Vermont Public Community Calendar

The Julian Scott Memorial Gallery is pleased to present a BFA exhibit featuring Amber Boles, Allegra Luzardo, Rose Oakland, and Sayler Ruggles. The exhibit features painting, sculpture, and digital art. It runs from April 13 to May 1, 2026, with a reception and artist talks on April 16th from 12-2 pm. The gallery is located in the Dibden Center for the Arts on the VTSU-Johnson campus. Follow us on social media at VTSU-Johnson Campus Art Department. Information: (802) 635-1469.

Take a trip through our solar system to learn about Earth, our Moon, and all the planets in the Milky Way with daily activities and demonstrations at ECHO’s out-of-this-world spring festival. Plus, celebrate what makes our home planet special with the beloved Mud Fling! Discover Mother Nature’s recipe for perfect mud, then join the mud parade and throw mud balls from ECHO’s upper deck.

Open Palette is a casual open studio session for adult artists of all disciplines. Bring your own projects and enjoy dedicated time to work, create and experiment in a shared creative space. This is a gathering designed to foster community, conversation and connection among artists.

This mixed-media watercolor workshop invites breath awareness and playful mark-making using unexpected tools rather than traditional brushes. With watercolor, ink, liquid charcoal, salt, oil pastel, and other materials, participants build layered abstract pieces, emphasizing curiosity and process over perfection. Observe pigments bloom and interact, respond intuitively, and embrace experimentation, suitable for all levels. Inspired by April’s unfolding, it invites patient trust and wonder.

⭐SAVE THE DATE⭐ Opera Company of Middlebury's after-school Youth Opera program presents ☀️Una Giornata🌑, an original production featuring all 24 Italian songs and arias!

Join our talented singers, ages 10-19, next month for three performances around Vermont!💐🤩👏

Female mariachi singer, musician, and Latin American folkloric dancer and choreographer Veronica Robles has become a cultural icon for Boston’s Latino community. Through her powerful use of music, dance, and cultural traditions, she brings people together while celebrating the richness and importance of diversity.

This special reading celebrates National Poetry Month and features three Vermont poets: Rage Hezekiah, Matthew Olzmann, and Leslie Sainz. This reading will take place on Sunday, April 19 at 2:00 pm in the Red Mill Building and includes light refreshments. A limited number of books will be available for sale and author signing thanks to our partnership with independent bookseller, Phoenix Books.

Rage Hezekiah is a poet and educator whose poems have been anthologized, co-translated, and published internationally. Her recent collection, Yearn, was a Diode Editions Book Contest winner, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, the Vermont Book Award, and the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry. She is the 2025 Outpost Vermont Fellow and serves as Interviews Editor at The Common.

Matthew Olzmann is the author of Constellation Route as well as two previous collections of poetry: Mezzanines and Contradictions in the Design. Olzmann’s poems have appeared in the New York Times, Best American Poetry, the Pushcart Prizes, Kenyon Review, and elsewhere. He is a Senior Lecturer of Creative Writing at Dartmouth College and teaches in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

Leslie Sainz is the author of Have You Been Long Enough at Table (Tin House, 2023), winner of the 2024 Audre Lorde Award and a finalist for the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award, the New England Book Award, and the Vermont Book Award. The daughter of Cuban exiles, her work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Poetry, the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, The Yale Review, The American Poetry Review, and elsewhere.

Flow through a range of styles and moods with original jazz works, stunning improvisations and new takes on the American Songbook.

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, percussionist and multi-instrumentalist Tyshawn Sorey is one of the most visionary artists of his generation—known for a practice that defies category and a sound that reshapes the possibilities of improvisation.

Joined by longtime collaborators Aaron Diehl on the piano and Harish Raghavan on bass, Sorey blends rigorous structure with boundless spontaneity, drawing on everything from 20th-century classical to post-bop, minimalism to free jazz.

Performances:
Sun, Apr 19 at 4 & 7:30 p.m.

