Talking Strategy on Giant Post-Its

VPR is in the process of creating a new strategic plan that will guide Vermont Public Radio and inform our work over the next three years. Our current strategic plan, which ends next year, called for the transition into two distinct services and a complete overhaul of VPR.net.

The staff got together this week for what is probably the most fun part of strategic planning process - brainstorming! For 30 minutes we shouted out ideas for what we want Vermont Public Radio to be, do, and offer in the future. The ideas were wide-ranging: programming, technology, facilities, staffing and fundraising. We were encouraged to dream big, and to have fun...which may be why some of the suggestions included building a creemee stand in the music library and a wardrobe stipend for Vermont Edition Host Jane Lindholm.

Here are a few pictures from the session. A big thanks to Lawrence Webster for facilitating the meeting and for capturing all our ideas on those giant post-its! We'll continue developing the plan over the next several months. Stay tuned!

Sally Pinkas live performance today

VPR Classical was very pleased to welcome Sally Pinkas back to the performance studio for a live recital this morning. Walter Parker's introduction included the reminder that Sally was, in fact, the first classical musician who ever played in VPR's performance studio - back in 1995!

Since then the studio's acoustic walls have resonated with jazz, rock, folk, opera, - not to mention all kinds of staff events and meetings, and the sounds of "Bingo!" and phones ringing during our membership drives!

This morning's fare included Faure and Beethoven, in advance of Sally's recital coming up this Monday evening at the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College.

Dispatches from VPR's English Garden Tour

VPR Commentator and Gardening Expert Charlie Nardozzi is touring the legendary gardens of England with VPR listeners, and he sent us a few tastes of what they’re seeing:

Friday: The Chelsea Flower Show was amazing. Beautiful gardens, huge displays of flowers, and great design ideas. It was wonderful have Thomas Hoblyn for one hour to talk about the designs and the insider’s view of the show. Some of the gardens have budgets up to £350,000! It's quite an investment. We saw British Gardening TV star Alan Titchmarsh taping segments live and everyone seemed to really enjoy the show.




Saturday: We've been at the Garden House and Rosemoor gardens today. The Garden House was fabulous, a great example of a classic English garden, with cottage garden plants spilling out into walkways with great shrubs and trees. The bones of this garden are amazing. A 17th-century vicarage and walls is the perfect backdrop for Zone 3 to 9 plants. This part of England is actually almost subtropical with palm trees and other warm loving plants. Eveyone was wowed.

Rosemoor was more formal but interesting. Great old plants and beautiful examples of shrubs different foliage and textures. The rhodis, azaleas, poppies and wisteria are in full bloom. What a show! Tomorrow we're off to the Eden Project and then Heligan. Everyone is thoroughly enjoying England. We spend days chatting, laughing, and talking gardens. If I don't know the answers, someone usually on the tour does. It's great fun.

You can learn more about VPR's tours here.

Music for the Quadricentennial

Staffers know it, so do many listeners. And word has gotten around, so local musicians definitely know it. At VPR we're very fortunate in the fact that the performance space in the heart of our Colchester building is one of the acoustically finest recording studios in the state.

I spent yesterday in there, interviewing and hosting several musicians for a showcase we’re producing for the Lake Champlain Quadricentennial anniversary. Not sure when it will air, but if you keep an eye on the website we'll let you know as soon as possible.

The day started off on the right foot (and the left, and the left-right-left!) with Lisa Ornstein and André Marchand, the French-Canadian fiddler and guitarist/singer duo. They were in town for an evening concert at UVM, but they took a little time to stop by and share some of their wide repertoire of chansons, dances, reels and other traditional tunes. They’re great. Lisa has a longstanding connection to this area, as a protégée of the legendary fiddler Louis Beaudoin. Among André’s credits is several years with Quebec’s Juno-winning La Bouttine Souriante. We all got a laugh from Lisa describing her move from Canada back to the family home, after graduating: “It was in Maine. Northern Maine. So far North in fact that when I moved back I had to go NORTH from Québec City to get there!”

Next up was one of my favorite local acts, Marty Morrissey and VPR's own Robert Resnik. With more than 30 instruments and 50 years of experience between them (25 of those years playing together), these two really know how to share some learning, have a great time, and get everyone else involved in the fun too. And why not? There’s a lot to keep a songwriter entertained here: a rich maritime and military history, wildly unpredictable weather, breathtaking natural beauty (every season!), Champ, farming culture, and…yep, even rock snot. And other invasive species.

After a short break we were joined by singer/songwriter Alan Greenleaf. A farmer himself, fittingly, he had spent the earlier part of the day playing at the opening weekend of a local farmer’s market. He offered a final set of songs ranging from the whimsical to the poignant, covering everything from the flood of 1927 to the austere landscape of our northern winters, and that hallowed Vermont summertime tradition, the Strolling of the Heifers.

This was just one of those days where I felt lucky. Blessed to live where I do, fortunate to be involved in special gatherings like this, and grateful to have the ears and eyes to be able to take it all in.

Thanks to Robert, Nora, Chris, and everyone else who made the recording session possible.

The final words for the day come from Mr. Greenleaf: “I never get tired of looking out the window. This is a beautiful place we live in, Vermont. It’s worth a lot of songs.”

Look for a complete overview of our Quadricentennial programming on the Champlain 400 page at VPR.NET.

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Cheryl Willoughby

VPR Dir. of Music Programming

The Long Haul

VPR commentators are a pretty eclectic group. So it’s no surprise that, when asked to write on a common topic, the come up with some fascinating ideas.

That’s what we did this spring. For our annual Commentators Brunch at Sugarbush Resort, we asked about two dozen of our regular commentators for an essay on the theme of “The Long Haul.”

What’d we get? How about a history lesson on the days when flocks of turkeys were driven to market from Vermont to Boston. Talk about a Long Haul. It’s a very entertaining piece.

But we also got the poignant, including a foot soldier’s thoughts on the infantry in which he serves. It’s a role, it is said, that goes back to the time of the Greeks.

And, of course, there was the personal. One commentator reflected on his immigrant family’s history, with a little piece of advice for how to appreciate the Long Haul.

The essays are delightful and thought-provoking. We’ll air a sampling of them in the next week during Morning Edition. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

Jane Lindholm interviews Robert Siegel and Dina Temple-Raston

We were thrilled to welcome NPR's All Things Considered Host Robert Siegel and National Security Correspondent Dina Temple-Raston to Vermont last weekend to celebrate VPR's successful Creating a Sound Future endowment campaign. Visit our website for audio of Jane Lindholm's interview with Robert and Dina.

Take VPR's Underwriter Map on Your Summer Galavants

VPR recently launched this interactive Google map to help you locate the more than 200 businesses that support Vermont Public Radio. You'll find all the information about our underwriters in all corners of the state. Visit their websites or visit them during your summer travels - you can get directions right from the map from work, home, or wherever your travels take you. From lightning protection and baby clothes, from restaurants to learning centers to colorful, mismatched socks, if you are looking for it, there's probably a VPR underwriter that sells it.

Buying local is good for Vermont's economy, and why you buy local from businesses that support VPR, you're helping your public radio station stay strong, too. Please take a moment to take a look and be sure to tell them, you listen to VPR and proudly support local business.