For 40 years, Vermont Folklife has been the only statewide organization dedicated to exploring and presenting the diverse cultures of Vermont—sustaining our folklife, our way of life.
Read our 2024 Impact Report, Vermont Folklife at 40, to learn about our recent programs, partnerships, and accomplishments.
Give to Vermont Folklife
Each year more than half our funding comes from individual donors like you. Contributions from our friends and neighbors across Vermont and beyond keep Vermont Folklife strong.
Make a Donation:
If you’re looking to make a donation to the Touring Group, click the button below.
Give to Vermont Folklife:
Prefer to mail a check?
Vermont Folklife
74 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Feel free to email John Barstow, or call him at 802-388-2145 with any questions.
Other Ways to Give:
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Simplify your giving by joining a growing number of Vermont Folklife Sustaining Donors.
You can set up monthly giving directly through our site here.
For other options (e.g. quarterly, annually, etc), please email John Barstow, or call him at 802-388-2145.
Sustaining Donors make a convenient ongoing commitment. You save time, paper and postage. Your automatic monthly contribution of $10 or more is easy for you, and provides steady funding for the Vermont Folklife programs you care about.
You can increase or terminate your pledge at any time.
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By giving appreciated securities you can avoid paying capital gains taxes, receive a tax deduction on the full value of the gift, and support Vermont Folklife. It’s surprisingly easy to do. Please email or call John Barstow for details: 802-388-2145.
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If you are age 70½ or older, you can donate up to $100,000 directly to Vermont Folklife from your individual retirement accounts (IRAs) without it being counted as taxable income.
The gift must come from your required minimum distribution. Your financial institution needs to issue the check directly to us, and the gift must be made by December 31 of the tax year. Contact your provider or visit their website to obtain a simple form to fill out.
Please email or call John Barstow with any questions: 802-388-2145
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You don’t have to be wealthy to leave a legacy. By naming Vermont Folklife a beneficiary in your will, living trust, or retirement accounts, you support this important work for generations to come.
To make such a gift to the Vermont Folklife simply use the following language for specific bequest:
“I give and bequeath unto Vermont Folklife, tax ID# 22-2550951, the sum of $_____ to be used for general charitable purposes.”
You can also honor a friend or family member with your gift.
Please email John Barstow, or call him at 802-388-2145 for more information.
Your support helps to sustain so many elements of our work.
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![a person interviewing another person in the woods]()
ETHNOGRAPHY
The goal of ethnographic inquiry, the research methodology we employ, is to understand human experience from the perspective of the people to whom that experience belongs. Ethnographic principles of mutual respect, collaboration and partnership guide the outreach programs you make possible.
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FIELDWORK
Your support enables our research team of folklorists and documentarians to conduct as many as 100 interviews and documentary site visits per year using ethnographic methods and media-making tools.
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ARCHIVE
Private contributions by individuals like you are a primary source of support for our Archive infrastructure, which preserves the cultural legacy of Vermont through more than 20,000 historic and contemporary photographs, 5000 audio and video recordings of interviews and music, transcripts, field notes, photographs and family memories.
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EXHIBITS
Your donations help to make people visible to one another by sharing the experiences of Vermonters past and present through multi-media exhibits in our Middlebury gallery and traveling exhibit program - such as The Golden Cage: Mexican Migrant Workers and Vermont Dairy Farmers, pictured above.
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EDUCATION
Support from many individual contributors is pooled to underwrite the cost of our work with educators and students in designing place-based learning experiences that get students out of the classrooms to explore their communities.
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EVENTS
Public programs including lectures, panel discussions, and community events at our headquarters in Middlebury, VT are made possible with your generosity - such as our annual Day of the Dead celebration; altar pictured above.
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APPRENTICESHIPS
Private gifts from individuals like you are combined with federal funding from the NEA to make grants to master artists engaged in the intergenerational teaching of traditional arts, such as blacksmithing, Yankee fiddle music, Bosnian dance, and more.
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![A2VT band at ArtsRiot music venue in Burlington, VT]()
SUSTAINABILITY
We sustain the cultural practices that make us who we are by together supporting artists like A2VT - a group of New American musicians who combine traditional forms with hip hop - connecting past and present to ensure a vibrant future. Above, A2VT at ArtsRiot.
