Arts & Entertainment

For a Small Town, There Sure is a Lot Going On

Barnard Vermont Photograph of Theatre Performance at Feast & Field Market

© Photograph Courtesy Seth Butler Media / Barnard Community Trust

Barnard may be a small town, but it’s not starved for culture. Throughout the year, there are arts to entertain and inspire. From the Town Hall to the local church — at times resounding through the hills and fields — in theaters and galleries in neighboring towns, you can enjoy visual arts, theater, music and dance. All thanks to some dedicated local groups determined to infuse the region with a thriving arts culture.

BarnArts Center for the Arts

The heart that pumps the town’s arts culture is BarnArts. The group’s mission is to engage and inspire the local community through a year-round performing and visual arts program of workshops, exhibitions and performances, showcasing both the existing and developing talents of local adults and children as well as nationally recognized artists.

BarnArts runs an annual Teen Touring Company that teaches and trains local youth on how to produce and perform theater, and also organizes an annual Summer Youth Theater that performs every August in the Town Hall. BarnArts also stages productions of local adults, hosts holiday concerts, and regularly brings nationally-recognized talent to our town and the region. From June-October, BarnArts hosts the Thursday Music Series at Feast & Field Farmers’ Market, and each spring they present the Annual Masquerade Jazz & Funk Dance Party.

ArtisTree

ArtisTree is a community arts center and gallery just 15 minutes from the heart of Barnard, in the village of South Pomfret. Besides all of the many classes offered — from photography to clay to fabric arts to artful meditation — ArtisTree hosts an ongoing series of arts exhibitions and has a calendar full of concerts and performances. Groups like BarnArts regularly partner with ArtisTree on performances, and many of the center’s instructors and performers — and even the founder — live in Barnard.

Feast & Field Market

Feast & Field Farmers’ Market is hosted every Thursday afternoon, during the warmer months. Grounded in the farm fields of Barnard’s historic Clark Farm, a group of farmers, artists and educators host a weekly farmers’ market and a number of special arts events and performances throughout the summer and harvest seasons. The weekly gathering brings hundreds to the fields to listen and dance to the live music presented by BarnArts, enjoy local food and wild-fermented wine from the farm, venture on art walks and take in after-dark campfire jam sessions. The site also hosts a number of special events featuring high-profile musicians and touring theater and dance companies on the Clark Farm’s working landscape.