Vermont Public Community Calendar

Join us March 14th, 3:30-5:30pm at The Big Picture, 48 Carroll Rd, Waitsfield, Vt
Los Angeles based visual artist Rob Reynolds will be in conversation with environmentalist, journalist and author Bill McKibben on Sat. March 14th 3:30-5:30pm at The Big Picture in Waitsfield, VT.
MAD Arts current art show Zero Celsius presents Rob Reynolds’ film The Word For Weather is Knowledge. The screening will be followed by a lively conversation, ranging from Greenland’s pivotal place in politics today to the role of art in fostering environmental awareness and celebrating McKibben’s recent book Here Comes the Sun.
Tickets limited by seating so purchase ASAP!

Saint Albans-based visual storyteller and photographer François de Melogue presents "Sun, Salt, & Saffron: A Portrait of Provence," a photo talk exploring the light, landscape, and living traditions of Provence. A former farm-to-table chef with family roots in the region, de Melogue brings a sensory intimacy to his portraits of a place shaped by sun, salt, and saffron. Part of "The World Through Our Lenses" travel photography show.

Saint Albans-based visual storyteller and photographer François de Melogue presents "Sun, Salt, & Saffron: A Portrait of Provence," a photo talk exploring the light, landscape, and living traditions of Provence. A former farm-to-table chef with family roots in the region, de Melogue brings a sensory intimacy to his portraits of a place shaped by sun, salt, and saffron. Part of "The World Through Our Lenses" travel photography show.

Ever wonder what happens to your food scraps after they leave your bin?

Join CSWD compost staff, Kim and Allison, for this 45-minute webinar as they share an inside look at how compost is made, what materials can and can’t go into the compost stream, and the challenges contamination creates. You’ll also learn how small actions at home or work can make a big difference in keeping compost clean and high-quality.

Join the Gund Institute for Environment at UVM, Oregon State University, and University of California Santa Cruz for an interactive session on how to rapidly and fully embed a recognition of nature into national policy and planning—supporting the central role that natural systems play in economic performance, human health, community resilience, climate solutions, and long-term national security.

With moderation provided by Taylor Ricketts, Jane Lubchenco and Heather Tallis will articulate why a fresh approach is needed and present a framework for an ambitious set of principles and policy changes - actions that would set the stage for a new economy with nature at its core.

Attendees will help generate ideas, using the framework to brainstorm new, high-leverage policies to encourage and enable a new economy. Findings will help inform an evidence-based playbook for nature in national policy to be released late in 2026.

Join us for coffee at 9:30 a.m. The session will run 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. RSVPs encouraged: https://go.uvm.edu/jozme

Join Sculptural Ideas artist Lee Williams for a discussion of intuition, creativity, and the influence of geography and color on his artistic practice.

A native of Wales, Williams shares insights into how living in Vermont influences his approach to creating sculpture and why color is a key element in his work.

Lee Williams is an arts educator at the Southern Vermont Art Center and the River Arts School.

Please join us for an evening with Nick Meyer, as he discusses Good Bones, a newly released body of work and book that reflects on parenthood, history, anxiety, and the uneasy rhythms of contemporary life.

Good Bones emerges from Meyer’s experience of raising a young family amid overlapping crises. Moving fluidly between the intimate and the societal, the work grapples with questions of legacy, responsibility, and how to remain attentive to moments of care and joy in an era shaped by uncertainty and relentless news cycles. Drawing a parallel to Gary Winogrand’s restless mid-career doubts, Meyer positions this project as both a self-portrait and a document of its time: an attempt to look clearly at the present while acknowledging the ways history repeats, erodes, and persists.

In this talk, Meyer will speak about the making of the book, the ideas that shaped the work, and how photography functions for him as a way to sit with ambiguity rather than resolve it. The evening will include a presentation followed by conversation and audience questions. Copies of the book, along with Archive, another release from Meyer’s imprint Nowhere Books, will be available for purchase.

This event is open to all and especially suited for anyone interested in contemporary documentary practice, photobooks, and work that bridges personal experience with broader cultural reflection.

