AAC dancing logo AAC ANNUAL REPORT - 2000


MILLENNIUM MILESTONES
A LOOK BACK AT ARTS EVENTS IN 2000

2000 didn't seemed like such a busy year until we looked back at the arts programs around Franklin County.
      The homeless Arts Council moved the AAC CoffeeHouses around from members' to members' house until we settled in our new spaces in June. The CoffeeHouse is a monthly feature with great music and the original works of Franklin County artists now hosted by Simple Pleasures and by The Kept Writer.
      Nearly 100,000 people saw Franklin County artists at the Highgate Springs Welcome Center each year, thanks to a rotating show of paintings, photographs, and sculpture. Each featured artist is on exhibit for one month. We also held art exhibits at the VYO and VSO concerts, in City Hall for the Maple Festival, at the Grand Openings of the Family Center and the Swanton School Apartments/Community Center, an outdoor Summer Show with the Swanton Historical Society, and our Christmas exhibit and sale at Holiday Jazz, the NCSS annual fundraiser.
      The Vermont Youth Orchestra came to town three times this year, twice as part of a "Symphony Sandwich" with the VSO. In January, they performed A New Birth of Freedom, a tribute to Aaron Copland. I was particularly pleased to narrate one of Copland's most popular pieces, the "Lincoln Portrait." The VYO returned with an Opera House concert and Romeo and Juliet, a fall concert of the music based on this most famous of love stories.
      A New Birth of Freedom was also the first of many AAC events to appear on Local Access Adelphia Cable Television, Channel 10 in the St Albans area.
      Maple Festival chair George Cook asked for continuous entertainment on the Main Street stage. We rounded up a statewide showcase of popular bands, a magician, individual musicians, martial artists, a classic ensemble, storytellers, dancers, and even a family of 3-foot puppets.
      Meanwhile, Enosburg Lions President Maurice Parent wanted great music going all weekend in addition to the shows, the parade, and dairy exhibits at the Vermont Dairy Festival. We had two stages of performers plus the annual True Value Country Showdown. Showdown winner Candace Myers went on to win the Tri-State finals for Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont..
      Summer fell down on the job this year, but that didn't stop the "Summer of Milk and Music." For the tenth season of our Got Milk Summer Sounds concert series, we gained a major sponsor for the live free summer Sunday concerts. The series started in Highgate, so each concert there was a double feature.
      21 groups played 15 concerts in five Towns and more than 4,200 people attended. We saw Diane Zeigler with Josh Brooks, 40th Army Band, The Naturals with Bob Gesser, Surf's Up, the Nobby Reed Project with Jenni Johnson, the Enosburg Town Band, the Constitution Brass Quintet, Dark Horse with Upper U.S., Mister French, the Roy Hurd Trio, Redwing, 8084, the Stockwell Bros with Derrick Jordan, the Champlain Echoes, and Andersen-Gram with Tom MacKenzie. Although one TV meteorologist reported an inch below average rainfall for the season, my concert notes show we had tornado warnings, threats of thundershowers and regular rain, cold with threat of rain, warm with rain in the afternoon, overcast with rain after the concert, one "clear" day (rather different than "sunny"), and only two Sundays of sunshine and beautiful weather. Rain forced us indoors only twice, although Dark Horse played through a Highgate drizzle and the audience stayed.
      "Free" concerts are expensive. The Dairy Farmers of New England, the five municipalities, local business sponsors, and the All Arts Council hire the bands, create the publicity, and set up all 15 shows. They need your support to continue.

