| VOLUME 27 | * * All Arts News On the Web * * | February 16, 2023 |
ArtBits always features a calendar of the goings on of Franklin County artists. Check out these events around Franklin County. Each issue includes the entire text of our weekly newspaper column. STUFF YOU SHOULDN'T MISS
Franklin County's arts and music gatherings bring new opportunities, gossip, "show-and-tell" and occasional workshops. There are also booked and acoustic Open Mic Nights that feature music, readings, and more from the best new artists in Vermont.
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The Montgomery Center for the Arts published an open letter with a look at what they've been up to and what they plan for this year. They received a $50,000 restoration grant from the Preservation Trust of Vermont. ART CENTER NEWS
In addition to all the restoration work, They've had a busy year with public programs and shows while repairing the plumbing system, installing new dehumidifiers, inside painting, and emptying the attic. In the future, they hope to tackle accessibility, add a bathroom to the lower level, and create a basement space for classes and community work.
With the windows out for restoration and no money for heating the great outdoors, the building has been closed temporarily. They are scheduled to reopen the building open to the public in April/May 2023. They expect the window project to be completed by September.
MCA is always looking for volunteers to help with maintenance, grant writing, gallery hosting, outreach, and teaching public arts and wellness classes. They also need leads for a qualified painter for historic buildings and folks interested in donating to the Center either with time or money. Email Suzanne Dollois. for that or find them on Facebook for the whole letter or more info.
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations were largely unchanged over the last week. The Vermont Department of Health reported on February 8 that 48 people remain hospitalized. Overall, Vermont's new COVID-19 cases dropped to 317 statewide last week, down from 478 the week before. Franklin County's case load stood at 92 cases in the 14 days ending Saturday. Four more Vermonters died of COVID-19 last week, bringing the total fatalities to 901. Franklin County has lost 85 residents to the disease. As of this month, the CDC calculates county-by-county COVID-19 "community levels." Infections in Franklin County have returned to a "Low" level. PANDEMIC NEWS
Because Vermont relies on self reporting, the number of actual cases is higher than the Department of Health finds. You can report self-test results by following instructions on your test kit to automatically provide your results to your local health department or with the Vermont COVID-19 Self-Test Result Reporting Form. If you test positive, stay home and isolate for five days or longer. You can leave your home on day six if your symptoms have improved and you have had no fever for at least 24 hours without the use of medicine that reduces fevers.
Take an at-home test if you begin having symptoms like fever, sore throat, runny nose, or loss of taste or smell, or at least five days after you come into close contact with someone with COVID-19, or if you plan a get together with people who are at risk of severe disease or may not be up to date on their vaccines. Every home in the U.S. is again eligible to order a new round of free at-home tests from COVIDtests.gov. Need other tests? COVID.gov also has for links for at-home tests at retailers and pharmacies, insurance reimbursement for at-home tests, and the 20,000 no-cost antigen and PCR COVID-19 test sites nationwide. Most major chains including Walgreens and Price Chopper locally should have free N95 masks.
People keep getting sick, mostly because they aren't taking precautions. Original COVID-19 vaccinations remain below the level of herd immunity, and even fewer have gotten boosters. All of Vermont's walk-in clinics closed Tuesday. Only about 60% of adults and eligible children have even received a flu vaccine. Most doctors and area pharmacies offer COVID-19 and flu vaccinations.
Whether you have contracted and recovered from this coronavirus or haven't yet received a booster or even if you have done it all, immunity has waned again for many of us. That lowered resistance leads to infections and increased transmission of the virus. To date, only 28% of eligible Vermonters age 5 and over have gotten the bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccine. Here's my own advice. Get the COVID shot(s), get the booster(s), and take precautions, particularly if you are inside with other people--that still means wearing a mask indoors.
No vaccine is 100% foolproof. Wash your hands. Keep wearing an N95 mask where you can't control the airflow around you until we reach the same herd immunity we have for smallpox and once had but lost for measles because so many parents refused to vaccinate their kids. Bonus: it will also help protect you from pollen, summer colds, and the winter flu.
Call 855.722.7878 or visit healthvermont.gov for more info about the first or second dose and for booster shots of the vaccine. You can also walk-in at Costco, CVS, Hannaford, Price Chopper/Market 32, Rite Aid, Shaw's, Walgreens, or Walmart, or get an appointment with CVS, Kinney Drugs, Walgreens, or UVMMC Outpatient Pharmacies. Providers and pharmacies must give vaccines at no cost to the patient.