Anne Lamott writes and speaks about subjects that begin with capital letters: Alcoholism, Motherhood, Jesus. But armed with self-effacing humor –she is laugh-out-loud funny – and ruthless honesty, Lamott converts her subjects into enchantment. Actually, she writes about what most of us don’t like to think about. She wrote her first novel for her father, the writer Kenneth Lamott, when he was diagnosed with brain cancer. She has said that the book was “a present to someone I loved who was going to die.” In all her novels, she writes about loss – loss of loved ones and loss of personal control. She doesn’t try to sugar coat the sadness, frustration and disappointment, but tells her stories with honesty, compassion and a pureness of voice. As she says, “I have a lot of hope and a lot of faith and I struggle to communicate that.”

Anne Lamott does communicate her faith; in her books and in person, she lifts, comforts, and inspires, all the while keeping us laughing. Anne Lamott is the author of seven novels, Hard Laughter, Rosie, Joe Jones, Blue Shoe, All New People, Crooked Little Heart, and Imperfect Birds.

Get your tickets now at sprucepeakarts.org

You are invited to the Richmond Free Library at 4:00 on Saturday, April 4th, to help support The Richmond Food Shelf and Thrift Store. Join Master Storyteller, Woodsman and Author Bill Torrey as he weaves together true, hilarious, heartwarming stories. The NPR Moth Mainstage Performer and Five-Time Moth StorySlam Winner will take you on a jaunt through the real Vermont. Come listen to a sixth-generation native recount stories of loyal friends and tolerated family. Mean teachers and crazy cows. Tall trees and devoted dogs. Tickets are free and there is a suggested donation of $10-$20. All proceeds will go to the Richmond Food Shelf and Thrift Store.

Free Presentation: Lisa Masé presents The Culinary Pharmacy: Food as Medicine. In this engaging talk, Vermont-based holistic nutritionist and author Lisa Masé introduces the concept of the culinary pharmacy: using everyday foods and herbs to support healing and vibrant health. Drawing from her book The Culinary Pharmacy, Lisa blends modern nutrition science with ancestral traditions such as Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the Mediterranean way of eating. Participants will learn simple ways to personalize their eating, understand the energetic qualities of foods, and build a kitchen stocked with ingredients that nourish and support wellbeing. This is a free public event in person and online as part of the Capital City Grange speaker series. The talk is followed by a Community Potluck at 6pm (please bring a dish to share).

Barry Deitz presents a history of art and imagination as part of the STEAM art exhibit. Sponsored by the Mass Cultural Council and Deerfield Valley Art Association.

Join "Human Impact" artists, City of Burlington experts, and community leaders for a conversation on accessibility, conservation, and sustainability. Explore the way these themes impact our environment, from local to international perspectives.

Join us in person or register in advance for the Zoom livestream at: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/7317707355844/WN_82CMHVYPTnK8ceFPmA9l1A#/registration

Celebrate National Poetry Month at Next Stage with an evening of poetry, conversation, and dancing! Join poet Diana Whitney for the release of her new book, Girl Trouble, which readers are calling “unstoppable” and “deeply subversive.”

Girl Trouble excavates the terrain of female adolescence in a brazen journey through rape culture from the 1980s to the #MeToo era. Whitney’s earthy poems spill secrets, make trouble, and reckon with stories of desire and harm while exploring the agency and oppression of women and girls. Deeply rooted in the natural world, the collection grieves the planet’s degradation even as it celebrates queerness and seeks healing for the next generation. By the end, a chorus of voices rises to a full-throated roar, revealing the power and release of truth-telling. This is a book for survivors and advocates, for mothers and daughters, and for anyone moving through trauma with resilience.

Whitney is a queer writer and educator who believes fiercely in the power of poetry to connect us to ourselves and one another. She is the editor of the bestselling anthology You Don’t Have to Be Everything: Poems for Girls Becoming Themselves, winner of the Claudia Lewis Award, and the author of two previous poetry collections, Wanting It and Dark Beds. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Kenyon Review, The San Francisco Chronicle, and many other publications. An advocate for survivors of sexual violence in her Vermont hometown and beyond, Whitney works as a developmental editor and community organizer for a rural LGBTQ+ nonprofit.

Whitney will be in conversation with poet Eve Alexandra, whose prize-winning collection None of Us in White was released in 2025.

Snacks will be provided, a cash bar will be available, and books will be for sale from Everyone’s Books.

Although he’s keeping the details under wraps, Brown has said that with An Evening of Alton Brown he’s “stirring up some twists on his greatest hits,” and “spicing things up with new demonstrations, music, and slightly scaled-down mayhem.” No matter what, An Evening of Alton Brown will present Brown as you’ve never seen him — unless, of course, you’ve been invited to his house.

