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Take Saturday morning, for instance, when the bus — a nonprofit, mobile arts education space — was parked in the middle of a cow field in Randolph, at Silloway Farms. Jackson was sitting atop Cindy the cow, who was munching on apples and grass in preparation for a “cow plop” contest that benefited the Arts Bus by selling grid squares, one of which would receive Cindy’s winning plop.
Whereas most of the six to eight kids at the cow field would be climbing aboard the Arts Bus for the first time that day, Scott was a veteran.
“You can do a lot of things (on the bus),” he said. “You can draw. I like to draw a lot … mostly random stuff.”
As Cindy geared up for the contest, Sharon Trautwein, the executive director of the Arts Bus, was on board preparing cow-themed activities: a story to read aloud, and paper cow masks for the kids to decorate afterward.
“Typically we hire an artist, or expert in a specific area, to lead us in a specific learning experience,” Trautwein said. Saturday’s craft did not feature a guest artist — unless Cindy could be counted as such — because the main goal of the cow plop contest was to help the Arts Bus expand its programming.
In the nearly 10 years since the Arts Bus was founded, “a lot of things have changed” regarding how it acquires funds, Trautwein said. While private grants are still a significant resource for small nonprofits, “there comes a time when the grant people start saying, ‘OK … now what methods are you looking at for how to gain funding on your own?’”
And, she pointed out, “anytime the national administration changes, grant funding for small nonprofits changes.” Though she stressed that it was not a partisan issue, “it’s the reality that we’re dealing with right now.”
To help cover its annual budget, just under $100,000, and increase its program offerings, the Arts Bus is also holding a fundraising gala on Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph. In addition to a digital gallery featuring artwork from the Arts Bus’ summer programs and a silent auction, the evening will include appearances from three National Book Award winning children’s authors: William Alexander, whose novels include Goblin Secrets and A Festival of Ghosts; M.T. Anderson, author of The Pox Party and The Kingdom on the Waves; and Katherine Paterson, the author of more than 30 books including Bridge to Terabithia and The Great Gilly Hopkins. All three writers are affiliated with the Vermont College of Fine Arts, which is sponsoring the event.
“Everyone’s invited,” Trautwein said, but for those who cannot attend for financial or logistical reasons, the digital gallery can be viewed for free from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Chandler on Sunday, Oct. 15.
Once Trautwein had readied the bowls of crayons and markers, she called the kids inside the whimsically decorated vehicle.
“This is where the magic happens,” she said — somewhere in between the seats and tables that line one side of the bus, the shelving unit of art supplies lining the other and the small but cozy reading area in the back.
And she hopes to conjure up more of this magic in the future. Since she joined the organization in February, Trautwein has implemented a number of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) programs, which explore the question of “what is the science behind the art we do?” she said.
Such interdisciplinary activities can lead to major “wow” moments for kids, often in unexpected ways, she said. Over the summer, one of the guest experts on the Arts Bus was a neurologist who works with cockroaches. The neurologist strapped a tiny backpack onto the cockroach and demonstrated how to use Bluetooth technology to control the insect’s movements from a smartphone.
“Then we did art related to bugs and electricity and impulses,” which introduced the idea of “how beautiful bugs can be,” said Trautwein. Other STEAM programs have included a lesson in acids and bases using dyes, and activities inspired by the environment.
But arts education is also about outreach, and Trautwein hopes to enhance the Arts Bus’s role as a “community connector.” The bus travels around to more than a dozen towns in the White River Valley and beyond, and although these communities may be far-flung, the shared experience of the bright green bus can bring people together.
To this end, she’s working on a program that would bring kids into senior centers and assisted living facilities to do art activities with elders, as she believes these cross-generational relationships are beneficial to both age groups. She’s also working on offering addiction prevention programs through the Arts Bus, based on the idea that art is a powerful and healthy coping mechanism that can get people through situations that elevate the risk of addiction.
“Art helps children deal with emotion that they don’t otherwise know how to express,” she said. But even outside of a crisis, making art builds “soft skills” such as out-of-the-box thinking and persistence in problem-solving.
In this vein, Trautwein was showing some of the older kids a “special trick” to cutting out eye-holes, by gently folding the paper and making a slit to start. And if anything ripped, “that’s the great thing about masks,” she said. “You can fix them with a little tape, just like that.”
Jackson, in keeping with his love of drawing, was coloring his mask so manically that he had to rest his arm for a beat or two before continuing. Across the table, 7-year-old Ellis Ward, of Randolph, discovered something about his mask.
“Look!” he said. “Hold it up to the window. It looks really cool.” The light shone through the colored paper and made it translucent, almost like stained glass.
“Whoa,” said Jackson.
And so it hardly mattered that Cindy was taking her time choosing the winning grid square. The kids were in no rush to disembark.
The Arts Bus Gala and Gallery Showcase Fundraiser will take place Oct. 14 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph. For tickets ($30, or two for $50) or to learn more about the Arts Bus, visit artsbusvt.org.
EmmaJean Holley can be reached at eholley@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.