Listening in Place - Vermont Folklife’s Pandemic Project
Listening in Place was a series of projects and initiatives that formed Vermont Folklife’s main response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was launched in late March 2020 following a series of slightly panicked phone calls and Zoom chats among our staff as we adapted to remote work and thought about how to stay true to our mission as an organization.
We were guided by our belief that a pathway through anxiety, fear and uncertainty lies in the act of listening as much as it does in the act of telling one’s story. What emerged was an effort to engage with personal stories as a way to strengthen relationships, and create a record of what Vermonters were experiencing throughout the pandemic, and beyond. We drew on our expertise in teaching the skills of interviewing and audio recording and focused on finding ways to invite contributions to our public archive—an ever-growing collection of recordings of Vermonters describing their everyday lives.
Four main activities became the focus of Listening in Place: the creation of a crowd-sourced Sound Archive to document our daily experiences during the pandemic, a series of online Virtual Story Circles, where Vermonters can gather remotely to listen and share during these challenging times, Virtual Vox Pops, short interviews recorded over the phone with VT Folklife staff, and Show Us Your Masks! a project to document homemade face masks created by Vermonters.
We began “sunsetting” Listening in Place activities in late 2022 but we have preserved some of the webpages below that were created at that time as a sort of “time capsule” of that time. You can also browse our compilation of some of the audio recordings and photos that were created through the program.
We extend deep gratitude to all of the collaborators and contributors that made Listening in Place possible.
Listening in Place Webpages
Illustration by Eliza West.
Please note - This program is no longer active.
These pages are preserved for posterity.
Listening in Place
While many of our family, friends and neighbors are at work on the front lines—healthcare workers, supermarket employees, emergency responders—a whole lot of us are at home, often with family members, or alone, working (or not) and waiting anxiously for something to change.
With so many of us in seclusion for our own safety and the safety of us all, how can we find strength in each other? The Vermont Folklife Center believes that a pathway through anxiety, fear and uncertainty lies in the act of listening as much as it does in the act of telling one’s story.
Listening in Place focuses on four responses to the COVID-19 emergency: the creation of a crowd-sourced Sound Archive to document our daily experiences during the pandemic, a series of online Virtual Story Circles, where Vermonters can gather remotely to listen and share during these challenging times, Virtual Vox Pops, short interviews recorded over the phone with Vermont Folklife staff, and Show Us Your Masks! a project to document homemade face masks created by Vermonters.
Through these programs we seek ways to maintain our connections to one another when we most need them, engage with personal stories to strengthen our relationships, and create a record of what we are experiencing throughout the pandemic, and beyond.
Illustration by Eliza West
Listening in Place Programs
The Listening in Place Sound Archive will preserve recordings submitted to us by Vermonters, creating a living document of how Vermonters are coping with this global reality. We invite people to send us audio recordings of interviews with the people they are sheltering with and remote recordings made with loved ones you can’t see right now, exploring their lives during this time of pandemic. We also encourage people to record the sounds that punctuate their lives in these unusual times—board games and birds, cooking and pets—whatever fills your ears.
In addition to the Sound Archive, we are adapting a model we first used as a response to Tropical Storm Irene to the realities of a world threatened by a pandemic that affects us all: online Virtual Story Circles. Over the next few weeks we will host several Virtual Story Circles by bringing together groups of Vermonters with a range of perspectives, all to share their experiences of life right now. We will also give community groups around the state the guidance they need to host their own virtual storytelling events.
We’re also employing a shorter format to connect with people around the state and learn about their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through Virtual Vox Pops we’re picking up the phone to conduct short, “vox pop” interviews with fellow Vermonters. “Vox Pop” is short for Vox populi—“voice of the people.” If you’d like for us to give you a call so that you can join other ‘voices of the people’ sign up here.
Are you a mask maker? Show Us Your Masks! collects and preserves digital images of homemade face masks created by Vermonters to supply essential workers and provide protection while we’re out and about. Share your photos with us via email, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or using our photo uploader.
Vermont Folklife is dedicated to working with you to keep the bonds that connect us vital and strong. At this unpredictable time, Listening in Place is one of the ways we’re trying to achieve that goal.
Acknowledgments
We are extremely grateful to Nick Connizzo for his technical assistance and Eliza West for her illustrations. Thank you both so much!
We thank The Vermont Community Foundation for their generous sponsorship of Listening in Place.