Harvard graduate Elizabeth Dotson-Westphalen returns to Vermont this summer to become the Director of the Governor’s Institute on the Arts.
Woodstock, Vermont native Elizabeth Dotson-Westphalen has been based in Brooklyn, New York since completing studies in psychology and neuroscience at Harvard. She has traveled all over the United States as a jazz trombonist, vocalist, and educator, and has performed internationally in South America, Europe, Canada, and the Caribbean. Her professional credits include national television (Conan O’Brien, Good Morning America, The Today Show) and employers such as Michael Bolton, Jill Sobule, Matt Wilson, Kenny Wollesen, and St. Vincent. She has just returned from teaching underprivileged music students about jazz in Ecuador, and her next album is due out later this year. Learn more at www.elizabethjazz.com
Elizabeth believes that giving back to the artistic community - and to Vermont – is an essential part of being an artist. She attended the Vermont Governor’s Institute on the Arts (GIA) in 1994, and is thrilled to have a hand in affording other Vermont students the opportunities she has gained from the arts. Her team members include several other alums of the program - Sarah Yorra, an educator, film maker, and actress, and Corey Harrower, a dance artist.
GIA (www.giaofvt.org) is a two-week summer arts-enrichment residency program for approximately 115 Vermonthigh school students entering 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. The program is part of the Governor’s Institutes of Vermont (www.giv.org), which presents seven summer Institutes in different subject areas (Arts, Asian Cultures, Current Issues & Youth Activism, Engineering, Information Technology, Mathematics, and Science & Technology).
Since 1984, students from around the state have gathered to create an unique and fun learning community while taking classes with experienced, professional teaching artists. GIA is not specifically a gifted and talented program, but exists to offer students with all kinds of interests the opportunity to try something new, embrace different perspectives and make connections with peers across the state.
GIA strives to offer classes unlikely to appear in Vermont high schools’ art curricula while providing students the opportunity to study and collaborate with professional artists and to make new friends. Each day is filled with classes in two artistic disciplines (chosen from such diverse fields as dance, theater, writing, music, and visual arts), community chorus, evening performances, and chances to attend and lead workshops in many areas.
The program’s cost is half of the national average, and financial aid is available. GIV also encourages students to raise funds through their local Rotary and Lions clubs, as well as small donations from local businesses. Applications are closed for 2010, but interested students can apply through their schools in February 2011.
GIA will be held at Castleton State College from June 27 to July 11, 2010. All are welcome to line Castleton's Main Street at 10amon Saturday, July 3 for the Annual Samba Parade, which features giant puppets, live music, and many surprises!
