Young Creative Hit Their Stride in the NEK

Breaking into a career in a creative field anywhere requires a lot of hustle, strong mentors and good luck. That’s especially true in the Northeast Kingdom where potential audiences, patrons, and clients are spread across three rural counties and include seasonal residents and visitors.

Young people who are making it work here give credit to a deep-rooted culture of quirky creativity and a supportive community.

“There are so many people who paved the way,” said Anna Weisenfeld, 27, a Danville-raised artist. She took over as owner and director of the Miller’s Thumb Gallery in Greensboro last May with help from fellow artist and co-curator, Vanessa Compton. One of her inspirations is her mother, also an artist who co-founded the Northeast Kingdom Artisans Guild 20 years ago.

Hardwick native Brent McCoy, 37, one-quarter of the team of performers behind a popular variety show, agrees with the sentiment. “We’re standing on the shoulders of giants,” he said. “We like to say that Bread & Puppet and Circus Smirkus had a love child and it is Vermont Vaudeville.”

Yet more should be done to foster creative careers in the region. That’s the message of a new study of the NEK creative economy released earlier this year by the Vermont Creative Network and Vermont Arts Council. The report called “Building on a Legacy of Creativity” makes 22 recommendations for strengthening and expanding what it calls “already one of the region’s key economic engines.”

These days, McCoy and his primary performing partner, his wife Maya, 35, who grew up in Montgomery, spend about a month each year in the Northeast Kingdom performing Vermont Vaudeville and their duo act.  The rest of the time, they are traveling, to Boston and other U.S. cities and, in recent years, worldwide, performing in and helping produce festivals. In 2018, they worked in seven countries and currently are in Australia.

“Right now is a temporary leave of absence,” McCoy said. The couple hopes to bring back their production experience and connections with performers to build an annual festival in the NEK.

Backing creative enterprises like that would be a boon to the region’s overall economic health, the new report argues. The NEK creative economy – defined as jobs in and involving the visual, performing, literary and culinary arts, design, film and media – already account for almost 1 in 10 jobs in the region, according to an analysis that utilized employment statistics, annual federal surveys and local databases. One of the recommendations is to establish a “Creative Economy Investment Fund” similar to those now in place for food and forest-based enterprises.

“As rural communities across America race to find their inner creativity, the Northeast Kingdom has already found its own,” the report concludes. The creative economy “has a variety of strengths and shows even greater potential.”

Human Connections and Links to Food and Recreation

Another of the report’s specific recommendations is organizing networking events to bring together creative professionals in different parts of the region. Personal connections were essential to Keith Chamberlin when he, his wife Florence and their business partner Amy Hale started Flek, a design and advertising firm in St. Johnsbury in 1997. All three are Lyndon College graduates and their lasting connection to the college and other area institutions helped them transition over 20 years from a primarily print graphic design shop to now largely web-based and strategic communications work.

“Like all things, it was human connections,” Chamberlin said. “We’ve always had relationships with large clients.”

Having a “main gig” running the kitchen at Sterling College gives chef Liz Chadwick, 29, of Albany, the freedom to experiment with creative place-based dining experiences, like the two pop-up NEK Supper Club dinners she developed with Glover resident and visual storyteller Beana Bern. Each riffed off a conceptual theme – “Hero’s Journey” for early springtime and “Freedom and Unity,” Vermont’s state motto, for high summer – presenting readings, music and recorded environmental sounds in concert with the meal.

Chadwick thinks a key to successful creative ventures here is understanding local needs and interests and partnering with other people and organizations to meet them. As a transplant to the NEK, “I interfaced with the community and watched these other enterprises coming up,” she said. The question she poses for herself in taking on a project is, “What can I do that contributes and holds up these other things?”

The new creative economy report points to fertile ground in the intersection of art and food, as well as in finding ways to bring together creative fields and the burgeoning recreation sector. Last year, the Northeast Kingdom Collaborative also chose the intersection between these three regional economic strengths as a primary focus for its work in advancing economic development. Its own action plan, “From Strength to Strength” is available at its website nekcollaborative.org.

For videographer Mark Clement, 31, of East Burke, a growing part of his new business Kingdom Mountain Media sits at that nexus. He makes quick-cutting online content and promos aimed at avid mountain bikers. His clients include the non-profit Kingdom Trails, trail builder Knight Ide and mountain bike guide service Kingdom Experiences. After honing his skills working for news channel WCAX and on National Geographic sponsored tours, Clement fell in love with the area around Lyndon, where his wife grew up.

“I could see there was a need for this kind of work up here and not that many people doing it, and I could bring a different style to the table,” he said. Clement predicts creative people with skills and business ideas will continue to be drawn by the landscape and recreational trails, particularly if faster internet speeds become more widely available.

“Who wouldn’t want to live here is my take,” he said.