VT Symphony's Jukebox quartet honors the legacy of American folk traditions and the communal spirit that sustains them. Featuring Pulitzer Prize-winner Jennifer Higdon’s exploration of her Southern roots, the Appalachian-infused stylings of fiddler and composer Mark O’Connor, brand new arrangements by bluegrass legend Matt Flinner, and more - this program celebrates the magical place where classical and folk traditions meet. Featuring Brooke Quiggins-Saulnier and Joana Genova, violin; Stefanie Taylor, viola; and John Dunlop, cello; hosted and curated by Matt LaRocca. The tour includes an interactive audio and visual display of Vermont folk heritage, steeped in song selections from the Helen Hartness Flanders Ballad Collection at Middlebury College and accompanying displays from the Henry Sheldon Museum and Vermont Historical Society.

⭐SAVE THE DATE⭐ Opera Company of Middlebury's after-school Youth Opera program presents ☀️Una Giornata🌑, an original production featuring all 24 Italian songs and arias!

Join our talented singers, ages 10-19, next month for three performances around Vermont!💐🤩👏

The Julian Scott Memorial Gallery is pleased to present a BFA exhibit featuring Amber Boles, Allegra Luzardo, Rose Oakland, and Sayler Ruggles. The exhibit features painting, sculpture, and digital art. It runs from April 13 to May 1, 2026, with a reception and artist talks on April 16th from 12-2 pm. The gallery is located in the Dibden Center for the Arts on the VTSU-Johnson campus. Follow us on social media at VTSU-Johnson Campus Art Department. Information: (802) 635-1469.

What if the band was the band? 🤔
Meet HEARTSONG a musical where young performers become the instruments themselves! 🤯
Yes, they become instruments!

A one-of-a-kind musical about teamwork, big choices, and finding your voice. Each participant will have an important, fun role in the story, and the creators of the musical will cast and direct the ensemble. We will read and discuss the script, block and rehearse scenes, learn music, improvise, learn simple choreography and create costumes and set pieces. With focus, generosity and support of each other, performers will learn skills to confidently and collaboratively portray their characters. A final "sharing" for friends and family, a script-in-hand presentation, will take place in the main theater with simple theatrical elements.

HEARTSONG, an hour-long children's musical by Barbara Blatner and Lin Snider, tells of a band of musical instrument middle schoolers who make music by listening to each other’s hearts. When the opportunity arises for one of the band members to gain fame and fortune at the expense of the others, the instruments have to choose between "me" and "we." HEARTSONG asks: What are the lures and realities of being a "star," the consequences of disrespecting and bullying each other, and affirms the joys of collaborating with those of different backgrounds.

Take a trip through our solar system to learn about Earth, our Moon, and all the planets in the Milky Way with daily activities and demonstrations at ECHO’s out-of-this-world spring festival. Plus, celebrate what makes our home planet special with the beloved Mud Fling! Discover Mother Nature’s recipe for perfect mud, then join the mud parade and throw mud balls from ECHO’s upper deck.

Get a backstage pass to Brave Little State — the podcast where Vermont’s curiosity leads the way. Join producers Josh Crane, Sabine Poux, and Burgess Brown, along with co-creator Angela Evancie, for a behind-the-scenes look at how they answer our (brave little) state’s most pressing and peculiar questions.

Whether you’ve been with us since episode one or are just discovering the show, come learn how Vermont stories come to life — one curious voice at a time. They’ll break down the making of fan-favorite episodes, discuss the show’s future — and maybe even share some bloopers! .

Bring your burning questions for the team (or email them in advance), and let’s get curious together!

All attendees will receive a vintage Brave Little State Pale Ale pint glass from our 2021 collab with Lawson’s Finest Liquids.

Advance tickets: $10
At the door: $15 (as space allows)

GET TICKETS!

Doors open: 6 p.m. - snacks and drinks available
Event begins: 6:30 p.m.
Event ends: 7:30 p.m.

Email your questions for BLS in advance, please include your first name and town.

[Photo by James Buck]

Accommodations
Vermont Public is committed to providing access and accommodation for individuals with disabilities at our events. To request accommodations, please email events@vermontpublic.org or call us at 802-655-9451 at least seven days in advance of the event.

Cancellation Policy
Please let us know by emailing events@vermontpublic.org if you are not able to join us so that we may release your tickets to someone else. If tickets are able to be resold, we are happy to offer a refund, minus the processing fees.

Directions and Parking
Northern Stage is located at 74 Gates Street White River Junction, VT 05001. Street parking in downtown White River Junction is limited. There is a free public parking lot directly behind the Barrette Center for the Arts. Accessible parking is located at 76 Gates Street. There are four spots reserved for accessible parking.