OTHER GROUPS

      The Opera House at Enosburg Falls opened its newly painted doors for the Miss Vermont Pageant in June. Restoration efforts that began in the mid-1970s culminated this year in a million dollar project to make the building Franklin County's cultural jewel.
      Other Opera House events this year included the second annual People Really Interested In Developing Education (Berkshire P.R.I.D.E.) Berkshire Variety Show. The Millennium Series also featured the Woods Tea Company, Once Upon a Mattress, the 8th Annual Talent Show, singer/songwriter Kelly Moore, a Franco-American Soiree with Matapat and Michele Choiniere, and the annual Holiday Concert with the Enosburg Town Band and Community Chorus.
      The Cardiac Capers Millennium Show brought 100 Years of Music to the BFA-St Albans stage and raised money for construction of the new surgical suite.
      A series of special benefit Events for Tom concerts brought the joyous sounds of Cajun, Irish, Québécois, British, Old Time, and other traditional musicians . Grammy-winning performers from the United States and Canada flocked to Vermont to help raise funds for a bone marrow transplant for 14-year-old Tom Sustic.
      Counterpoint debuted as a professional vocal group that brings choral music to a new level. With soprano Claire Hungerford of St Albans and acclaimed composer-conductor (and VSO Chorus Director) Robert deCormier, they have performed in concerts and in schools around the state.
      The Fairfax Community Theater Company Spring Production was Overtones, The Music Lovers, and Infanta. FCTC and the Fletcher Union Meeting House Association also produced three one-act plays "Overtones" by Alice Gerstenberg, "Infanta" by Lewy Olfson, and "The Music Lovers" by Georges Feydeau.
      The Gate Players produced Godspell in conjunction with Maple Festival this Spring. The Festival helped draw audience to the musical and the musical lent some of its audience to the ongoing festival.
      Fontella Bass and the Bosman Twins completed a three-day residency in the ongoing St Albans CAN-Flynn Theater partnership. The event was a special tribute to Lester Bowie and included performances, a community jam session and workshops.
      Art students in over 100 Vermont schools including MVU created artwork with a message for a statewide postcard show that mixed original imagery with powerful comments about art.
      St Albans City Hall hosted the first collaboration showcasing the talent of K-12 art students including sculptures from BFA-St Albans, print making from Fairfield Elementary, paintings and drawings from St Albans City Elementary, plus clay fountains and wind chimes from St Albans Town Elementary Center.
      The Elder Art Program, a statewide non-profit arts organization for artists age 55 and older, held St Albans area classes and hosted shows in St Albans storefronts and in City Hall.
      The Alburg Library and Island Arts presented Cabaret Shakespeare's Jim Hogue in scenes from Taming of the Shrew, Henry IV, and a Minute and a Half Hamlet. at the Ransom Bay Inn.
      The Third Annual FNESU Art Gala in the Montgomery Grange Hall showcased works by art students in northeastern Franklin County.
      Bakersfield dancer/weaver Carol Crawford's and Fairfax visual artist Gail Salzman's performance art piece, Fell Line, was one of six performances in New Works Revealed, in the intimate new FlynnSpace.
      St John's Ministry of Arts continued its annual 3-concert summer series at St John's Episcopal Church in Highgate Falls. The series featured the Celtic music of poet Leanne Ponder on Celtic harp and Tim Jennings on concertina; classical music of Peter and Wendy Matthews on guitar and flute; and the Three Sopranos, Christina L. Boerner, Nancy B. Greene, and Evelyn Hardman Kwanza.
      The Fourth Annual Blues Fest at the Boonys at Lake Carmi was nearly rained out. The Dave Keller Blues Band, Bloozotomy, and the Wildcats set up in the restaurant and dried out the crowd.
      The Montgomery Historical Society Concerts By the Common explored the sounds and sensations of string instruments in a String Along series.
      Village Harmony reprised the Summer Music at Grace series at Grace Church in Sheldon. Summer Music also hosted Peter and Wendy Matthews, and Michele Choiniere.
      The Lost Nation Boys, Hogboy Shull, John Cassel, the Oleo Romeos, the Spyders, and Doctor Burma played the Eighth Annual Jig in the Valley benefit concert and dance to raise money and awareness for the Fairfield Community Center. The Community Center offers an NMC regional health center, pre-school, Head Start, Teen, and Senior Citizen programs.
      The new West Brome Storytellers' Festival offered storytelling for kids from age 0 to 150. The Festival featured Vermont's Ernie Hemingway and the Traveling Storyteller,
      VSA-Arts Vermont and Northwestern Counseling and Support Services sponsored the Can Do Art III workshop lead by Gail Salzman. Called Drawing and Painting from Nature, the class culminated in a exhibit in the skylit City Elementary School Gallery.
      The Vermont Symphony Orchestra Made in Vermont Music Festival returned to St Albans with a world premiere by Vermont composer Kenneth Langer. The VSO commissioned Langer and Vermont Poet Laureate Ellen Bryant Voigt to create Voices of 1918.


