Creative Partnerships & Foundations
Island Arts thanks the Creative Partners who help us in so many ways to fulfill our mission. Together we make the arts and creativity accessible here in the Champlain Islands and a ferry ride away in the small towns of northern New York. Our partners provide teachers of the arts, performance spaces, a video library of our events, graphic arts skills, a 4-H farm program for children, and enable an art gallery. Our partners offer creative services to the community, hosting music, art, dance, and theater experiences for children, adults, and seniors. They help support the local artists and crafters who create fine art, handmade jewelry, woodworking, stained glass, and more.
Foundations
Island Arts is supported in part by these foundations:
Partnerships
Bauer Gravel Farnham, Attorneys at Law
In 1988, Attorney Joe Bauer handled the incorporation of Island Arts as a non-profit. He continued to support the organization as pro bono legal advisor for many years, handling the deeding of our barn and purchase of the land next door. Today, Harry Parker continues Bauer’s long tradition of supporting Island Arts. We are most grateful!
The Border Press
The Border Press and their graphic designer, Elaine Cloutier, have supported Island Arts work for many years by designing our season brochure, the colorful event posters you see around the towns, and many other beautiful pieces. A beautiful print book entitled “Artists of the Northern Lake Champlain Region” is another product of this collaboration. Island Arts couldn’t do what we do without their generous and constant support.
C.I.D.E.R.
C.I.D.E.R, aka Champlain Islanders Developing Essential Resources, is a Grand Isle County non-profit that helps older people remain in their homes by providing community-based services. Island Arts is pleased to collaborate and expand local arts offerings for seniors, and on occasion to share resources between us.
Community Bank, South Hero
Community Bank has hosted the Island Arts Gallery for over 20 years. This fine local bank provides personal banking services and is housed in an historic building ideally suited for the Art Gallery. Its distinctive stone building is striking and on the National Register of Historic Places.
Congregational Church of South Hero
The Congregational Church of South Hero is a church community that has its own rich music programs, an active choir, and provides programs and concerts to help kids, young people, and adults engage with the arts. Island Arts admires their success in enriching the cultural life of the Islands. We are grateful to the church for making their excellent acoustic space available to us for concerts and classes.
Dance in the Isle
Island Arts is delighted to partner with Dance in the Isle to help make dance and movement training available to our youth at a local Grand Isle site. In collaboration with Dance in the Isle’s Liza Mercy, an Island Arts Scholarship can be applied towards classes.
DC Energy Innovations
Dwayne Cormier of this full-service electrical contracting firm has long provided Island Arts with knowledgeable service and advice, on everything from circuit breakers and house lights to stage lighting and cooling solutions.
Full Circle Theater Collaborative
Island Arts collaboration with Burlington-based Full Circle Theater Collaborative enables our local youth to participate in musical theatre here in the Champlain Islands. Full Circle is focused on educating students and young adults in theater arts.
The 2022 season will include a production of Into the Woods JR. for ages 10-14, with possible roles for ages 15+. Contact Full Circle for more information.
In the summer of 2021, our Islands youth participated in professionally-run musicals that were rehearsed and presented in the Island Arts Center. Four performances of two musicals were presented. As You Like It featured students 15+, and Oliver, Jr. age 11+. The shows were well attended, and thanks to generous anonymous donors, a free matinee performance of each show was also gifted to our community.
In October, Waitsfield native Shaina Taub’s musical adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night was presented in a fully Vermont Stay Home, Stay Safe compliant live production at the Island Arts Center. We look forward eagerly to see what each new season will bring!
Grand Isle Supervisory Union (GISU)
GISU, comprised of the schools of the five Champlain Island communities, supports over 950 students. Island Arts partners with GISU to expand opportunities for our youth to participate in the arts by supporting the County-wide Music Festival, instrument rentals, and student art programs.
An arts partnership between local schools and a local arts organization is uncommon. Island Arts is honored to work with GISU to create additional arts education for our kids.
Thanks to shared funding between Island Arts and GISU, our students participated in musical theater productions in summer 2021, and a repeat is planned for 2022. These professionally-led productions are available locally through Island Arts collaboration with Full Circle Theater Collaborative.
LCATV (Lake Champlain Access TV)
Lake Champlain Access Television, a nonprofit Public, Educational and Government Access media facility, is a wonderful resource for education and training. Our local community benefits from free access to LCATV’s video recordings of Island Arts events, as well as recordings of many other local performance, educational, and governance events. LCATV also offers shared art gallery space to our community.
The Libraries of Grand Isle County
The libraries in Grand Isle County are important partners in helping to promote arts and culture to our community. We are grateful for the support of our librarians to publicize our events and provide community space. The Alburgh library has long been an outlet where Island Arts tickets are available.
As the property maintenance company for Island Arts, Sharp Cut offers the best in lawn care and snowplowing. Sharp Cut Property Services, Inc. has been operating since 2006. Let them put their experience to work for you.
St. Anne’s Shrine
The historic Isle La Motte Shrine, a summer destination for travelers and an attractive site for retreats, includes an outdoor pavilion that can accommodate large events with ease. It has hosted Island Arts events.
United Methodist Churches of the Champlain Islands
Island Arts is proud to partner with Pastor Garland “Chico” Martin of the Grand Isle and Champlain Islands Parish to offer cultural events to our community. The beautiful Grand Isle church, built in 1853-54 and on the National Register of Historic Places, is Grand Isle’s oldest surviving church and a local example of Greek Revival architecture. It is also a fine acoustic space for concerts. The Champlain Islands Churches in North Hero and Isle la Motte also offer important local assembly spaces.
Vermont’s Crafters and Artists
Island Arts celebrates Vermont’s finest crafters and artists. Under the leadership of volunteer Sue Alenick, Island Arts has collaborated to host juried crafts shows featuring jewelry, woodworking, quilting, stained glass, fine art and much more. The show offers opportunities for guests to learn how many of the fine products are created.
The show has not been possible during the pandemic. Island Arts looks forward to a reopening soon. If you are interested in crafters and artists and would consider volunteering to help make the show happen in 2022, please email or phone Katya at (802) 372-8889.
Vermont Farm Bureau / 4-H program
Island Arts is excited to partner with the Vermont Farm Bureau to help bring 4-H programs back to Grand Isle County. In cooperation with the UVM Cooperative Extension, our goal is local 4-H programs available here in the Islands. When our local youth participate in 4-H activities, they receive education that offers hands-on science, skills development, leadership, and life skills, and incorporates the 4-H values of Head, Heart, Hands, and Health.
Both organizations share common goals—to connect with the community and create activities and engagement opportunities for Islander youth and adults. With expert support from the University of Vermont’s 4-H Educator, Martha Manning, we strive to bring 4-H back to our County, for both elementary and high school students.
Our first goal is to sign up interested kids. Interested?
Vermont Farm Bureau is the state’s largest non-profit trade association of agricultural producers. All its policies and priorities are “determined by members at the county level through a democratic process that dates back to our beginning”.
4-H is delivered by Cooperative Extension —”a community of more than 100 public universities across the nation that provides experiences where young people learn by doing. For more than 100 years, 4-H has welcomed young people of all beliefs and backgrounds, giving kids a voice to express who they are and how they make their lives and communities better.”
Vermont State Welcome Center in Alburgh
While officially the Vermont State Welcome Center in Alburgh, the building’s main room also functions as an art gallery, its walls greeting seasonal visitors with works by regional artists and beyond.
