As with many small towns, Starksboro, Vermont feels the strain of balancing a growing population with a rural lifestyle. See how residents are using their efforts and creativity to sustain the best of their community and adapt to changing times.
Located within 20 miles of the State’s largest city of Burlington, Starksboro, Vermont seemingly has it all. But, as with many small towns, it feels the strain of integrating newcomers and old-timers, population growth and a rural lifestyle, rising real-estate prices and limited economic opportunities. Residents recognize that it will take effort and creativity to sustain the best of their community and adapt to changing times.
While Starksboro still boasts a largely rural landscape, the Town is experiencing significant growth pressures from nearby urban centers. Despite this growth and its diverse demographics, the Town enjoys vital boards and organizations, volunteerism is strong, and voters regularly support town ballot initiatives and budgets.
The Orton Family Foundation and the Vermont Land Trust (VLT) hypothesized that, by getting in touch with deep community values and connections to place, citizens could improve on traditional planning approaches and make better decisions about the future of their town. With help from other non-profit organizations, the Foundation and VLT developed an Art & Soul Civic Engagement initiative which uses the arts to involve citizens in shaping their own future and translating shared values into actions.
The Art & Soul initiative employs a variety of tools to engage residents in storytelling, art, conversation and action and is a dynamic new way to honor and revitalize the Towns commitment to planning. In the first phase, Middlebury College students interviewed 50 local residents and presented some of their stories to townspeople in a community-wide event. Next, artist-in-residence Matthew Perry began working with residents of diverse ages and backgrounds to build on those stories through art-making. In the final phase of the project, townspeople will identify concrete actions, policies and choices to build a future based on the values that emerge throughout the project.
Starksboro leaders understand that broad citizen engagement is essential to nurturing and planning for the future of a healthy community. The Art & Soul Civic Engagement initiative helps Starksboro begin to identify and protect its “heart and soul" through three phases:
First, A Middlebury College class led by Professor John Elder spent three months collecting the stories of town residents. Among the 50 townspeople interviewed were elders, youth, landowners, farmers, town officials and local historians. The storytelling phase culminated with a town-wide community supper and celebration attended by about 250 people, at which the Middlebury College students shared their final edited stories. and distributed a book of Starksboro Stories to every family attending.
Second, The Foundation issued a Call in 2008 for Vermont Artists who were experienced and interested in using art as a civic engagement tool. Matthew Perry of the Vermont Arts Exchange in North Bennington, Vermont was selected from 16 to serve as the Artist-in-Residence.
Perry will work in the community for nine months helping residents turn some of the community stories into works of art that celebrate life in Starksboro and provoke discussion about what should be preserved or changed. Throughout the process, Starksboro will host celebrations to showcase the artworks, facilitate conversations and help flesh out the community’s beliefs and aspirations.
In the final phase, the project will promote and institutionalize a community vision that emerges from stories and art. Townspeople will identify ways to reflect their shared values in concrete actions, policies and choices shaping the future of their community and its land use. Starksboro will use the project results to strengthen and implement its Town Plan through zoning, other ordinances, and community development projects, as well as through new actions that materialize from the creative phase.
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