Posted:
12/12/2012
Wednesday December 12, 2012
BRATTLEBORO
-- Bathed in the glow of a spotlight they had earned for themselves,
the four Windham County artists chosen for the Governor's Award for
Excellence in the Arts spent Monday night trying to redirect as much of
that light as they could.
Spouses, children, friends, family members, collaborators,
partners, neighbors in Brattleboro, the people of Vermont -- in fact
everything about Vermont -- all caught the rays originally sent toward
the four honorees -- Karen Hesse, Archer Mayor, Sharon Robinson and
Stephen Stearns -- at the 2012 Vermont Arts Award Gala at the Latchis
Theatre.
"Down-home comfort-food good" was a phrase Hesse used to describe
how her life in Vermont makes her feel, but those words could apply to
the whole evening, which began as a love letter to four extraordinary
creative souls but became a love letter to the arts and to life here in
the southeast corner of Vermont.
"They finally figured out in the rest of Vermont that the center
of culture, the center of taste, the center of virtue and the center of
creativity is right here in Windham County," said Gov. Peter Shumlin,
showing his hometown pride. "If you want to be hip, if you want to make
it in the arts, you gotta come to Windham County."
Certainly the Vermont Arts Council, which presents the award, got
the message. Typically given to one or two people in a ceremony in
Montpelier, the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts went to four people for the first time in its
45-year history. Since all four were closely linked to Brattleboro, the
Vermont Arts Council held the ceremony in the Latchis Theatre -- and was
rewarded with a crowd of roughly 400 people, who enjoyed a night that
mixed the serious business of honoring four deserving people for their
staggering accomplishments with a whole lot of fun.
Stephen Stearns, dressed for success in a bright yellow shirt,
rainbow-striped pants, rainbow-striped socks, clown shoes and a
trademark hat, even got Shumlin to try on a red clown nose. The governor
did for a second or two, then removed it. "It's just so small," the
governor quipped.
Alex Aldrich, executive director of the Vermont Arts Council,
recounted to the crowd a trip he made to Brattleboro shortly after
Tropical Storm Irene devastated the area. Encountering a group of men in
HazMat suits cleaning the muddy mess in the Latchis basement, he
discovered they were from Texas -- and that they liked it in Brattleboro
very much.
"'We love it here. The spirit is just wonderful. ... ‘Before you
can spit, this place will be back,'" Aldrich recalled them saying.
"We celebrate the recovery of Brattleboro. We celebrate the four
world class artists we are honoring. We are also celebrating what the
arts mean to our local communities," said Aldrich.
Picking up on that theme, Shumlin said the arts are integral to
strong, healthy downtowns and to communities where people care for one
another. The arts, he said, are also "a vital part of the economy."
The four honorees are united not only by high achievement in
their artistic endeavors, but also by the fact that they all moved to
Vermont in adulthood, making the intentional choice to live here. All
four delivered paeans to the state.
In a video aired before she spoke, Hesse described how she and
her husband drove around the country looking for a place to put down
roots, then crossed the bridge from New Hampshire into Brattleboro and
immediately felt at home.
"We discovered such a level of decency in everyone we met," said
Hesse, author of more than 20 novels for young people and winner of a
National Jewish Book Award, the Newbery Medal, the Scott O'Dell Award
for Historical Fiction, two Christopher Awards and the Kerlan Award.
Sharing with the crowd that a house she and her husband once
owned in Williamsville was swept away by Irene, Hesse recounted how she
had met FEMA workers who were astounded by how much work had already
been done and by how willing Vermonters were to roll up their sleeves
and help one another.
"It is that spirit that sustains me as a writer and as a Vermonter," she said.
Mayor said he chose Vermont after rejecting the idea of moving to
his parents' house in New Hampshire because he didn't want to live in a
state whose motto was "Live, Freeze, or Die" -- a remark which brought
down the house.
Feeling at home in Windham County, Mayor honed the skills as a
writer which have allowed him to produce 23 Vermont-based crime novels
featuring Detective Joe Gunther. He also works as a death investigator
for the Vermont State Medical Examiner's Office and as a deputy for the
Windham County Sheriff's Department. He has 25 years' experience as a
firefighter and EMT.
"You have given me my song to sing in this interminable series of
books, and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart," Mayor
told the crowd.
Robinson has done her "singing" as a cellist who has performed
with symphony orchestras all over the world and with chamber ensembles,
including the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, which has dazzled
audiences for 35 years. A passionate teacher, Robinson is a native of
Houston, Texas, and moved to Guilford with her husband, renowned
violinist and 2006 Governor's Award-winner Jaime Laredo.
In introducing her, Zon Eastes, a fellow cellist and important
player in the Brattleboro area arts community, now on staff at the
Vermont Arts Council, praised Robinson as a supremely gifted
collaborator. He also touted Robinson's "Herculean commitment to the
creation of new music."
"She's made a remarkable investment in the future of classical music," Eastes said.
For her part, Robinson effused about how much living in Vermont
means to her and spoke with humility about her life in music. "In (my)
own small way, I get to serve you all," she said.
Introducing Stearns, Vermont Arts Council board member and local
cardiologist and artist Mark Burke praised Stearns for the ways his work
-- as clown, teacher and founder of New England Youth Theatre -- has
transformed the lives of others.
"For Stephen, waiting for the other shoe to drop is not about fear, it's about anticipation," said Burke.
Pledging his devotion to "the infinite realm of possibilities"
and the "ever-changing world of ‘interesting,'" Stearns touted the power
of partnerships.
"I know that it has to do with so many other people besides
myself," said Stearns, who sprinkled gratitude, like clown noses, to his
family, the NEYT family and to his longtime partner in clowning, Peter
Gould. "Dreaming big is an important thing for all of us to do, but big
dreams don't happen without partnership."
Big events don't either. Among the other collaborators in
Monday's ceremony were Robert Burch of Brandywine Glassworks of Putney,
who made the awards, and Vermont Films videographer Tim Wessell, who
produced the short videos.
The four honorees also received letters or proclamations from the
Town of Brattleboro, through the Town Arts Committee, and Vermont's
Congressional Delegation. Members of the Arts Council of Windham County
were on hand to pass out buttons that said "Working Artist" or "I Work
in the Arts," so that event-goers could show the state officials just
how big a role the arts play in the area.
The event was co-sponsored by Local 300 of the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (represented by president Jeffrey
Wimmette) and by Entergy Vermont Yankee (represented by Mike Twomey,
vice president of external affairs).
For more information on the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, visit www.vermontartscouncil.org.
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