For Immediate Release
Burlington, VT — The Orton Family Foundation and the Vermont Land Trust announced today that they seek to partner with an Addison County, Vermont, town eager and able to collaborate on an exciting new approach to community engagement. The “Art & Soul” project will emphasize storytelling and the use of the arts to involve local residents in thinking about the future of their town.
Through this engagement, the selected town will begin a process of identifying and protecting its community “heart & soul,” a collection of places, characteristics, history, traditions, and issues that make each town unique, and that make residents care about their hometown and its future. Through this program, an Addison County town will better understand how to maintain its most valued attributes in the face of growth and change.
“The arts, both visual and performing, are thriving across Addison County and among all age groups,” said Betsy Rosenbluth, project director at the Orton Family Foundation. “But how often is the community’s enthusiasm for the arts brought to bear on the question of growth and change, of land use and community development? This new Art & Soul approach is a chance to tap into the arts and storytelling to help townspeople come together, learn together, and shape the future together.”
The Art & Soul approach aims to engage residents through storytelling, art making, community dialogues, events and celebrations. Middlebury Professor John Elder will begin the project by having his students conduct interviews of residents, building an archive of stories to share with the town. The arts and humanities can contribute unique opportunities, settings, and creative approaches that reach new and diverse participants (including more youth), stimulate public dialogue about civic issues, and inspire action to make change. In arts-based civic engagement, the artistic process and art presentation provide a key focus, catalyst, and forum for public dialogue on issues.
The Foundation invites applications from Addison County towns that have a strong rural character, an active network of involved citizens and elected leaders, and an interest in promoting citizen engagement. The Foundation anticipates selecting one (1) community to participate in an 18-month-long pilot project. This community will be eligible for $55,000 in supporting resources, training, technical assistance and an artist-in-residence. At the project’s completion, the community will also be eligible for additional funding of up to $25,000 to implement those actions that emerge related to land use and growth.
To learn more, please come to one of our two upcoming information sessions:
- Wednesday, May 21 7:00-8:30 pm Shoreham (Shoreham Congregational Church—Downstairs)
- Thursday, May 22 6:00-7:30 pm Bristol (Mt. Abe Union High School—Small Cafeteria)
Light refreshments will be served
For full program description and application form: www.orton.org/art&soul
The Orton Family Foundation, based in Middlebury, Vermont, and with an office in Denver, seeks to help small cities and towns discover and describe their heart and soul—the collective attributes that make communities unique—and build on those attributes in planning toward a vibrant, enduring future.
Download full release PDF > Word >
Download full RFP PDF > Word >
For more information contact:
John Barstow, Director of Communications
The Orton Family Foundation
PO Box 111
Middlebury, VT 05753
802.388.6336
communications@orton.org
www.orton.org