Around the Ground in...Vermont!
Posted 1/26/2023
The next stop in our Around the Ground series highlighting our partners and how they use CreativeGround is the Green Mountain State.
Vermont Fast Fact
Vermont creatives are renaissance folx! Of the 3,105 Vermont profiles on CreativeGround, approximately one-sixth - over 500 - selected Multidisciplinary as their primary discipline.
See the results yourself – Explore Vermont multi-disciplinary profiles:
Creative Economy at Work
We are pleased to highlight some Vermont profiles shared by Catherine Crawley, Communications Director for the Vermont Arts Council (VAC). She presented at our Kickoff event for the public launch of CreativeGround 2.0 this past fall. Addressing the 165 or so who attended, she focused on the help CreativeGround provides to the Council in learning more about the diverse artists, arts organizations, and creative businesses that populate Vermont. Each month its e-newsletter, called ArtMail, dedicates space to spotlight a CreativeGround Profile. Anyone - in or out of the state - may sign up for ArtMail here.
Vermont In the Spotlight
Past Vermont Spotlights have included Sarah-Lee Terrat, Zig Zag Lit Mag, Sandglass Theater, and Wunderle’s Big Top Adventure.
Sarah-Lee Terrat
Sarah-Lee Terrat is an illustrator, muralist, and toy designer who came to the state in 1985 to help brand the iconic Ben & Jerry’s. For over 35 years she has created original murals and other environmental art pieces for corporations, community and travel organizations, healthcare facilities, restaurants, and hotels. She received an Art in Public Buildings grant from the Vermont Arts Council to create a mural in the new State Complex in Waterbury, VT. She also teaches mural and visual arts residencies in schools, arts organizations, and camps. She is a founding Board member of Waterbury Area MakerSphere.
Image courtesy of Sarah-Lee Terrat.
Zig Zag Lit Mag
Zig Zag is an arts and literary magazine by and for Vermonters who “live, labor, or loiter” in Addison County. The publishers print 100 hand-numbered copies of each issue on the Spring & Fall Equinoxes. Each issue features 20-or-so local artists and writers. Zig Zag also prints limited run hand-numbered author-signed chapbooks, hosts workshops, and maintains an online Etsy shop.
Sandglass Theater
A company specializing in puppetry, music and acting since 1982, its productions have toured internationally in nearly 30 countries and won numerous international prizes. Sandglass also performs and presents in its own 60-seat renovated barn theater in Putney, VT and teaches a two-week intensive training program each summer. For the company, this kind of theater is a means to explore contemporary issues and inspire dialogue.
Image courtesy of Sandglass Theater. Photo credit: Kiqe Bosch.
Pictured: Shoshana Bass
Wunderle's Big Top Adventures
Wunderle's Big Top Adventures is a performing group founded by Troy Wunderle. Primary programs include circus shows, corporate extravaganzas, school residencies, big top workshops, circus camps, afterschool programming, comic lectures, tricks-gags-games-gimmicks and strolling entertainment. Its one-man shows as well as collaborations of circus professionals have worked with local fairs, parks and rec departments, schools and a nursing home.
Image courtesy of WBTA / Troy Wunderle
The CreativeGround Directory In Action
The VAC website lists CreativeGround as the arts directory for the state of Vermont. The Council encourages artists and others working in Vermont’s creative economy to create their own profiles, providing a link to do so. They also provide a link to CreativeGround’s Frequently Asked Questions.
Because time is precious (and artists’ time especially so!) CreativeGround also offers a Toolkit of tips to create a strong profile. As Crawley points out, “The higher the profile score, the higher profile will rise in the search results.” The score is not shown to the public. Rather, it lives on the backend where only the profile managers can see it along with tips to raise it by completing more profile sections and keeping them updated.
Participants in the VAC’s grantseeker workshops are encouraged to establish or update profiles early in the process. In fact, doing so is required for their Artist Development Grants and Creation Grants. Grant managers use CreativeGround to look up artists and share information about them for announcements like this one. “The filter tool is a great way to look for artists in specific disciplines,” Crawley emphasizes.
The bottom line?
If you’re interested in being seen by grantmakers, featured in arts council news and otherwise seen and counted as a participant in Vermont’s creative network, CreativeGround is the place to be. We hope to see you there soon!
This is part of a series of blogposts called “Around the Ground,” visiting each state in sequence with a recap of presentations from the Kickoff Event of CreativeGround 2.0. In case you missed it, the last one focused on New Hampshire. See them all here.