Calling all Teen Writers!

Brattleboro Literary Festival Presents: Teen Poetry, Prose and Pizza Slam

Brattleboro, VT – (March 28, 2017) The Brattleboro Literary Festival is hosting a teen poetry, prose and pizza slam at the Boys and Girls Club on Saturday April 22, at 7:30. Writers 18 and under are encouraged to sign up to read their original poem or prose. The winner will receive a cash prize of $100 and will be published online at Green Mountains Review. The runner-up will receive a $50 cash prize. Door prizes and a raffle will feature gift certificates from local businesses Duo Restaurant, J.D McCliments Pub, Vermont Country Store, Buzzy’s Pizza, Amy’s Bakery, Brown and Roberts, Baskin Family Farms, Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters, and more. Fabulous pizza from Ramunto's Brick Oven Pizza will be served during the intermission. To participate, please sign up by emailing Sophie Guerrina at  by April 20th. This is a free event, but donations of any amount are welcome!

Winners will be chosen by judges Tim Weed (author of Will Poole’s Island and A Field Guide to Murder and Fly Fishing), Heather Wells Peterson (Brattleboro author whose writing has been published in American Short Fiction, Marie Claire, Subtropics, Bellevue Literary Review, Lit Hub, Lucky Peach and The Collagist, among others), and Chard deNiord, (Poet Laureate of Vermont  and the author of 5 books of poetry and a book of essays).

Major Sponsors are Chroma Technology and Ramunto's Brick Oven Pizza. Also sponsored by Silver Forest, New Chapter, Harlow Farm, Vermont Country Store, the Brattleboro Food Co-op, Howard Printing, Guilford Sound, and the Boys & Girls Club.

Event Details

When: April 22, @7:30

Where: The Boys & Girls Club on Flat Street, Brattleboro

How Much: FREE

Brown Bag Lunch Presentations  Mar 27 — Mar 31

Brown Bag Lunch Presentations featuring discussions on Digital Photography, Yoga for pain relief and much more!

All Brown Bag Lunch Presentations take place from noon to 1 p.m. at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden, 157 Main St., Brattleboro, and are free and open to the public.

On Monday, March 27,  there is no Brown Bag Lunch scheduled

On Tuesday, March 28,  Bill Steele, owner of Gorham Mountain Photography, will give tips on how to get the most from your camera and speak about the "Exposure Triangle." Bring your camera, manual, and questions.

On Wednesday, March 29, Learn about different ways to pay for college such as federal student aid, private loans and grant at this fun and educational seminar with Andrew Richardson from KeyBank.

On Thursday, March 30, You may have agreed to be a health care agent for a family member or close friend. Do you feel prepared? Find out more and bring your questions to this interactive conversation. Presenters are Joanna Rueter and Edie Mas of Taking Steps Brattleboro. *A health care agent is the person who speaks for you in a medical crisis if you can’t communicate.

On Friday, March 31,  Emily Wiadro, local yoga therapist and proprietor of healixyoga, discusses yoga and how it can assist your journey toward ease in your body without pain medication. 

Got questions? Got fears? Never thought yoga might be for you?  Let’s talk about it.

Performers as well as speakers of all kinds are invited to be a part of this series. If interested, please stop at the Stroll office at the River Garden, or call 802-246-0982. 

Throughout the month of March,the 2D High School art will be at the River Garden Gallery.  Artwork created by high school students will be judged by a panel of professional artists. Awards are given for Best of Show in various categories and Special Commendations to many high school student artists. The public also has the opportunity to vote for their favorite pieces in our “People’s Choice Awards” as the show continues throughout the month.

Final week of Winter Farmers' Market

Saturday, March 25, 2017, marks the final week for the 11th season of the Winter Farmers' Market.

Join us to celebrate the end of another successful market season for our farmers and producers, and partake in a variety of end of the season specials - discounts, raffles, 2 for 1’s and more.   

It is also the 10th Annual CSA Fair hosted by Post Oil Solutions and the Winter Farmers’ Market.  Along with the regular market line-up, you’ll find a number of area CSA farms (Community Supported Agriculture) present offering information about their farming operations and CSA share options.

 

Take this opportunity to do your CSA research and pick your farmer for 2017! No two CSA programs are the same.  Some offer deliveries to central pick-up locations while others may invite you to visit their farms each week and get to know their operation.  Some farms even invite you into their fields to lend a hand in picking the weeks harvest.  So join a CSA.  It's a great way to support local agriculture and the local economy!

 

In addition to the CSA Fair, and the usual delights of the market, Fahy’s Fields will be performing in the lunch café. 

 

Market Managers remind 3SquaresVT customers to use up all of their double up Crop Cash coupons and wooden market tokens before the season ends. Remember all Crop Cash coupons expire this Saturday, March 25, 2017.

 

Thanks to the Brattleboro Savings & Loan for generously supporting the second year of our POP (Power of Produce) Club for kids, as well as to NOFA-VT and Wholesome Wave for the Crop Cash Coupons, helping to increase farmers market access for area residents receiving SNAP benefits. 

 

Thanks to our good neighbors at the Hooker-Dunham, the Brattleboro Bike Shop, and Candle in the Night.  And thanks to the Greater Brattleboro Community for yet another successful season of the Winter Farmers' Market.  When you support farmers' markets you support your local economy and vote with your dollars for safe, nutritious local food for you and your family.

 

The Winter Farmers Market offers fresh local greens as the weather allows, apples, roots and other storage crops, maple syrup, cheese, local eggs, locally raised beef, pork, lamb and chicken, fresh baked goods, local pickles and preserves, handmade chocolates, soaps, pottery, hot lunches, and much more from November through March.  Open 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden, 157 Main St., Brattleboro, VT.  For more information call 802-869-2141, or email us at .

