Homegrown in Vermont is a firm commitment from Spruce Peak Arts to raise up emerging Vermont musicians by always using a Vermont musician as support for our Spruce Peak Unplugged concert series. Each year culminates in our Homegrown in Vermont Summer Music Festival, a day of family friendly and affordable music featuring as many as 10 of Vermont’s top emerging bands and musicians. The Festival served 300 guests in its first year and doubled that capacity in year 2, which featured headliner Ryan Miller. Overall Homegrown in VT has served more than 50 musicians in just 2 short years.
Homegrown musicians have shared the stage with Matt Quinn (Mt. Joy), Rachel Price (Lake Street Dive), Jonathan Russel (The Head and The Heart), Ryan Miller (Guster), and many more. Homegrown in VT is 100% donor funded and is Spruce Peak Arts’ most contributed to effort, having raised more than $100K in 2 short years. All dollars raised go directly to opportunities for musicians. A critical aspect of the initiative is that we are not simply trafficking in “opportunity.” We deeply respect that the artists we are serving need to make a living as artists and as such an enormous percentage of the raised budget goes directly to paying our artists.
Spruce Peak Unplugged brings artists to play an intimate concert in our 420-seat indoor theatre or in an outdoor venue for 1000 patrons. Artists may play with their usual bandmates, with a pickup band, or they may play a solo acoustic show – each Spruce Peak Unplugged performance is a unique experience. Previous Spruce Peak Unplugged artists have included Natalie Merchant (10,000 Maniacs), Matt Quinn (Mt. Joy), Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket), Pete Francis (Dispatch), Sierra Hull, and The Wallflowers.
Spruce Peak Arts’ Speaker Series offers our audience the opportunity to hear from leading writers and thinkers from literature and media in our intimate venue. Past speakers have included Ira Glass, Fran Liebowitz, David Sedaris, and Anne Lamott.
Music in the Meadow, the long-running outdoor concert series held on the grounds of Trapp Family Lodge, is a tradition that has brought neighbors, families, and visitors together for decades. Music in the Meadow has been a place where blankets are spread, children dance freely, and the community gathers to enjoy live music against Vermont’s mountain backdrop. As the series moves into a new season, Spruce Peak Arts will serve as steward of Music in the Meadow, ensuring the series remains accessible and true to its original purpose while providing the support needed to keep it thriving for years to come.
Spruce Peak Arts is committed to presenting shows for audiences of all ages as part of our goal of serving as a community living room. Our Arts in Education series engages our youngest audience members as we bring in family-friendly productions that bring to life popular children’s books and other performances for young audiences. Past shows include Ada Twist: Scientist, Pete the Cat, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, The Magic Schoolbus, and The Littlest Cove.
Throughout our season, Spruce Peak Arts partners with other arts organizations to offer unique performance experiences. These projects vary in type and approach but are an important way for us to share collaborations with our audience. Examples of these projects are Boston Dance Theatre’s Red is a Feeling and Opera America’s premier of a new opera by Laura Kaminsky, The Post Office, which will go on to play at Brooklyn Academy of Music.
