Jasper Craven is a Northeast Kingdom native and former VTDigger staff writer who covers men and the military for outlets including Harper’s, POLITICO Magazine, NY Mag, Wired, GQ, and The New York Times. His first foray on this beat came in 2018 via a seven-part investigative series for VTDigger into sexual misconduct and an ultra-masculine “Top Gun” culture within the Vermont National Guard. That work prompted reforms, firings, and the resignation of the Adjutant General.
Sara Grey is a fine American singer of traditional song and ballads, banjo player and song collector. She’s immersed in the song traditions of both sides of the Atlantic and also loves teaching the banjo as a versatile instrument for accompanying song. She has performed throughout the UK, Europe, North America and Australia for the past 65 years.
Ellery Foutch is an Associate Professor in the American Studies Program at Middlebury College, where she teaches classes on the art and material culture of the United States, as well as critical museum studies. Her new book, A Perfectionist Impulse: The Art of Stopping Time in the Nineteenth Century (University of Minnesota Press, July 2026) explores period fascinations with perfection and its preservation across art, natural history, popular culture, and museum exhibition practices.
Jen Berger (she/her) is a socially engaged artist and educator based in Vermont. Her interdisciplinary practice—spanning printmaking, performance, installation, and mixed media—explores the intersections of art, care, and justice, with a focus on collective grief, participation, and belonging. Grounded in decades of social movement experience, her artwork connects research, making, and community engagement into public and shared spaces.
Isaac Evans-Frantz is the executive director of Action Corps and the clerk of the Brattleboro Selectboard. He was raised in a low-income rural Vermont family and is a leader of Vermont’s LGBTQI+ community.
Kevin Graffagnino is author/editor of 17 books on Vermont history, including The Shaping of Vermont, Vermont in the Victorian Age, and Vermont Heritage: Essays on Green Mountain History, 1779-1920.
Alan Berolzheimer has directed the book publishing program of the Vermont Historical Society since 1998. He is also the project historian and assistant director of The Flow of History, a Teaching American History program providing professional development activities to Vermont teachers. Alan received a Ph.D. in 20th-century U.S. History from the University of Virginia in 1996. He lives in Norwich.
For five decades Jay Craven has written, produced, and directed character-driven films deeply rooted in Vermont and New England, including five films based on the works of Howard Frank Mosher. Craven describes working with actors such as Rip Torn, Tantoo Cardinal, Kris Kristofferson and Michael J. Fox, and shares the satisfactions and challenges that come from a deep immersion into place-based narrative.
In the 1970’s, writer David Budbill—a recent arrival to Wolcott, Vermont—was inspired by his own working-class background to shine a light on the lives of his new neighbors who were, in turns, beautiful, ingenious, struggling to survive, and completely overlooked by the powers that be. Presented by Nadine Budbill (David’s daughter and Literary Executor) this talk introduces David and his work, followed by a selection of his evocative and timeless poems.
New York Times Bestselling author M. T. Anderson writes books for children, teens, and adults, including The Pox Party, which won the National Book Award; Elf Dog & Owl Head, which won a Newbery Honor Award, and the science fiction satire Feed, which was a Finalist for the National Book Award and which won the L.A. Times Book Prize.
Our seasonal “Words in the Woods” program allows Vermonters and visitors to enjoy our state’s natural beauty while listening to and reading literature in the outdoors.
Humanities Camps are filled with reading and writing projects, field trips, and outdoor activities.
We won a 2020 Schwartz Prize for best public humanities programming in the U.S. for Vermont Reads 2019: “March: Book One.”
We supported the Chandler Center for the Arts’ Global Connections Youth Outreach program, which highlights artists from around the world.
Our free public events help bring the power of the humanities to communities across Vermont.
