Since October 2016, experimental and avant-garde musicians from all over North America have presented their work as part of the bimonthly music series Signals. Local sonic innovator Greg Davis curates and hosts the series in conjunction with local creative audio software company Soundtoys. Brooklyn-based composer Koen Holtkamp is next on the docket and performs this Saturday, April 15, at Soundtoys' Hood Plant location in Burlington.

After seven years with Burlington City Arts, Kerri Macon has left her position as the organization's director of art sales and curator of the Vermont Metro Gallery. Macon joined the organization in 2010, after having worked as the Fleming Museum's business manager and as an independent arts consultant. Macon plans to dedicate herself to completing an autobiographical book about her family history, and to continue to work independently in artist development.

"I’ve spent the last seven years really supporting other people’s creative visions," Macon told Seven Days by phone, "and I sort of wanted to turn the tables a little bit and be on the other side. I was sort of at the end of my run at BCA in terms of where I could grow and the types of ideas I could explore."

It's Monday, which means it's time for your weekly dose of locavore levity: the Joke of the Week! This week's joke comes from Burlington's Nilima Abrams. Take it away, Nilima…

In Iraq, Sahar Alsammraee operated a clothing design studio out of her home. Her stock-in-trade were elaborately embroidered designs for traditional Arabic/Islamic dresses called abaya. That all came to an end when the 55-year-old designer fled to Syria at the start of the Iraq War in 2003. When conflict escalated there she returned to Iraq, then migrated to Vermont in 2014.

Alsammraee provides home care for her mother. And it's taken her some time to save up for sewing machines and fabric. But this year she has returned to the practice she loves: designing and sewing abaya.

And now, she has an outlet to show those designs: The Karibu (Welcome) International Fashion Show. Staged by the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, the show takes place on Thursday, April 13, at the Higher Ground Showcase Lounge in South Burlington.

Aslammraee is one of three designers preparing garments for the show. The others, Pamela Tshilemba and Virginie Diambou, are from the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo, respectively. The show features 21 models from far flung countries such as Peru, Guatemala, Mexico, Iraq, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria, China, Nepal, India, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo.

CVOEO associate director Sandrine Kibuey, formerly of the DRC, cohosts the event with Alex Hirsch from WCAX-TV.

Alsammraee was preparing four pieces for Karibu in her Winooski apartment on Tuesday afternoon. The designer doesn't speak fluent English, so Houda Musanovic, formerly of Morocco, translated.

One red evening gown with long sleeves not yet sewn to the bodice was draped on the couch near a small sewing machine set up on a folding table. She'll be making two dresses in that style.
The other two, which she has already finished, are abaya in seashell pink and turquoise. One is adorned with glitzy rhinestones, the other bearing an appliquéd band of silver lace trim down the center.  The dresses are composed of two parts — a loosely fitted, ankle-length sheath dress in poly-blend satin topped with a layer of sheer chiffon.

The designer says she gets her fabric at Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts in South Burlington, but that it's more expensive than the material she used to work with in Iraq. She's also using machine-embroidered fabrics from Jo-Ann. In Iraq she designed embroidery patterns and commissioned area seamstresses to fashion them either by hand or machine, depending on the complexity of the design.

Alsammraee and Musanovic explained that the light, flowing abaya are typically worn "the day just before a wedding, henna day." On that occasion, women dress up and gather to adorn the bride-to-be with temporary henna tattoos. "Just girls," Musanovic says, adding, "sparkle is very important."

Aslammraee is excited for people to see her designs. "It's just the beginning, she says." She hopes to grow her business here and be successful with it, as she was in Iraq. She adds, "It helps to be known in the community."

Hello, humans! Welcome back to my humble quest for the elusive edges of the Vermont music map. Today I have procured more locally sourced beat snacks to satisfy your modern lifestyle needs. Friends, meet Ezra Sports Drink.

Four months after Burlington High School's International Club's peace project took off, the students are scaling up to bring their message to the masses.

One of the best weapons that "the arts" has at its disposal is, well ... the arts. In light of President Trump's threats to completely defund the National Endowment for the Arts, it seems safe to say that the NEA and its supporters have guns drawn — figuratively, of course.

Yesterday, arts blog Hyperallergic reported that approximately 400 people gathered at New York City Hall for a Rally to Save the Arts. Today, IndieWire estimates that some 90 movie theaters nationwide will screen Michael Radford's 1984 (!) film adaptation of George Orwell's landmark dystopian novel.

It's Monday, which means it's time for your weekly dose of locavore levity: the Joke of the Week! This week's joke comes from Burlington's Kendall Farrell. Take it away, Kendall…

The opening title card of The Gun Shop, a 2016 documentary produced for Channel 4’s Cutting Edge series in the U.K., states that there are more than 56,000 places to purchase a gun in America. What follows is a balanced look at firearm ownership and gun violence, using a single shop in Battle Creek, Mich., as a microcosm of the divisive American gun debate.

The Gun Shop was coproduced by Stowe resident David Rocchio, founder and president of Stowe Story Labs. That nonprofit group is devoted to facilitating the work of aspiring screenwriters and filmmakers.

“The reason I wanted to make this film is, I like guns, and I like my local gun shop, but I also get that we need to really do something about handgun violence in America,” Rocchio says. “And the way the system now approaches these issues is through opposite camps. I just wanted to start a dialogue, and the way you start a dialogue is to listen.”