So far in 2023, our Project Grants program has funded 32 projects totaling $146,250.
Atowi Project
Kchi Pôntegok Akiôtloka – The Land Speaks Its Story
$5000 to support Illustrations with GIS maps and library presentations for the pre-contact traditional cultural landscape along the Connecticut River between Skitchawaug in Springfield and Wantastegok Mskodal in Brattleboro.
Bennington Museum
Teacher’s Institute: Museums as Resources
$5000 to support an intensive, six-day academic professional development program on how to maximize the resources of the Museum’s collection to develop engaging new lesson plans.
Brattleboro Literary Festival
2023 Festival
$3000 for to support the 2023 Brattleboro Literary Festival. This year features established, award-winning authors and brilliant, emerging authors in unique pairings, sparking dynamic conversations about literature, and today’s most relevant issues.
Chandler Center for the Arts
Tidy Crimes
Panelist Discussion of Transgender Issues in Art. $4950 for a panel discussion to encourage community understanding of the visual art show, “Tidy Crimes,” which explores the experiences of four trans artists.
Corrine Yonce Studios
Longing is Just Our Word for Knowing
$5000 to celebrate neighborhood public spaces through a series of site-responsive paintings, audio interviews, and housing advocacy resources.
Definitely Gangster
An Animated Movie about Love and Friendship
$5000 for community screenings in underserved communities and cancer centers of a family-friendly magical adventure film about a child’s battle with cancer.
Friends of the Morrill Homestead
The Morrill Acts and HBCU’s: Libraries and Literacy
$1500 for Julius C. Jefferson to speak about the role libraries and librarians have had as keepers of African American culture and traditions at the Historically Black Colleges created by the 1890 Morrill Act.
Gedakina
One-Shelf Book Project
$5000 to support the One-Shelf Book Project which gifts books to schools and institutions that need appropriate books in the libraries on Native American literature.
Governor’s Institutes of Vermont
GIV’s 2024 Global Issues & Youth Action Institute
$5000 for GIV 2024 wich gives students a safe environment to dig deep into the issues affecting our world and where they gain the skills, confidence and empathy to make a positive difference in their community and beyond.
Kellogg-Hubbard Library
PoemCity
$4000 for displaying hundreds of original poems by Vermonters and presenting art, music, poetry readings, and exhibits in the Montpelier area in celebration of National Poetry Month.
Kingdom County Productions
Writers for Recovery Workshop
$5000 for a series of writing workshops focused on stories of addiction and recovery.
Lake Champlain Maritime Museum
Collections Corners 2023: Providing Public Access to Humanities
$5000 for interactive guided programs that bring artifacts directly to visitors, featuring new archaeological research and stories that are not prevalent in LCMM exhibits.
Milton Artists’ Guild
Writing Series
$5000 for The Milton Artists’ Guild’s writing series, bringing in Vermont poets and authors of varied backgrounds and styles to present and teach at the Guild.
New Vermont International Cinema
Thetford Arthouse Cinema Season 2023
$5000 for the Thetford Arthouse Cinema Season. The TAC exposes audiences — from Thetford, Strafford, Norwich, WRJ, Bradford, Vershire and Fairlee, VT, and Lyme, Orford and Hanover, NH — to “arthouse” films otherwise unavailable in the Upper Valley.
Orleans County Historical Society
Telling a More Inclusive Story/Listening Between the Lines
$5000 to develop a series of interpretive signs, a discussion toolkit, and inclusive language guide to tell a more inclusive story of the museum’s collections and to facilitate conversations.
PoemTown St. Johnsbury
Community Poetry
$1300 to lead community engagement activities at St. Johnsbury School and with the broader community during the Kingdom Maple Festival.
Pushcart Productions
Act 39
$5000 for a series of performances of Rob Mermin’s play Act 39, which confronts death with dignity and end of life decisions with humor, love and compassion.
Rural Arts Collaborative
Outside in Vermont: A History of Some Vermont Artists
$5000 to raise awareness of Vermont artists with disabilities.
Shakespeare in the Woods
2023 Season
$5000 for Shakespeare in the Woods’ 2023 season productions of Hamlet and The Tempest in repertory, connecting audiences with some of the most urgent issues of our time in an area with no other professional Shakespeare.
Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union
Juneteenth Celebration/Commemoration
$5000 to collaborate with local partners to host a public Juneteenth event in Bennington County.
Shelburne Museum
Sensory Friendly Fridays at Shelburne Museum
$5000 for Sensory Friendly Fridays, created in partnership with Inclusive Arts Vermont, the program offers a positive museum-going experience for children, teens, and adults with varying sensory processing differences.
Stone Valley Arts
Celebrating Abenaki Art, Heritage, and Culture
$5000 for a multi-year collaboration with the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association including an art show and outreach events.
Sundog Poetry Center
Justice and Poetry For All
$5000 for an inclusive event that affirms the cultural and artistic contributions of Vermont’s LGBTQ+ communities through poetry workshops, readings, and community dialogue.
Sustainable Woodstock
Black Earth Wisdom: An Evening with Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm
$1500 for a presentation by food justice activist and author Leah Penniman exploring traditional farming, food sovereignty and efforts to end racism in the food system.
Swanton Arts Council
Gathering of the Realms
$5000 for a Renaissance fair that offers historical interpretations through reenactments, demonstrations, entertainment, and reflection on times past.
The Civic Standard
Strengthening Hardwick’s Civic Spirit
$5000 to strengthen and enliven Hardwick Town Meeting, through activities in the schools, community conversation, education, and play; and Town Meeting support, including childcare and food.
Threshold Collaborative
Agents of Change/Phase Two: Empowering Youth and Community Through Creative Expression in the Arts
$5000 to partner with arts and social service organizations to implement trauma-informed creative writing workshops, presentations, staged readings, and performances.
Town Hall Theater
Between the Lines: A Salon Series
$5000 for BETWEEN THE LINES: A SALON SERIES, a collaboration of Town Hall Theater and the Vermont Book Shop, featuring local luminaries and facilitating important conversations built around books.
Two Daughters Production
The Afghan Women of Brattleboro
$5000 to support a series of audio stories that follows Afghan women who fled their homes after the Taliban took over their country, were resettled in Brattleboro, and are now staking a claim in their new hometown.
Vermont Council on Rural Development
2023 Vermont Community Leadership Summit
$5000 for the 2023 Vermont Community Leadership Summit which brings community builders & non-profit, business, and government leaders together for skill training, solutions for local initiatives, and new connections.
Vermont Symphony Orchestra
Jukebox: Color Theory
$5000 for The Vermont Symphony Orchestra’s Jukebox quartet partnership with Haitian/Vermont painter Julio Desmont for three concerts exploring migration and the intersection of art, geography, and history.
Vets Town Hall
Fall Town Halls
$5000 to facilitate Vets Town Halls in Colchester, Rutland, and in the Northeast Kingdom.
