Congratulations to Next Stage Arts Project in Putney which has been awarded a $370,000 grant from the national organization, ArtPlace America. Selected as one of 55 recipients out of nearly 1300 applicants, Next Stage was recognized as fulfilling ArtPlace’s mission “to advance the field of creative placemaking, in which art and culture play an explicit and central role in shaping communities’ social, physical and economic futures.”
Eric Bass and Billy Strauss, two of the figures instrumental in the rebirth of the Putney Meeting House as NextStage Arts
Next Stage was noted in ArtPlace’s award announcement for its role in helping the community emerge from “two major fires in the village center… to create a performing arts and community center that is already becoming the new anchor for Putney’s re-emerging downtown.”
$320,000 of the award is for capital improvements at Next Stage’s performance venue at 15 Kimball Hill, as part of a joint effort with the Putney Historical Society (PHS) to renovate this historic building into a fully-accessible, modern performing arts center, with $50,000 going to support additional programming and school collaborations.
The ArtPlace grant expands the Next Stage Arts Project/Putney Historical Society collaboration to embrace national partners and peer organizations, increasing visibility not only for Next Stage but for the whole Southern Vermont community. For more information about Next Stage Arts Project, please contact Maria Basescu, Executive Director, at mariabasescu@nextstagearts.org or 802-380-7028. ArtPlace America is a collaboration of leading national and regional foundations, banks and federal agencies committed to accelerating creative placemaking. More information at: http://www.artplaceamerica.org.
