Posted By Margaret Grayson on Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 4:20 PM

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© JaCrispy | Dreamstime.com

The state of Vermont released new safety guidelines on Wednesday for in-person music education in schools. The pandemic-era protocols allow for indoor group practices under specific conditions for the first time since schools reopened in the fall. The move comes after months of advocacy by music educators pushing for the state to sanction indoor group rehearsals.

Among the guidelines are that musicians can play together indoors separated from each other at six-foot intervals. Rehearsal spaces must be equipped to complete three air exchanges per hour and one full exchange between rehearsals, which are limited to 30 minutes with no audiences.

Singers and musicians must wear masks at all times. Woodwind and brass players are permitted to wear masks with a slit for their instrument’s mouthpiece while playing. Those instruments must also be equipped with a bell cover — essentially a cloth mask for the end of the instrument.

Tags: music , education , school reopening , Eric Bushey , Vermont Music Educators Association , Dan French , COVID-19 , Web Only , Image

Posted By Jordan Adams on Mon, Feb 15, 2021 at 3:29 PM

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Courtesy of KeruBo

KeruBo's Irene Kerubo Webster (center) with AALV staff in the "Chanjo" video

Though Vermont's COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been relatively smooth, Afro-jazz artist and social worker Irene Kerubo Webster has noticed some hesitancy to get vaccinated among the Burlington area's resettled African community. Originally from Kenya, Webster works for the Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV), a nonprofit that helps Africans and other New Americans living locally achieve independence and acculturation.

Tags: Irene Kerubo Webster , KeruBo , COVID-19 vaccine , Association of Africans Living in Vermont , Web Only , Image

Posted By Margaret Grayson on Thu, Feb 11, 2021 at 4:10 PM

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Courtesy of the Old Stone House Museum

Alexander Twilight

Middlebury artist Katie Runde has been commissioned to paint a portrait of Alexander Twilight to hang in the Vermont Statehouse, which will make him the first person of color featured in a portrait there.

Twilight, believed to be both the first African American college graduate and first African American legislator in the U.S., was a Brownington-based educator and minister who lived from 1795 to 1857. He was elected as a Vermont State Representative in 1836. Last year, state lawmakers established September 23, 2020, as Alexander Twilight Day.

The portrait was commissioned jointly by the Friends of the Vermont State House and the office of the Vermont State Curator and is being funded by the National Life Group of Vermont.

Tags: Alexander Twilight , Katie Runde , portrait , realism , Black History Month , Vermont Statehouse , Vermont State Curator , Brownington , Vermont history , Web Only , Image

Posted By Jordan Adams on Thu, Feb 4, 2021 at 3:37 PM

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Courtesy of Britt Shorter/Waking Windows

Australian rock band Pond performing at Waking Windows 2017

Waking Windows has been pushed back to May 2022.

After all but confirming the postponement in a January email to Seven Days, the Winooski-based indie music and arts festival's organizers released a statement on Thursday announcing their decision to not go forward with the event this year due to continued safety concerns around the pandemic. The 2020 festival, which would have marked the event's tenth anniversary, was also canceled because of the coronavirus.

Tags: Waking Windows , Winooski , Web Only , Image