For over 38 years Catamount Arts has served as a bastion of culture for northwestern Vermont and northern New Hampshire. Its mission is to inspire appreciation of and participation in the arts, promote the arts throughout the region, and cultivate the arts as an integral part of community life. In 2006 they accepted the gift of a century-old Greek Revival Masonic Temple, and quickly began renovating the structure into a world-class community arts center, complete with galleries, classrooms, performance space, theaters, offices and more. That gift was accepted with the expectation of a $500,000 federal earmark to fund the project, but with the economic collapse in 2008, those funds did not materialize. Luckily, a group of local banks stepped forward and offered a loan to cover all expenses. In the past year Catamount Arts has launched a campaign to repay the loan in full, which is must-do task before they can truly continue their invaluable work if integrating the arts into their region. On their RocketHub crowdfunding campaign, they describe their needs as follows:
“For us to continue provocative and essential programming we need to shift board and staff focus away from debt relief and onto program development and outreach. Your support of $20 to $500 will be used to fund a permanent home for community arts and allow us to inform, create and educate future generations.”
So far they are one-third of the way there, but obviously still in need. With your support their invaluable work to support all levels of creative culture within their community can become a reality. To donate to crowdfunding campaign, or to learn more about the project, visit their page on RocketHub today.