Storytelling workshops that engage families of children with disabilities and performances of new work by Vermont musicians and composers are among the projects that received Arts Impact grants from the Vermont Arts Council.
Vermont nonprofits, municipalities, and schools can apply for the grants, which support projects that broaden access to arts and cultural activities, engaging individuals with limited access due to age, ability, income, race, geography, or other factors.
Thanks to additional support this year from the Vermont Community Foundation’s Arts Endowment Fund and other private donations, the Arts Impact program was able to expand its support.
Some of the awarded projects involve creative place-making to re-envision public spaces and strengthen community identity through the arts, such as collaborative murals in downtown Bellows Falls and Brattleboro, as well as community celebration events in under-resourced rural areas with limited access to music and arts.
This year, in response to the financial hardship many arts organizations face due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Arts Council added an operating grant option.
All applicants, whether they requested a project grant or operating support, were required to demonstrate meaningful community partnerships and positive impacts on arts participants, especially, underrepresented groups.
“This year’s Arts Impact grantees are engaging people across Vermont in imaginative and exciting ways,” said Arts Council Executive Director Karen Mittelman. “They demonstrate the power of the arts to deeply touch individual lives and to make a difference in the cultural life of communities across our state.”
A total of 70 applications were reviewed by an external panel of art professionals. Twenty-two grants were awarded—including 12 for operating support and 10 for specific projects—for a total of $66,824 in funding. Art Impact grants range from $1,000 to $4,000.
Funded activities must be completed between September 1, 2021 and August 31, 2022.
The Council's grant programs are made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the state of Vermont, and private donors.
For more information about the Arts Impact grant program, visit https://www.vermontartscouncil.org/grants/organizations/arts-impact.
FY2022 Arts Impact Grant Recipients:
Project Grants:
Artistree Community Arts Center (South Pomfret)
$2,774 to support a collaborative program with Zack’s Place enrichment center that provides accessible art classes to individuals with severe physical, emotional, and cognitive disabilities
Cabot Arts (Cabot)
$4000 to support artistic programming for the Cabot Village 12th Night celebration
Greater Falls Community Justice Center (Bellows Falls)
$3,000 to support Parenting with Respect participants and their children as they paint a mural in downtown Bellows Falls with artist Mark Ragonese
Integrated Arts Academy (Burlington)
$3,000 to support a community performance and neighborhood parade with Burlington Taiko teaching artists
Media Hour (East Arlington)
$4,000 to support the production and distribution of a short pilot video for public access TV about Steffen Gillom and his experience as a queer black man in Vermont
New Music On The Point (Leicester)
$4,000 to support the presentation of a new work by Vermont composer Eve Belgarian entitled "A Murmur in the Trees for 24 Double Basses"
Retreat Farm (Brattleboro)
$4,000 to support the free public summer concert series Music Under the Stars
Shidaa Projects (Montpelier)
$2,050 to support an event of West African music, drumming and dance in celebration of community and diversity
The Root Social Justice Center (Brattleboro)
$4,000 to support a mural collaboration between Vermont artists of color and a youth group focused on racial justice and healing
Vermont Family Network (Williston)
$3,000 to support storytelling workshops with Susanne Schmidt for families of children with disabilities
Operating Grants to support administrative costs:
77ART (Rutland), $4,000
Art in the Neighborhood (Brattleboro), $2,000
Arts Bus (Randolph), $4,000
Epsilon Spires (Brattleboro), $3,000
Get Thee to the Funnery (Brattleboro), $3,000
Lost Nation Theater (Montpelier), $2,000
Middlebury Acting Company (Weybridge), $2,000
Milton Artists' Guild (Milton), $2,000
Sundog Poetry Center (Johnson), $2,000
Theatre Adventure (Brattleboro), $4,000
Vermont Arts Exchange (North Bennington), $3,000
Vermont Jazz Center (Brattleboro), $2,000
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 vermontartscouncil.org