Culture

Culture story sections

Vermont Jazz Center Presents: Steve Davis Sextet

by Not Signed In | Music

The VJC welcomes Steve Davis Sextet to perform on Saturday, February 13th in a concert celebrating the music of trombonist J. J. Johnson. Featured artists in Davis’s sextet include one of bebop’s foremost elder statesmen on the piano, Harold Mabern as well as the formidable tenor saxophonist, Scott Mullett. The other musicians who comprise this sextet include Josh Bruneau (trumpet), Harold Mabern (piano), Nat Reeves (bass) and Joe Farnsworth (drums).

This concert was originally scheduled to highlight saxophonist Eric Alexander who gracefully bowed out to accept an extended European tour. This turn of events has evolved into a wonderful opportunity for the Vermont Jazz Center whose audience will now experience the exciting repertoire and tight arrangements of J. J. Johnson, one of the greatest trombonists in the history of jazz, interpreted by an all-star band. Saturday Night Live trombonist Steve Turre put it succinctly when he stated:

BCTV Schedules For The Week Of 2/8/2016

by BCTVProg | Media

BCTV channel 8 schedule for the week of 2/8/16

Monday, February 8, 2016

12:00 am VWC: Eyes on the Prize for Universal Health Care

1:30 am Racial Profiling – A Community Response

3:30 am Not for an Age: Shakespear’s 400 Year Career

5:00 am Generator Big Maker: Paolo Pedercini – The Art of Games

6:30 am For the Animals: Hope and Dixie

Places Still Available for River Gallery Artist Trip to Spain

by Not Signed In | Arts

There are still several places available for artists to travel to Spain as part of the River Gallery School’s trip in April. The trip, which will be held from April 2 to 9, is nearing capacity, but several places still remain.

The group will spend 7 nights in a charming hotel in Andalucia, about an hour south of Seville in a perfect setting for artists, photographers and anyone who wants to experience the soul of Spanish culture. There will be excursions to Seville and the nearby town of Ronda.

The tour will include a week of making art and exploration of the Spanish countryside. Pleine air painting sessions will be led by Mary Giammarino, a frequent instructor at River Gallery School workshops and a well known local artist.

Michael Knapp and Green River to host Brattleboro Area Tech meeting February 18

by Not Signed In | Sci-Tech

Michael Knapp, CEO of successful Brattleboro computer firm, Green River, will speak at the February 18 meeting of Brattleboro Area Tech. The meeting will take place at 5:30 pm and is hosted by Green River in its offices at 167 Main Street, Suite 103, in Brattleboro.

Green River builds software for sustainability, environmental protection, school improvement, and public health and is thought to be the largest IT development firm in southeastern Vermont..

Michael will speak about the work of Green River, its choice of technologies and his experience running an IT company in Vermont.

Weekend Creativity Series – Model Trains

by cgrotke | Creative

There is a tremendous amount of creativity when it comes to creating miniature worlds, and model train layouts are often some of the most amazing miniatures around. This video shows a engineer’s view of a model train set in the midwest. The video description says:

“The Hennepin Overland Railway Historical Society is located in Minneapolis, MN, and is one of the largest HO layouts in the Twin Cities, MN area. It also has the largest Helix of any model railroad in the United States that we know of. The Helix comprises 1/4 of the entire layout located in a 4,000 sq. ft. warehouse in South Minneapolis, and the entire Main Line equals 11 scale miles of track. If you are interested in visiting this railroad museum check out their web site for directions and hours of operation: http://hennepinoverland.org/ “

Guilford Center Stage Announces 2016 Season

by DonInGuilford | Arts

Guilford Center Stage continues into its second year with spring and fall productions of plays with strong connections to Guilford, continuing its mission to present place-based theater on the stage at Broad Brook Grange.  The new theater project debuted last fall with a production of the comedy, Tourists Accommodated, by Vermont author, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, who often visited Guilford.

A pair of one-acts by Guilford playwright Michael Nethercott opens the 2016 season in early June.  At the other end of the season, Charles W. Henry, who was born in Guilford in 1850, will be represented by his only known extant play, performed on the stage with the theater curtains which he painted around 1900.

The River Gallery School on Main Street in Brattleboro Offering Class on Book Making

by Not Signed In | Creative

The River Gallery School is offering a class on book making.

Writers and others who want to learn how to create a physical book using basic book binding equipment.

This class will be made up of a series of smaller technique-specific workshops related to book arts. Along with making paste paper, marbled paper and decorative bookcloth, students will learn how to make books with exposed-bindings, soft covers and hard covers.

Students will also be encouraged to explore sculptural bindings and content driven book structures. The class starts March 25, 2016 and goes to May 20, 2016. It will meet Fridays, from 9:30 to Noon. The class coasts $280. The teacher is Briony Morrow-Cribs. Her website is www.brionymorrow-cribbs.com

February Gallery Walk Set for This Friday

by fomag | Arts

Brattleboro, Vt. – Gallery Walk returns this Friday to liven up the downtown and a few satellite locations within a short drive of Main Street. There are 31 listed venues, many with meet-the-artist receptions.

Official Gallery Walk hours are 5:30 to 8:30, though most venues are open earlier and several remain open later into the evening. Patrons are encouraged to begin their artistic explorations a little early this Friday and stop on the way into town at The Marina Restaurant off Putney Road, where refreshments are offered to Walk patrons from 5 to 6:30. Coming from the west, consider stopping at C. X. Silver Gallery at 814 Western Ave., open 4 to 6:30.

Brattleboro Selectboard Candidate’s Forum, February 11

by ChrisLenois | Media

WKVT and Brattleboro Community Television will co-produce a candidate’s forum on Thursday, February 11 for voters to learn more about the three candidates vying for two seats on the Brattleboro Selectboard.