A LOOK AHEAD AT ARTS EVENTS FOR 2001

COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE
HOUSE HOUSE HOUSE HOUSE

      This is not stuttering.
      Starting in January, the famed AAC CoffeeHouses changed to Wednesday evenings. We made the change so there will be music in northwestern Vermont every Wednesday evening.
      The first Wednesday of each month is the Cambridge Arts Council's CoffeeHouse at Dinner's Dunn at the Windridge Bakery in Jeffersonville. The second Wednesday of each month is our own AAC CoffeeHouse at Simple Pleasures Cafe in St Albans for a booked performance. The third Wednesday returns to the Cambridge open mike CoffeeHouse at the Windridge Bakery. The fourth Wednesday we go to the Kept Writer in St Albans for the AAC CoffeeHouse acoustic Open Mike Night. We take a night off in five week months.
      The All Arts Council and the Rotary Club of St Albans are back together! I wrote the check Monday to secure our handball court space for the Rotary Home Show at the Collins-Perley Complex in March. We will exhibit and sell the work of 20 of Franklin County's best painters, photographers, and sculptors.
      This year, we will have four permanent galleries at the Highgate Springs Welcome Center, Simple Pleasures Cafe, the Franklin County Family Center, and the new Swanton School Apartments. The rotating Art on the Walls and Music in the Halls exhibits will pop up at a moment's notice in area businesses with fine art and great music in the Abbey, Bayside, the Boonys, Chow! Bella, Jeff's Seafood, Kept Writer, and Northwestern Medical Center, as well as most Franklin County schools and libraries, other retail businesses, and many other local eateries and drinkeries. We will hold one- and two-day shows in City Hall for the Maple Festival, at the VSO concert, an outdoor Summer Show in Taylor Park, and our Christmas exhibit and sale at the NCSS annual fundraiser.
      Got Milk Summer Sounds will present free concerts every other Sunday in Highgate and St Albans, and regular concerts in Fairfax, Franklin, Richford, and St Albans Bay. We are already planning a year of really big shows for Summer Sounds 2001 with some of the favorite brass, classics, country, jazz, pops, and rock-n-roll acts.
      The AAC will continue several other popular events, including solo recitals and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra in concert at BFA. We hope to return to a Franklin County-wide Grand Holiday Art and Crafts Tour for Thanksgiving.
      The Vermont Maple Festival, Vermont Dairy Festival and Franklin County Field Days have asked the AAC to book entertainment for this season.
      If there is enough interest, we may undertake two publishing projects this year. Local artists and musicians have wanted to contribute to a Franklin County multi-media album. This CD would include music tracks and images in all genres. We are also investigating an All Arts Screen saver computer program to be used as a fun fundraiser. It will take a significant number of volunteers to make this happen.