JEFFERSONVILLE--Bryan Memorial Gallery visits the Tumacacori Mission in the upper Santa Cruz River Valley in southern Arizona and more in the Southwest in Around the World with Mary & Alden. In Homeschool with the Bryan they have examined figurative work and how to perceive or "read" art. Find it all on Facebook. ART ON THE WALLS
The Gallery is closed until March for winter break but appointments are available. Call (802.644.5100) to schedule or click here for more info.
MORRISVILLE--The February Paint and Sip: Intuitive Painting with Carolyn Crotty is at River Arts on Friday at 6 p.m. The exploratory evening will be very process-based with live music to add creative energy. ART YOU CREATE
Tuition is $55 which includes materials and two glasses of wine. Click here to enroll and for more info.
ONLINE--The Vermont Abenaki Artists Association and the Vermont Humanities Council present Heritage Forensics: Rethinking Indigenous Ways of Knowing in an Increasingly Dangerous World with Dr. Frederick Wiseman in the Two-Eyed Seeing Speaker Series on Zoom on Tuesday at 7 p.m. HUMANITIES
In this presentation Dr. Wiseman will demonstrate the ways that Indigenous and scientific ways of knowing can work together to preserve the American Abenaki biocultural history and worldview. Paleo-ethnobotanist and retired Johnson State College humanities professor Fred Wiseman is Director of the Vermont Indigenous Heritage Center at the Burlington Intervale.
Click here to register and for more info about the talk.
ST. ALBANS--Osher Lifelong Learning Institute continues the Fall weekly program series with The Future of Aviation and a look at Beta Aviation in the Greg Brown Lodge at Hard'ack on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
OLLI no longer takes payments at the door. They "strongly recommend that all attendees/members pre-register prior to the start of the program." Click here for more info.
MILTON--Social Sundays continue at the Milton Artists' Guild Art Center with free weekly art classes for families at MAG on Sunday at 1 p.m. Each week offers a different project--last week was Making a Watercolor Resist Painting with Cathy Laclair. Stay for 30 minutes or the whole two hours. Click here for more info. WORKSHOPS & CLASSES
Here's my own plan with over one million U.S. deaths and as our precautions wane. I got the COVID and Flu shots, and the booster, and I take precautions because no vaccine is 100% foolproof. I wash my hands. I double mask with a genuine N95 mask (not a bandana and not a "chin strap") and a surgical mask where ever I can't control the airflow. It isn't much of a burden and it mostly protects me from all the people without masks I see in stores and concerts. ON STAGE LIVE
Thursday, February 16
SOUTH HERO--Cooie Sings Americana at the Blue Paddle Bistro this evening at 6 - 8 p.m. Click here or find them on Facebook for more info.
Thursday-Saturday, February 16-18
ESSEX JUNCTION--On Tap starts off another weekend of music with the Robin Gottfried Band tonight at 6 p.m. two shows Friday night, Mitch & Devon at 5 p.m., and then Jonny Mop for new way to clean ears starting at 9 p.m., plus two more shows live on Saturday night with She Was Right at 5 p.m., and Britt Kane & Company starting at 9 p.m. Call 802.878.3309 or email for more info. Click here to reserve a table.
Friday, February 17
JOHNSON--Dark Star Project make its winter return to Moog's Joint on Saturday at 9 p.m. Admission is $10. Tickets are available in advance at Moog's Joint or find them on Facebook for more info.
ST. ALBANS--14th Star presents McMaple featuring siblings Liam and Cait McCaffrey plus Brian Maple for a night of live music in The Room on Saturday at 6 p.m. Find them on Facebook for more info.
SOUTH HERO--Carol Ann Jones plays the Winter Wine Down Friday at Snow Farm Vineyard on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Food will be catered, call Kristen (802.922.8074) for all pre-order food requests. Click here for more info.
ST. ALBANS--The Depot presents 90 Proof with high energy dance songs and classic rock favorites on Friday night at 9 p.m. The cover charge is $5. There will be a cash bar will as well as food for purchase. Find them on Facebook for more info.
Friday-Saturday, February 17-18
SHELDON--The Abbey pitches a double header to start off the weekend. The Friday Night Music Series continues with live music in the Pub on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night is Comedy Night with guitar-playing comedian Bucky Lewis performing "for grownups" on Saturday at 7 p.m. Doors at 5:30.
The Friday Night Music Series is free. Admission to the Comedy Show is $20 per person. Click here or find them on Facebook for more info tickets and.
