MONTPELIER – Vermont Arts Council 2025 grants benefiting a wide range of local organizations, artists and projects were announced earlier this month.
Plainfield’s Buffy Aakaash will receive $1,000 to support attendance at the Colrain Manuscript Classic Online conference; Marshfield’s Jenni Belotserkovsky will see $850 to support lost income due to flooding and Zeph Courtney of Wolcott receive $2,000 to support partial costs of new microphones for Go Destroy Art recording studio.
Arts Operating Grants provide funds to arts organizations that offer year-round, high-quality arts programs and services that support the Council’s mission to cultivate and advance the arts and creativity throughout Vermont. These grants directly support organizations and artists serving Vermont’s citizens working to build vibrant and creative communities.
Three Greensboro organizations received those grants for 2025: Highland Center for the Arts with $3,000 to support operating and administrative costs for one year; Circus Smirkus with $8,000 to support operating and administrative costs for three years; and Rural Arts Collaborative with $9,000 to support operating and administrative costs for three years.
Scrag Mountain Music in Marshfield received $9,000 to support its operating and administrative costs for three years
Cabot Arts, Craftsbury Community Care Center (CCCC) and Greensboro United Church of Christ (GUCC) each received a $4,000 Arts Project Grant. These grants support nonprofit organizations, municipalities and schools in their efforts to add vibrancy to Vermont communities through projects that provide equal and abundant access to the arts.
Cabot Arts’ grant will support the fifth annual Cabot Village 12th Night Celebration.
The CCCC grant will help the organization hold creative workshops to spark memory and connection among residents and the community.
The GUCC will host a collaborative series of arts events in Greensboro with its grant.
Northeast Kingdom Arts Council (NEKArts) received a $14,625 Cultural Facilities Grant to support the purchase and installation of a lift to make the stage accessible at the Hardwick Town House.
Individual artists have an opportunity to receive funding for their projects at all stages of their careers. Grants can fund activities that enhance mastery of an artist’s craft or skills or that increase the viability of an artist’s business. Funding may also support aspects of the creation of new work when the activity allows the grantee to accept a rare and important opportunity.
Cultural Facilities Grants help Vermont nonprofit organizations and municipalities enhance, create, or expand the capacity of an existing building to provide cultural activities that enhance artistic, creative, aesthetic, historic or scholarly appreciation by members of the public.
The mission of NEKarts is to preserve and operate the Hardwick Town House as a center for entertainment, education and community engagement.
With their awards, Greensboro’s Rural Arts Collaborative and the GUCC are collaborating on a series of events highlighting arts, history and community in the month of March, which can be “a tough month for many people” according to the GUCC grant application, which continued, “GUCC wants to bring our community together during this time–creating ties between neighbors, giving people a place to come out to and form relationships that can be a reason to keep going,” said the application. “We are fortunate to have many lively cultural organizations in our one-mile stretch of ‘downtown’ Greensboro, and we will arrange a five-part series of events, one on each Saturday of the month of March, to bring people together through dancing, music, food, literature, history, poetry and fellowship.”
Each event will be organized and presented in GUCC Fellowship Hall, a space large enough for circus, theater, music and dancing, with an attached kitchen and lots of free parking outside the door.
ed. note: An earlier version of this story included a preliminary list of GUCC events that hadn’t been confirmed.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.