Vermont Performance Lab teams up with Marlboro College and Groundworks Collaborative to bring attention to the issues of homelessness through performance and a tent drive

 

(Marlboro, VT) Vermont Performance Lab (VPL) in association with Marlboro College is bringing Seattle-based choreographer Alice Gosti to Southern Vermont as part of a series that features artists who are making a social impact through their work. Over a 10-day artist residency in the Drury Gallery on the Marlboro College campus, Gosti will be working on a new performance installation that grapples with and engages the community with issues surrounding immigration and homelessness in America.  As part of the residency, VPL is working with Groundworks Collaborative to organize a tent drive.  With the Seasonal Overflow Shelter closing for the season in April, VPL is collecting lightly used tents and blankets to help meet basic needs for our neighbors experiencing homelessness. Community members can bring items to the March 8th performance in Marlboro, or drop them off at Groundworks Drop In Center, 60 South Main Street in Brattleboro (open Monday – Friday from 7am-5pm). 

 

Based in Seattle and known for her large-scale multi-disciplinary works, Alice Gosti's newest work “Material Deviance in Contemporary American Culture” (MDICAC) grapples with the complexity of immigration, homelessness, and living in an object-based society where we define our identity through the objects we own. MDICAC is inspired by stories that populate our modern consciousness: immigrants and refugees who carry their homes on their backs; hoarders who compulsively accumulate; and America’s everlasting homeless population. Gosti has been accumulating true stories to shape the narrative of this live performance.

Gosti says, “As an Italian immigrant who returned to my mother's birthplace in the US, I am allured by the homes we carry on our backs. When I moved to Seattle, I had two bags. Now I rent a storage unit that is full of things that I am supposed to archive (tax forms, documents), as well as things I am connected to (set pieces, the two bags I moved here with). It’s hard to imagine how one can go from having a home one-day to being out on the street the next. Many homeless people start out with jobs and stable residences, but social and economic factors can rapidly change one's living situation.”

 Gosti sees how so much of our culture is based on the objects we own shaping and defining our personal identity. We are driven by obsession to possess. In this new work she hopes to explore how in American society, our success, our status, is determined by the objects we either own or not. MDICAC is a performance in which storytelling is achieved by a unique way of combining physical and verbal language. Inspired by Lloyd Newson’s DV8 physical theatre (which Gosti studied in Europe) an intergenerational and diverse cast of five dancers will welcome viewers into a Beckettian world where the existential void is filled with piles of accumulated objects. 

VPL Director Sara Coffey says “Alice Gosti is an emerging artist who is making work from the perspective of being a new immigrant in this country.  I am excited by the ways that she has worked with homeless populations in Seattle and how she seeks to involve students and the community in the work and the issues here in Vermont. It’s in these challenging times that artists get to work and we see how the arts can be a powerful way of bringing attention to issues that are hidden from view. In 2017 we are pleased to be working with Marlboro College to bring such accomplished performing artists to Vermont who are working in various ways as activists, instigators and commentators through their art.”

VPL is linking Alice Gosti’s work with an undergraduate course at Marlboro College “Dance As Social Practice” taught by Kristin Horrigan Dance Faculty, and the work of Groundworks Collaborative. Through workshops, performances, discussion, and a tent drive, VPL hopes to foster community engagement and dialogue on the important social issues and how art and artists can make a difference.

 

Alice Gosti’s residency and related events are made possible with major support from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project and the National Endowment for the Arts and VPL’s Community Engagement Circle Supporters:  Applewood Studios, Farnum Insulators + Silver Forest

 

 

Performance Event

 

Wednesday March 8

IN THE WORKS: Material Deviance In Contemporary American Culture

presented by VPL in association with Marlboro College

@ 7pm @ Drury Gallery at Marlboro College, Marlboro, VT

FREE– no reservations required

 

Alice Gosti’s immersive performance installation grapples with the complexity of immigration, homelessness and living in an object-based society where we define our identity through the objects we own.

 

As part of Gosti’s residency, VPL is joining forces with Groundworks Collaborative on a tent drive.  With the Seasonal Overflow Shelter closing at the end of April, we are seeking donations of lightly used tents or blankets. Donations can be brought to the VPL performance on March 8th or may be dropped off at Groundworks Drop In Center, 60 South Main Street in Brattleboro, Monday – Friday from 7am-5pm. 

 

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ABOUT THE ARTIST:

While her background is mostly in dance and choreography, Alice Gosti uses all media to create a cohesive environment in which the viewer is invited to both experience and perform. Born and raised by the dynamic art duo SANDFORD&GOSTI in Perugia, Italy, she trained at Associazione Culturale Dance Gallery with Valentina Romito and Rita Petrone. At 19, Alice moved to Seattle, where she received a B. A. in Dance from the University of Washington with a focus in choreography and experimental film.

 

Alice’s work has been presented in Italy, Germany, Japan, and on both coasts of the United States. Her project, Spaghetti CO. toured as part of Velocity’s SCUBA National Touring Network, and had the honor of being the last piece presented at the Joyce Soho in New York City, before the theatre closed. She has been presented in Northwest New Works, Seattle International Dance Festival, and Velocity’s NEXTfestNW, Bridge Project, Fall Kick-Off, and Guest Artist Series.

 

Alice has received the Vilcek Foundation Creative Promise award in Dance, the 2012 danceWEB scholarship from ImpulsTanz; and, for How to become a partisan, an Artist Trust Gap Grant 2014 and a Seattle Office of Arts and Culture individual project award 2015. She has been awarded residencies and smaller prizes all over the world. Gosti was a 2015 Artist in Residence at Velocity Dance Center. 

www.gostia.com