Vermont Business Magazine Four Vermont contemporary art organizations are teaming up for the third year in a row to award The Vermont Prize. Launched in 2022, The Vermont Prize is a collaborative initiative of the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC), Burlington City Arts (BCA), the Hall Art Foundation, and The Current, intended to celebrate and support outstanding visual art being made in Vermont today.
“There is an astonishing variety of exceptional visual art being created in Vermont today,” said BMAC Director Danny Lichtenfeld. “The Vermont Prize aims to draw attention to that fact and provide recognition and encouragement to Vermont's visual artists.”
The Vermont Prize is awarded to one artist annually. In 2022, visual artist, graffiti scholar, and educator Will Kasso Condry of Brandon received the inaugural prize. In his Afrofuturist art, Condry weaves what he describes as "the rich and layered stories of the African diaspora" in an exploration of the Black imagination and of Black joy.
In 2023, the prize was awarded to Terry Ekasala of West Burke. Describing her work, Ekasala said, "If we have to fit ourselves into a category I would say I am an intuitive painter, as I really don’t prepare a work with sketches or even a general subject beforehand. For years I worked, for the most part, abstract... Suddenly and surprisingly figures or figurative images began to appear!"
The winner of The Vermont Prize receives $5,000, and their work is showcased and archived at vermontprize.org. The competition is open to individuals as well as collaborating artists currently living and working in Vermont. Artists working in any visual medium are welcome to apply. There is no application fee. The application deadline is March 31, 2023. The winner will be selected on the basis of artistic excellence, regardless of career stage, and will be announced on June 30, 2024.
The Vermont Prize is juried by one representative from each of the four partner organizations, plus a special guest juror. This year’s guest juror is Phong H. Bui, an artist, writer, independent curator, and Co-Founder and Publisher/Artistic Director of the Brooklyn Rail. Bui has organized more than 80 exhibitions since 2000, including "Artists Need to Create on the Same Scale that Society Has the Capacity to Destroy," an ongoing curatorial project that was exhibited in 2019 as an official Collateral Event of the Venice Biennale, and "Singing in Unison" at eight venues across New York in 2022-23. From 2007 to 2010 Bui served as Curatorial Advisor at MoMA PS1. He received an Honorary Doctorate from University of the Arts in 2020 and the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts in 2021.
The four other jurors are Maryse Brand, Director of the Hall Art Foundation, Heather Ferrell, Curator and Director of Exhibitions at Burlington City Arts, Sarah Freeman, Director of Exhibitions at BMAC, and Rachel Moore, Executive Director of The Current.
“Contemporary visual artists are increasingly coming to or staying in Vermont to work,” said Brand. “These artists are creating innovative, beautiful, challenging, and exciting artwork, worthy of being appreciated within Vermont and also on a national level. We are excited to celebrate and support their work while also expanding on popular ideas of what constitutes Vermont art.”
“This collaborative initiative provides an opportunity to share the high caliber work that comes out of Vermont and define our position within the contemporary art world,” said Moore.
"The Vermont Prize is so important to our state and to our arts community for underscoring the incredible breadth of our contemporary art and artists. Joining together in this initiative, our organizations are proud to help counter some of the naive and outdated notions regarding the caliber of artists working in Vermont," said BCA Executive Director Doreen Kraft.
For more information, visit vermontprize.org.
For over 30 years, Burlington City Arts has helped cement Burlington, Vermont’s reputation as one of America’s most livable cities for the arts. BCA’s physical locations include the BCA Center, a three-level, year-round exhibition space featuring regional, national, and international artists, as well as BCA Studios, which hosts art classes, camps, and open studio hours in its state-of-the-art facilities. BCA also produces city-wide festivals, events, concerts, films, artist markets, and more.
Founded in 2007, the Hall Art Foundation makes available postwar and contemporary art works from its own collection and that of Andrew and Christine Hall for the enjoyment and education of the public. In Reading, Vermont, its campus of converted galleries, situated on a former dairy farm, consists of a 19th-century stone farmhouse, three barns, as well as a reception center and cafe. The property’s five historic buildings make up approximately 6,000 square feet of museum-quality exhibition space, and are surrounded by approximately 400 acres of pastures, hayfields, and extensive woodland. Outdoor sculptures by world-renowned artists are installed throughout the grounds.
The Current, a center for contemporary art located in Stowe, Vermont, was established in 1981 as Helen Day Art Center with a mission to enhance the human experience through the visual arts. The Current produces major exhibitions featuring a range of artists representing diverse geographies and career stages. Exhibitions are accompanied by a robust interpretive learning program including lectures, panels, and film screenings free to the public. The Current provides progressive arts education programs for all ages, with year-round classes, tours, workshops, and other interactive programs.
Source: 1.31.2024. BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — The Vermont Prize