GREENSBORO – The latest round of Vermont Electric Co-op’s Community Fund grants benefited two Greensboro organizations, with $500 going to help support the Circus Smirkus Camp Road Show program and $936 going to support the Rural Arts Collaborative (RAC) program “Across the Page: A Summer Art Exchange Between Generations.”
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“Road show provides a free, outdoor community circus experience to kids, families and seniors across the NEK and Central Vermont,” said Rachel Schiffer, Circus Smirkus executive and artistic director. “The VEC grant allowed us to expand our summer time community access to offer 25 free summer performances.
“One of my favorite things about Road Show is that it brings circus to the community and shares moments of smiles, joy and circus fun with audiences who might not get to see a circus otherwise.
Across the Page is a five-week intergenerational art exchange program between children attending the RAC WonderKids Outdoor Adventure Camp and seniors and people with disabilities living in the Vermont Electric Coop service territory. “They are brought together through the joyful exchange of handmade artwork and personal messages,” said RAC Executive Director Sarah Mutrux.
“Though the two groups never meet in person, they connect through thoughtful, art-based correspondence, facilitated by a RAC courier, who hand-delivers the artwork between the facilities and our summer camp in Hardwick.
The program began with RAC delivering an Art Box to the Union House in Glover and Northeast Kingdom Home Care and the Meeting Place in Newport. Inside the box were materials for creating artwork, and a prompt for the seniors. Instructions invited the seniors and Meeting Place participants to create artwork that included their first name or nickname, a question for a child and a request for a camper to draw a specific object, animal or scene.
When they were done, the RAC courier retrieved the box and delivered it to the camp. Campers read the Art Mail and selected someone to correspond with. To respond they could create a drawing of the requested item, or something else if they were unsure how to draw it, write an answer to the senior’s question, then share their own nickname and an optional question.
Responses were put back into the box and, now full of the replies, it was delivered back to the seniors/participants, and the cycle continued.
The exchange cycle repeated for five weeks, with a new group of campers participating each week. Seniors were welcome to participate in one week or all five, continuing their creative conversation with new young artists.
“Each exchange is an invitation to wonder, reflect, and share, fostering connection across generations through creativity, play and kindness. With RAC’s support and hand delivery, Across the Page helps strengthen community ties while nurturing the expressive voices of youth and elders alike,” said Mutrux.
Morgan Mercier who facilitated this program said, “The connections that were made felt really meaningful, and I’d love to see the program grow next year.”
Since it made its first donation in 2015, the VEC Community Fund has made over 220 separate grants to non-profit organizations in the VEC region totaling $170,000. The fund is supported by about 2,500 co-op members who voluntarily round up their electric bills to the nearest dollar, donate their member capital, or make one-time donations. The funds are entirely separate from money collected by VEC for electricity sales.
An earlier headline referred to Wonder Arts, a branch of RAC that the grant was awarded to, according to Mutrux.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