Current Chair David Gartenstein, former chair Richard DeGray and businessman Avery Schwenk are all seeking election to one-year terms when Brattleboro residents go to the polls on Tuesday, March 1. No other elected position in the town has more than one candidate. 

David Bowie Film Night at Next Stage on Friday, February 5

by Not Signed In | Entertainment

Next Stage Arts Project will honor the late David Bowie on Friday, February 5, showing ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDER FROM MARS (1973), at 7:00pm, plus Bowie music videos. Costumes welcome!

Documentarian D.A. Pennebaker focuses his lens on a 1973 concert by David Bowie, who performs under the moniker Ziggy Stardust with his glam-rock backing band, the Spiders From Mars. While some backstage footage of the theatrical singer-songwriter is featured, the majority of the film is devoted to the music played onstage, which includes hits, album cuts and covers of Rolling Stones and Velvet Underground songs. Bowie also shocks fans by announcing his intention to drop the Stardust persona.

Tech Help at Brooks Library

by Brooks Memorial Library | Sci-Tech

Tech Help is available at Brooks Memorial Library! Cal books half-hour appointments on Mondays between 3-5:00 and 5-6:00.

To book time, contact Cal at (802) 254-5290 x104 or cal@brookslibraryvt.org.

Tech Help with Cal is available every Monday when the library is open. Please note that Brooks Memorial Library is CLOSED for Presidents’ Day on Monday 15 February 2016.

Mexican-Americans: Experience & Identity – A Reading-Discussion Series at Brooks Memorial Library

by Brooks Memorial Library | Books

Brooks Memorial Library continues its Vermont Humanities Council program on Latino-Americans with a reading and discussion series ‘Mexican Americans: Experience and Identity.” The series will deal with the experiences of Mexicans living in the United States, from the struggles of migrant farmworkers and day laborers in California to coming of age stories of Chicanos as U.S. citizens. Books are available for checkout at the main circulation desk. Remaining books in the series are: February 17, (Under the Feet of Jesus); March 16, (The Tortilla Curtain); April 20, (Days of Obligation)

Facilitated by Patricia Pedroza Gonzalez Ph.D. who teaches at Keene State College at Keene, NH., Dr. Gonzalez’s international expertise has shaped her research experience and her current teaching involves Chicana/U.S. Latina, and Latin-American Studies, American Studies, Feminisms by Women of Color, and Transnational Education. Her research focus is on politics of knowledge construction and social identities. She is the current Chair of Women’s and Gender Studies Department at Keene State College.

First Wednesday Lecture Series : Allen Koop The History of Health Care in the US

by Brooks Memorial Library | History

Dartmouth professor Allen Koop will discuss the history of America’s troubled, promising, and unique health care system in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro on February 3 at 7 pm. His talk, “The History of Health Care in the US,” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays lecture series and is free and open to the public. Koop will discuss how America’s health care system has been shaped not only by developments in medicine but also by social forces, economics, politics, and historical surprises.

Koop graduated from Dartmouth College and then earned his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. He teaches courses in the History Department at Dartmouth College, primarily on 20th century European history and on the American health care system.

Stroll Presents “Love Local” at the River Garden, Friday Night during Gallery Walk

by MartinLangeveld | Entertainment

Please join us at the River Garden during Gallery Walk on Friday, Feb. 5 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. for “Love Local” — an evening of music, art, and celebration of all things local.

Representatives of a variety of area non-profits will be exhibiting — discover what the organizations do, how to obtain services from them, how to participate in their programs, and how to volunteer.

Local singer-songwriter-pianist Hannah Hoffman will be entertaining with her unique vocal style, “an edgy soulfulness reminiscent of Janis Joplin meets songbird.”

BCTV Schedules For The Week Of 2/1/2016

by BCTVProg | Media

BCTV channel 8 schedule for the week of 2/1/16

Monday, February 1, 2016

12:00 am Expanding Educational Opportunities During Tough Economic Times

1:30 am Bennington Marijuana Forum: A Public Discussion on the Topic of Marijuana 1/18/16

3:00 am Racial Profiling – A Community Response

5:00 am The Root: Mass Incarceration and Vermont: 1/17/15 Forum

6:14 am SAFSTOR: 1/26/16 – Joe Lynch

5:45 Live: 1/29/16

by BrattleboroTV | Media

Get footage from the Townshend Gazebo crash, the latest figures on the VT Yankee Decommissioning Trust Fund, a fraud case spanning from Utah to Brattleboro, and much much more.

Weekend Creativity Series – Star Wars Special Effects

by cgrotke | Creative

This week we take a look at special effects for motion pictures, using the recent Star Wars release as our example.

One of the big lessons of media literacy is that things are not always what they appear. That is, anything can be convincingly faked, and what you think you are looking at may not exist. National Geographic famously moved pyramids to new locations to make a better cover photo, and some news outlets have erased people from images or coverage of events.

So, it is important to know that we are being fooled, and fooled often. Knowing this doesn’t take the fun away when the tricks are used to entertain, but it should help sharpen critical viewing skills.

Youth Services RAMP Program Seeks High School Participants for Career Mentoring

by Not Signed In | Education

As students get into high gear during their second semester, Youth Services Workforce Development staff are busy seeking referrals of youth, ages 13-17, in need of extra support and career mentoring at Brattleboro Union High School and Bellows Falls Union High.

Now in its fifth year, Youth Services’ Ready-to-Achieve Mentoring Program (RAMP) meets once a week after school to connect students with professionals for career-focused mentoring and to encourage them to remain in school. Adult mentors join students on site tours to businesses and colleges, serve on occasion as guest speakers, and help participants work on their personal career plans, according to Susan Lawson-Kelleher, the organization’s Workforce Development Coordinator.