform a polluted brownfield area in Brattleboro
Liza Cochran (Lincoln) to support the creation of a nonfiction book on mothering in the age of extinction
Eli Dworkin (Brattleboro) to support the creation of a new body of instrumental and lyrical music compositions exploring the unique tonal capacities and sonic versatility of the Hammond organ
John Ebo (Castleton) to support the creation of a hip-hop album titled “ABAM 2”
Melanie Finn (Lyndon) to support the creation of a fiction novel titled “The Glimpsers”
Bianca Giaever (Vershire) to support the creation of a new season of the podcast “Constellation Prize”
Garret Harkawik (Wilmington) to support the creation of a documentary film about dowsing titled “Above The Well”
Seelai Karzai (Rutland) to support the creation of a full-length poetry collection titled “SUCK THE LEMON”
Sarah Letteney (Burlington) to support the creation of large works on paper that, through a surrealist lens, explore our psychological relationship to physical space
Joey Morgan (Brattleboro) to support the creation of a multi-disciplinary installation titled “La Nuit Blanche”
Natalie Norris (White River Junction) to support the creation of a graphic memoir titled “Dear Mini: Book Two”
Owen Schuh (Westminster) to support the creation of two print editions in stone lithography and screen printing
Humble Light Films (Norwich) to support the creation of a documentary film with a preliminary title of "The Lawrence Affair” that tells the true story of a corrupt undercover police officer active in Vermont during the early 1970s
Sandy Sokoloff (Grand Isle) to support the creation of new work for the “Eye of God” painting series
Fern Sutton-Smith (Montpelier) to support the creation of a Vermont-set rock opera titled “Adult Children”
Anna Van Dine (Winooski) to support the creation of a podcast exploring “the ever-present past”
Kiersten White (Bellows Falls) to support the creation of “Remember Me,” the second episode in “Black Girls Kissing,” a genre-bending anthology web series with a predominately QPOC cast and crew
Orly Yadin (Burlington) to support the creation of a film, partly experimental in style, documenting the filmmaker’s childhood and her family’s evolving role in developing Zionism
Connor Young (Burlington) to support the creation of a contemporary jazz album with original music
Applications for the FY26 Creation Grant will open in January 2025. For more information, visit https://www.vermontartscouncil.org/grants/find-a-grant/artists/creation/.
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
Source: 9.17.2024. MONTPELIER, VT—The Vermont Art Council
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