Best known for creating and hosting groundbreaking television such as Good Eats, Iron Chef America, Cutthroat Kitchen, and Food Network Star, Brown has also built one of the most successful culinary touring franchises ever, performing live in more than 300 cities for well over half a million fans. With An Evening of Alton Brown, he strips away the spectacle in favor of connection, spontaneity, and storytelling, delivering a show that is equal parts humor, science, food, and heart.

In honor of Earth Day, meet artist-activist Diane Burko who has traveled the globe searching for evidence of humankind’s impact on the natural world. Exploring the intersection of art and environment, Burko discusses her creative practice, and her critical engagement with the scientists, people, and environs that inform her Amazon series, featured in BCA’s exhibit "Human Impact".

Join us in person or register in advance for the Zoom livestream at >> https://zoom.us/webinar/register/5617707361304/WN_KDDyKBpUTUeRp5qlCWyIAA

Listing: Bookstock, the Vermont Festival of Words, will return to Woodstock, VT, on May 15-17, 2026. Please join us on The Green and around the scenic village of Woodstock for our famous book sale of almost-new and charmingly old volumes, including first editions; a poetry festival; hands-on workshops; author readings and presentations; events for children; great food; and many more festivities. To keep up to date, please subscribe for our email updates at our website [https://bookstockvt.org/subscribe/] or email us [info@bookstockvt.org] or follow us on Instagram [@bookstockvt].

Listing: Bookstock, the Vermont Festival of Words, will return to Woodstock, VT, on May 15-17, 2026. Please join us on The Green and around the scenic village of Woodstock for our famous book sale of almost-new and charmingly old volumes, including first editions; a poetry festival; hands-on workshops; author readings and presentations; events for children; great food; and many more festivities. To keep up to date, please subscribe for our email updates at our website [https://bookstockvt.org/subscribe/] or email us [info@bookstockvt.org] or follow us on Instagram [@bookstockvt].

Listing: Bookstock, the Vermont Festival of Words, will return to Woodstock, VT, on May 15-17, 2026. Please join us on The Green and around the scenic village of Woodstock for our famous book sale of almost-new and charmingly old volumes, including first editions; a poetry festival; hands-on workshops; author readings and presentations; events for children; great food; and many more festivities. To keep up to date, please subscribe for our email updates at our website [https://bookstockvt.org/subscribe/] or email us [info@bookstockvt.org] or follow us on Instagram [@bookstockvt].

Join us at the Flynn for an exclusive evening with award-winning documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns.

Ken Burns has been making documentary films for almost fifty years. Since the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Ken has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War; Baseball; Jazz; The War; The National Parks:  America’s Best Idea; Prohibition; The Roosevelts:  An Intimate History; The Vietnam War; Country Music; The U.S. and the Holocaust; The American Buffalo; Leonardo da Vinci; and, most recently, The American Revolution.

Future film projects include Emancipation to Exodus, and LBJ & the Great Society, among others.

Ken’s films have been honored with dozens of major awards, including seventeen Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards and two Oscar nominations. In September of 2008, at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, Ken was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In November of 2022, Ken was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.

With Moderator, Jane Lindholm
Host and Executive Producer, But Why? and special projects for Vermont Public

Jane Lindholm is the host, executive producer and creator of But Why: A Podcast For Curious Kids. In addition to her work on our international kids show, she produces special projects for Vermont Public. Until March 2021, she was host and editor of the award-winning Vermont Public program Vermont Edition.

Jane joined Vermont Public in 2007 to expand Vermont Edition from a weekly pilot into the flagship daily newsmagazine it is today. She has been recognized with regional and national accolades, including several Murrow, PRNDI and GRACIE awards. In 2016 she started the nationally recognized But Why, which takes questions from kids all over the world and finds interesting people to answer them.

All P1 Tickets come with a special merch bundle including a limited edition show poster and a Vermont Public tote bag.

Power of Connection is an event that shines a light on Mercy Connections’ unwavering devotion to its mission, celebrating the boundless strength and collective power of a community united in purpose. Participants will share their powerful stories with those in attendance. Each year, the Mercy Connections' Board of Directors selects a person who exemplifies community leadership and service. This year's award recipient is Erik Hoekstra of Redstone.