WHAT'S COMING IN THE ARTS

The Fairfax Community Theater Company is planning spring and summer shows now. Proposals for the spring show are due Monday, January 8, and for the summer show are due February 5. All FCTC board members have a form to help guide producers through the process. Call Tom Townsend (849-2923) for info.       The Gate Players hope to do three or four shows this year. They will announce an all-members meeting to plan the season soon.
      Sue Nadeau will start a Franklin County teen dance and performing arts group through UVM Extension Service and 4H in February. It will be a free program for 16 kids. "4H isn't just cows and cooking," said the now almost grown up 4H kid. Call Sue (868-3551) for a flier and info.
      The Green Mountain Wind Ensemble will offer concerts in St Albans and Enosburg Falls in March and at the Maple Festival in April. This select group of student musicians from Northwestern Vermont specializes in the major works of contemporary composers, classical overtures and transcriptions, and traditional marches.
      Island Arts will have events for everyone including three year round and two seasonal art galleries, a craft show, a classical concert gala, children's concerts, the house-and-craft studio tour, and the international croquet tournament. They will host a performance in the Barn at Apple Tree Bay, an Improv Day at Camp Ingalls in North Hero, and the Outer Island Tour on Savage Island. Jim Hogue will return with another Cabaret Shakespear program. Island Arts give musical and performance scholarships for area kids. There are 12 active directors, citizen committees working on specific events, and a group of donors called Friends of Islands Arts.
      The 2001 lineup for the Opera House at Enosburg Falls begins with a Green Mountain Wind Ensemble in March. The Opera House has four different performance series this year: a Community Series with the Town Band and Community Chorus Events; the Traditional Events Series with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; the Emerging Talent Series including the North Country Dance Company, the District Jazz Festival and the Talent Search; and the Mentor Series to highlight the more professional performers including the VSO Brass Quintet.
      There will also be performances by Enosburg grammar school, middle school, and high school groups; the FNESU Art Show; the Dairy Princess Pageant; the EFHS Alumni Banquet and Ball; the Winterfest; and other county-wide concerts, exhibits, and workshop/performances scheduled through the year. The Opera House serves as a rain site for Concerts by the Enosburg Town Band.
      South Hero Players will produce Any Number Can Die by Fred Carmichael in March at the Folsom Community Center. John Labarge is directing this murder mystery with hanging bodies in chimneys, and closets, and all over the stage.
      "We're also still working with the schools and helping them with lights and sound," Mike Guernsey said.
      The Village Players' summer musical will be Kilroy Was Here in July in North Hero. David Light will direct this production of the USO in World War II. The play will use an all-volunteer cast and crew and will benefit the North Hero Town Hall renovation.
      Summer means music around Franklin County. St John's Ministry of the Arts, the Montgomery Historical Society's Concerts By the Common, Summer Music at Grace Church in Sheldon, the Fifth Annual Blues Fest at the Boonys at Lake Carmi, and the Ninth Annual Jig in the Valley will offer classical and popular performers in some of the area's nicest summer settings. The events benefit a variety of community centers and activities.

Some Fine Print

ALL ARTS COUNCIL OF FRANKLIN COUNTY

2000-2001 BUDGET
Anticipated Income/Expense (by Category)
2000 2001
INCOME
Admissions 0 1,500
Advertising 7,500 0
Membership Dues 5,000 5,500
Earned Income 1,100 110
Grants Received 6,750 7,425
Sponsorships 19,143 15,227
TOTAL INCOME 39,493 29,762
EXPENSES
General Fund for AAC 100 100
Awards or Prize given in shows 100 1,100
Capital Equipment 0 0
Grant from AAC to other organizations 0 0
Hospitality for performers 200 220
Marketing: Advertising & promotion 2,076 2,734
Miscellaneous Office Exp 360 396
Other Presenting Expenses 505 556
Performer's fees 17,470 21,717
Theater or hall expense or Space Rental 1,280 220
Technical and Production salaries, fees 12,800 0
ArTrain Fees/Expenses 0 0
Other Expenses 1,020 1,122
TOTAL EXPENSES 35,911 27,164
TOTAL INCOME/EXPENSE 3,582 1,598

All Arts Council of Franklin County
BOARD of DIRECTORS

Melissa Ewell 2001; Anne Harper (secretary) 2001; Tim Stetson (treasurer) 2001; Albert Perry 2001

Christopher Bouchard 2002; Richard Harper (chair) 2002; David Kiefner 2002; Ania Modzelewski 2002; Corliss Blakely 2002

Alice Astleford 2003; Ed Astleford 2003

All Arts Council of Franklin County

All Arts Dick Harper, Chair
P.O. Box 1
Highgate Springs, VT 05460
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