Field Notes Blog

After 18 years at VT Folklife, Bob Hooker is retiring!  Bob has been an indispensable part of the organization for many years, filling more roles than we can count, a small number of which include: greeting everyone who walked through the doors of our Middlebury gallery; conducting mailings and thanking donors; organizing, decorating, and managing our building; and planning and executing our winter Gingerbread House exhibit.

Vermont Folklife and Conversations from the Open Road announce the Vermont Community Fellows Program (formerly titled Youth Community Action Corps), a three-year initiative to build statewide capacity for community-based, action-oriented field research. In Fiscal Year 2024, Senator Bernie Sanders secured $665,000 in Congressionally Directed Spending for this program through the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Sanders was proud to secure this federal funding so that young people can help tell the story of Vermont for generations to come. Applications for the first cohort of Fellows will be accepted from November 1 to December 15, 2024. 

For the past nine months, Vermont Folklife has been hosting events around the state that invite people to come together and share the experience of listening–deeply–to voices, sounds, and songs from across the state and across the years. Called “Listening Parties,” these events are a bit like DJ sets of audio drawn from the Vermont Folklife Archive. Since October 2023, people in Lincoln, Burlington, Manchester, Windsor, Winooski, and Waitsfield have joined us for this community listening experience.

Vermont Folklife is pleased to announce the 33rd year of its Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (VTAAP). With funding from the National Endowment for the Arts through a partnership with the Vermont Arts Council, this program supports the continued vitality of Vermont’s living cultural heritage. Information about the program is available in fourteen languages spoken within the state, including Dari, Pashto, Somali, Nepali, Spanish, and Ukrainian.

It’s February 14th, St. Valentine’s Day, a time to celebrate love in all its forms. Here at Vermont Folklife, we often mark this sentimental season by turning our microphones towards friends and neighbors who are in love to ask the simple question, “How did you meet?” This year, we found one in an unexpected place, during an interview for an oral history project centered around the hunting and wildlife management of wild turkeys in Vermont,

Vermont Folklife is pleased to announce the cohort of mentor and student artists comprising the 32nd cycle of the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (VTAAP)! Eighteen mentorships will be supported this coming year, including traditional Nepali basket making, Judaic ritual weaving, granite carving, Burundian dance, and more.

As our state continues to recover and heal from the 2023 floods, we are re-sharing some of the resources that Vermont Folklife developed for times of crisis. 

We are delighted that Mary Wesley, who has worked with Vermont Folklife in a wide range of capacities since 2009, has been promoted to Director of Education & Media as of May 22nd.

The Touring Group had just returned from their April 21-30th cultural travel tour to Cape Breton, a whirlwind of performances, workshops, and visits with many opportunities to engage with and be inspired by Cape Breton's cultural and language communities.

he Vermont Folklife Board and Staff are thrilled to announce the appointment of Ian Drury as full-time Director of Young Tradition Vermont at Vermont Folklife. Drury will succeed Mark Sustic, founder and long-time director of Young Tradition Vermont (YTV), formerly a stand-alone nonprofit that joined forces with Vermont Folklife in July, 2022.

VFC was thrilled to support a one-of-a-kind summer camp in Brattleboro, conceived and led by a group of five Afghan artists who have been making waves across southern Vermont since resettling in the area early this year. Abdullah, Marwa, Meetra, Negina, and Zuhra are all part of ArtLords, a global Afghan-led movement using art for peace building and social transformation. With support from Vermont Afterschool, VFC underwrote three traditional-arts based youth summer programs, including this camp in Brattleboro.

Thanks to grant funding from the Canaday Family Foundation, the Vermont Folklife Center is pleased to welcome our first Youth Media Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year. This position will support the objectives of the Vermont Voices pilot program, whose main objective is to integrate humanities-centered training and skills practice at career and technical education (CTE) centers.

The Vermont Folklife Center is pleased to announce the cohort of mentor and student artists comprising the 31st cycle of the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (VTAAP)! Twelve mentorships will be supported this coming year. With funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Vermont Arts Council, the Center initiated the program in 1992 to support the continued vitality of Vermont's living cultural heritage.

In 1792 Rachel Harris Burton of Manchester was exhumed from her grave and partially burned out of fear she had become vampire. Rachel, and the citizens of Manchester, were caught up in a vampire panic that spread through New England during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a panic with two documented cases in Vermont, first in Manchester and then again over 40 years later in Woodstock.

The Folklife Center strives to reach across the state with our events and exhibits, and this July we’re enjoying concentrating our energy in southeastern Vermont through a range of programs in Brattleboro. The In/Visible Stories Series centered around The Most Costly Journey exhibit, on display through the end of July, features the experiences of Latin American migrant farmworkers in Vermont. Here’s a glimpse of some of the events that have taken place over the last two weeks:

This winter, the Folklife Center launched its Teaching with Primary Sources project. As part of that effort, VFC surveyed its own archival holdings to identify primary sources related to farming life and local foodways. April McIlwaine, a graduate student of the UVM Foodways Program and VFC Education intern for Spring 2022, was an instrumental part of the completion of this survey, and offered key insights for the future of this project.

On Saturday, May 14th, VFC staff joined the Burlington Nepali Rai and Limbu Community for Sansari Puja—a springtime festival celebrating Mother Earth. The community gathered and were joined by friends and neighbors from around Burlington to connect, eat, make music and dance.

We are excited to announce that Young Tradition Vermont will become a program of the Vermont Folklife Center effective July 1, 2022!

On March 13, 2022 VFC Education staffer Mary Wesley attended a special reception at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center (BMAC) to celebrate a collaboration between the VFC’s Vermont Voices project, the Windham Regional Career Center, and Mexican-American artist Yvette Molina. Mary reflects on the experience in this Field Note.

This year marks Associate Director and Archivist Andy Kolovos' 20th anniversary at the Folklife Center. We asked Jane Beck, the VFC’s Founder and Director from 1984 to 2007, to reflect on Andy’s time with the organization.

During 2022 the VFC is celebrating 30 years of Innovation in Tradition by looking back on how its Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (VTAAP) has both sustained and advanced traditional arts in Vermont over the last three decades. Our staff is currently working hard to create an exciting year of programming to showcase the many amazing artists who have come through the program. Learn more here!

This winter we’re delighted to be working with two interns who are currently supporting our Education and Archive programs. April McIlwaine is a graduate student at the University of Vermont where she is pursuing a Masters in Food Systems. Lua Piovano-Marcotte is a third year student at Bennington College studying sociology, rural studies, and disability studies. Read more here!

After last year’s success the VFC’s Annual Gingerbread House Competition and Exhibit will again be held virtually! Open to any Vermont resident, bake and build an edible creation and submit photos online to participate in the contest. Prizes will be awarded in multiple categories and photos from each submission will be included in an online exhibit. Registration is required. Register here!

It’s our favorite time of the year! Halloween 2021 is nearly upon us. Check out the many ways the VFC observes the spooky season.

The Vermont Folklife Center is pleased to announce the cohort of master artists and students comprising the 29th year of the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (VTAAP). Thirteen projects will be supported this year. With support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Vermont Arts Council, the Center initiated the program in 1992 to support the continued vitality of Vermont's living cultural heritage. More than 365 apprenticeships have been supported since 1992. Read about the 13 successful applicants of the 2020 - 2022 program cycle here.

This year our Annual Gingerbread House Competition and Exhibit is going virtual! Open to any Vermont resident, bake and build an edible creation and submit photos online to participate in the contest. Prizes will be awarded in multiple categories and photos from each submission will be included in an online exhibit. Pre-registration is required. Register here!