Vermont Performance Lab

Vermont Performance Lab

by Katherine P. Cox

Many artist colonies provide artists a retreat from the distractions of the world to focus on their work. Vermont Performance Lab, an arts residency program based in Guilford, turns that notion on its head and encourages artists to get involved in the local community and engage residents in their work.

Founded by Sara Coffey in 2006, the goal of VPL is to bring contemporary artists to Windham County, provide them support, foster their work, and connect them with local townspeople and communities — hopefully in an exchange of knowledge and ideas. “I’m interested in performance and culture and what performances can tell us about culture,” she said. “Our role is to ask, how can the work that artists are doing resonate with issues in our own communities?”

Many of the artists at VPL create contemporary dance or musical works, performances that “can be difficult or unfriendly for a lot of people,” Coffey said, and she wants to lower the barriers between artists and the public. To that end, works in progress are screened at various local venues, artists present workshops where they talk about their work and help audiences understand their process, and collaborations with local schools invite student participation. Over the years, site-specific productions have been staged at places such as the train depots in Brattleboro and Bellows Falls, and more are in the works for this year.

“Accessibility to the arts in rural communities is not always there. I feel passionate that rural communities deserve to have this experience,” Coffey said. “We do some wacky stuff, but people are open and curious, even if they don’t like it.”

Coffey and her husband, David Snyder, an independent music producer, moved to Guilford from New York in 2004. Coffey had graduated from Marlboro College in 1990 and the area was “familiar,” she said. She had spent 14 years in New York, working with cultural and arts organizations to develop multi-cultural community programming. “It informed how I think about things here in Vermont,” she said.

Snyder wanted to build a recording studio, and “I always had this idea to create a residency space. But in New York, real estate was outrageously expensive.” Snyder did indeed build Guilford Sound, and Coffey established Vermont Performance Lab, which is based in Guilford, but is not where artists live, eat, or work, for the most part. The artists are infused into neighboring communities, helping the local economy and interacting with local residents. In so many ways, Coffey’s goal of bringing the arts to rural Vermont and supporting artists is being realized, and Windham County is benefitting. “Last year VPL hosted 21 artists who spent a total of 182 residency days in Windham County and performed for audiences of over 1,500,” Coffey said. “VPL put up those artists at local hotels and the artists received per diem from VPL, which they used to dine at local restaurants and buy food from our farmers markets, local grocery stores and food co-op.”
There are additional economic ramifications, Coffey said. “When we produce our festivals like ‘Music for Trains’ (in 2008) and the ‘Progressive Performance Festival,’ (last June) we attract people and media attention from beyond Windham County. Those ticket buyers also book rooms at local hotels and eat at local restaurants and spend money on Main Street.”

Artists practice and perform at the Putney School, the Serkin Dance Studio at the Whittemore Theater at Marlboro College, and the Brattleboro School for Dance, among other places. The upstairs of the Broad Brook Grange is an artist favorite, “a great, open space with no pillars and wood floors. The artists love it,” Coffey said.

After several years of tweaking the residencies, VPL has settled on a system that works for the artists and their particular works, always guided by Coffey’s goal: “How can we connect artists to this place?” And likewise, what is the role of place in their art?

“We learned that artists coming for multiple visits is best,” Coffey said, rather than one long residency. For example, Ain Gordon, an Obie Award-winning writer, director and actor who is working on a theater piece exploring our relationship to the past, will visit several times, each visit about three or four days long. A collaboration with Marlboro College faculty and students and with local photographer and historian Forrest Holzapfel, Gordon is conducting historical research, visiting historic sites and studying the local landscape. His first visit was in the fall, and he will return in the spring to workshop the piece and then again for two performances. Support for this project comes from Vermont Performance Lab, Marlboro College and the Center for Creative Research at NYU.

The cost of a typical residency can range from $25,000 to $40,000. Funding comes from an array of sources that includes individuals, state and regional arts councils such as the New England foundation for the Arts, Vermont Community Foundation, and the Oswald Foundation, which just issued a challenge grant of $10,000. Fund-raising is an ongoing project, and “partnerships are key to what we do,” Coffey said, citing the support of Marlboro College, local schools, and Rockingham Arts and Museum Project (RAMP).

“Rural communities are incredibly rich in their resources,” Coffey said. “There are lots of really interesting people here and a willingness to participate in collaborations if asked.”

As Vermont Performance Lab continues to grow, it is gaining national recognition and Coffey is increasingly being invited to speak at conferences. It’s putting Vermont on the arts map. “We’re bringing in a world of ideas and exporting some of Vermont’s values. It’s a two-way exchange,” she said. “Artists we’ve had feel like this is a home away from home. People go away having a different idea of Vermont; that it’s not just a beautiful place to live. They discover a high level or artistry here and learn that just because you live in the country doesn’t mean your life is simple.

“Vermont is a pretty remarkable place,” she continued. “People here are fiercely independent and define progressive in a different way. It’s a place where people are really committed to idealism. It’s a great place to bring artists.”

VPL’s IN THE WORKS SERIES
a works-in-process series that is free and open to the public

Sat. Apr 7:  “Not What Happened” a work-in-progress showing written and directed by Ain Gordon; co-presented with Marlboro College
Marlboro Town House, Marlboro, Vt.
Saturday, April 7, 2012

Tues., Wed. & Thurs. May 22, 23 & 24:
“where (we) live”
a work-in-progress showing; created and performed by So Percussion
Serkin Center at Marlboro College, Marlboro, Vt.

visit vermontperformancelab.com or call
802-257-3361 or 3360 for event information