ST. ALBANS--Twiggs often has shows on Friday and Saturday nights. Music starts about 6:30 p.m. Call 802.524.1405 or find them on Facebook for more info. Click here to book a reservation or to visit the art on the walls.
Saturday, February 18
ST. ALBANS--Off The Rails at One Federal, the city's new music venue, hosts Saturdays Are For Parents with Julia Parent in the lounge in a residency every Saturday in February at 6:30 p.m. Find them on Facebook for more info.
GREENSBORO--The Highland Center for the Arts presents the very large Vermont Mandolin Trio "on the road again (in Vermont" and rescheduled for "when the Ice Age has moved on") this Saturday at 7 p.m. Jamie Masefield, Matt Flinner, Pat Melvin and Mr. Patton will play an evening of the bluegrass, jazz and roots music of Bill Monroe, Django Reinhardt, J.S. Bach and everything in between. "Bonus feature: it's just down the road from the famous Hill Farmstead Brewery," Mr. Patton said.
Admission is $20 for adults, $10 for students, and $5 for EBT cardholders. Click here for tickets and more info.
Sunday, February 19
Sunday is National Chocolate Mint Day. Just sayin'.
Tuesday, February 21
BURLINGTON--Young Tradition Vermont presents a 2023 Mardi Gras Party with Point Noire Cajun Band and Yankee Chank at Hotel Vermont on Fat Tuesday at 7 p.m. Mardi Gras masks and costumes are encouraged.
The spirit and rhythms of this American culture evolved into the Jazz and Rock 'n' Roll of the 20th Century. Vermont's newest Cajun dance band, Point Noire plays a mix of dance music, and Cajun songs from Lafayette and beyond with Katie Trautz, fiddle; Chris Hollis, guitar; Helen Doyle, bass; and Cannon Labrie. Yankee Chank--Bob Naess, fiddle; Cannon Labrie, accordion; Jim Burns, guitar; and Mark Sustic, bass--has performed traditional Cajun and Zydeco music around Vermont and beyond since 1996. The benefit for the Tom Sustic Fund will have listenable and danceable sets.
Admission is $15. Click here for tickets and more info.
Wednesday, February 22
ST. ALBANS--Troy Millette's Sample Sets continue at 14th Star for a night of live music on the Taproom stage on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Mr. Millette introduces established solo acts, fresh new faces, special guest appearances, and more. Find them on Facebook for more info.
Virtual music and events continue this week. ALMOST LIVE ON STAGE
The Counterpoint Chorus, Robert De Cormier, director, sang Amen from the album Let Me Fly on YouTube. There is also Let Me Fly on YouTube . Click here for more info.
Summer Sounds favorite Mark Shelton sang love songs live on Facebook for Valentine's Day. Follow him on Facebook for a link to this week's offerings.
FAIRFIELD--The Bent Northrop Memorial Library hosts Franklin County Photogs (the BNML Photography Club) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Harry Goldhagen leads the monthly hybrid in-person/Zoom group to explore equipment, storage, editing, and maybe how to get that great moon pic. Click here to join on Zoom. The passcode is 527511. FRANKLIN COUNTY BOOKSHELF
SWANTON--The Swanton Arts Council Writers' Group meets in person at the Swanton Free Public Library this evening at 6 p.m. They meet the third Thursday of each month to share progress and join in the discussion about longer projects and anything else about writing, reading, publishing, and more. Email Becky Rupp or the Library for more info.
SWANTON--Swanton Free Public Library hosts the monthly book club, But I Progress, on Tuesday at 6 p.m. This month's book is When Everything Changed by Gail Collins.
The readings will focus on writers who "identify as women, with particular attention to Women of Color and nonbinary women, who are under represented in literature. Today women's works are priced lower, more seldom purchased, and not receiving proper credit." There will be snacks, reviews, discussion, ideas, and good conversation. Click here for more info.
ArtBits features a quick weekly peek at library events in and around Franklin County. That popular feature has a page of its own at the Franklin County Bookshelf here on the AAC site at AllArtsCouncil.org/books. We also take an occasional peek at the bookshelf or night stand of the folks you know in and around Franklin County. Those reviews can be found on the ArtBits Bookshelf.
Good News!There are so many events around the region that we miss some of them.Be sure to check these calendars for what's happening near you ... |
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Music!Links to the Summer Music series in Franklin County |
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Dick Harper, Chair
P.O. Box 1
Highgate Springs, VT 05460
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