Other questions? Email us at events@vermontpublic.org.

The Julian Scott Memorial Gallery is pleased to present a BFA exhibit featuring Amber Boles, Allegra Luzardo, Rose Oakland, and Sayler Ruggles. The exhibit features painting, sculpture, and digital art. It runs from April 13 to May 1, 2026, with a reception and artist talks on April 16th from 12-2 pm. The gallery is located in the Dibden Center for the Arts on the VTSU-Johnson campus. Follow us on social media at VTSU-Johnson Campus Art Department. Information: (802) 635-1469.

Take a trip through our solar system to learn about Earth, our Moon, and all the planets in the Milky Way with daily activities and demonstrations at ECHO’s out-of-this-world spring festival. Plus, celebrate what makes our home planet special with the beloved Mud Fling! Discover Mother Nature’s recipe for perfect mud, then join the mud parade and throw mud balls from ECHO’s upper deck.

The Vermont State Curator’s Office presents Brattleboro artist and state legislator Mollie S. Burke in her solo exhibit at the Vermont State House Cafeteria Gallery titled Realism and Magical Realism. Burke’s paintings and drawings bring the viewer into a dreamlike world filled with richly colored environments that present a sense of place and home, surrounded by nature. Burke’s imagery includes flowers, vines, water, and trees that weave a fanciful tapestry of meaning and movement. On view Now– April 24, the show will celebrate the artist with a reception on Tuesday, April 21 from 3:30 – 5:30 pm.

“To me the natural world is both real and magical. In my paintings I try to represent the marvelous and symbolic aspects of reality. Many influences contribute to my style --the interlace designs of my Irish ancestry, the compositional structure of illuminated manuscripts, and the Zapotec weavings of southern Mexico. I embrace a non-linear way of seeing, and I celebrate the imagination as a value, a force that can save us from narrow ideologies and rigid thinking.” – Mollie Burke

About: Mollie Burke holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Goddard College. She has been active in the Brattleboro community as an artist and teacher of both art and figure skating for many years. She is the founder and director of Art in the Neighborhood, an organization that provides tuition-free art classes to children in low-income housing communities. She also teaches in several Vermont schools with the Vermont Arts Council artist-in-residence program.

Burke is a Brattleboro Town Meeting representative and a member of the Brattleboro Coalition for Active Transportation. She was elected to the House in 2008 and has served since then on the Transportation Committee. She is also Chair of the House Sexual Harassment Prevention Panel and active in the Climate Solutions Caucus and the Women's Caucus. She and her husband have three grown children and five grandchildren.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Food and drink will be served at the artist reception.

A three-week immersion program exploring a literary classic for participants ages 13-19. This is a challenging and fun experience under the guidance of professional practitioners.
Think you know what a love story looks like? Think again.
This summer, NEYT’s Senior Company takes on Arms and the Man, a fast, funny, and surprisingly modern comedy that flips romance, heroism, and “main character energy” completely on its head.
In this three week immersive program, actors ages 13–19 will dive into a rigorous, ensemble driven process building a fully staged production while sharpening their skills in voice, language, movement, and character work. This is the ideal opportunity for actors who want to go deeper, to make bold choices, tackle rich text, and collaborate at a high level.
Video audition submissions are now open. Apply by April 22nd and claim your place in the company now. Rehearsals June 22 - July 10. Performances July 10 & 11.

The Julian Scott Memorial Gallery is pleased to present a BFA exhibit featuring Amber Boles, Allegra Luzardo, Rose Oakland, and Sayler Ruggles. The exhibit features painting, sculpture, and digital art. It runs from April 13 to May 1, 2026, with a reception and artist talks on April 16th from 12-2 pm. The gallery is located in the Dibden Center for the Arts on the VTSU-Johnson campus. Follow us on social media at VTSU-Johnson Campus Art Department. Information: (802) 635-1469.

Take a trip through our solar system to learn about Earth, our Moon, and all the planets in the Milky Way with daily activities and demonstrations at ECHO’s out-of-this-world spring festival. Plus, celebrate what makes our home planet special with the beloved Mud Fling! Discover Mother Nature’s recipe for perfect mud, then join the mud parade and throw mud balls from ECHO’s upper deck.