photo of the founders of NECCA performing a duo act on the trapeze

2016 Governor’s Arts Awards Recipients Announced

VTDigger.org

The Vermont Arts Council, in association with the Governor’s office, is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2016 Governor’s Arts Awards. These awards are presented annually to recognize outstanding individual and organizational contributions to the arts. Awards are given to educators, artists, performers, advocates, administrators, volunteers, and scholars. In 2016, Vermonters will be recognized for their contributions in five categories.

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vermont arts council logo

2016 Governor’s Arts Awards Recipients Announced

VTDigger.org

The Vermont Arts Council, in association with the Governor’s office, will present the annual Governor’s Arts Awards to recognize outstanding individual and organizational contributions to the arts. The Michael S. Currier Center, The Putney School, 418 Houghton Brook Road, Putney, Vermont on Tuesday, November 15, 2016, 7 p.m.

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photo of the co-founders of NECCA

Presidential Politics Color Arts Awards

VTDigger.org

Elsie Smith and Serenity Smith Forchion, the identical-twin founders of Brattleboro’s New England Center for Circus Arts, drew smiles when they received individual Walter Cerf Medals for Outstanding Achievement.

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photo of the founders of NECCA performing a duo act on the trapeze

2016 Governor’s Arts Awards

Take Magazine

Among this year’s award recipients are past Take Magazine profilees Elsie Smith and Serenity Smith Forchion of the New England Center for Circus Arts. The identical twin sisters will receive the Walter Cref Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts.

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photo of a group of people shoveling in clown noses at the NECCA construction site

New chapter for New England Center for Circus Arts

Brattleboro Reformer

After nearly 10 years of continuous growth, New England Center for Circus Arts is constructing a new place to call home.

“This is an incredible, very fine thing we are about to do – this state-of-the-art, one and only, custom-built trapezium in the United States, in the one and only Brattleboro,” NECCA Board President Kate Anderson said at the groundbreaking ceremony Thursday, where red clown noses were handed out to people before shovels hit the dirt.

A new building going up on a 3-acre parcel at 10 Town Crier Drive on Putney Road is expected to bring more safety and accessibility to the school. The project is scheduled to take place in two phases.

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photo of Vermont senator smiling with the founders of NECCA at the new facility construction site.

A Conversation with the Founders of New England Center for Circus Arts

brattleborodevelopment.com

By Jerry Goldberg/The Commons

ONE OF THE PERKS that come with a Chamber of Commerce gig is a front-row center seat at the pageant of players who step onto our community stage every day to show us what they’ve got. From service providers to shopkeepers, builders to bakers, they weave the fabric of our community — and we are enhanced by every thread.

I first became aware of the Smith sisters when they brought their circus-production company, Nimble Arts, to the scene. Whether they knew it at the time, their blend of artistry and athleticism was to be, as the old song goes, “the start of something big.”

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photo of people celebrating on the construction site for the new NECCA building

VT Circus School to Build New 8,400-square-foot Facility

ABC News 10A circus school based in Brattleboro, Vermont, plans to start building a new 8,400-square-foot facility in September.

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photo of a woman doing a handstand on a dance trapeze

NECCA Celebrates World Circus Day with Workshops, Performances

The Commons

New England Center for Circus Arts is celebrating World Circus Day in a big fashion as is fit for the school that is now the most comprehensive circus training destination in the United States.

Saturday, April 16 is the seventh annual World Circus Day. Established in 2010 by H. S. H. Princess Stephanie of Monaco to publicize the role of circus as part of our shared cultural heritage, World Circus Day is held each year on the third Saturday of April.

Her goal is to promote and preserve circus arts and culture worldwide. Hundreds of circuses around the world participate in the international celebration of all things circus, and planners anticipate celebrations in 50 nations, as well as in Brattleboro.

With this in mind, NECCA is offering events for participants, watchers and supporters.

More at The Commons News

photo of the construction site for the new NECCA building

New England Center for Circus Arts Raises $1M for New Training Center

Brattleboro Reformer

The founders of the New England Center for Circus Arts have a dream: To create the country’s first state-of-the-art circus training facility right here in Brattleboro. On Saturday, twin sisters Elsie and Serenity Smith Forchion announced they had reached a major milestone toward making that dream a reality.

During the opening of the Circus Spectacular fundraiser at the Latchis Theater, the pair announced that they have raised $1 million, enough to hire an architect and builder and to move forward with the project.

“There were so many people that helped us with that portion of the project, it was an amazing milestone that means a lot to us,” said Elsie Smith, co-founder of NECCA.

The new building is expected to be a state-of-the-art center for circus training that competes with similar circus schools in Canada and Europe.

More at Brattleboro Reformer

photo of co-founder of NECCA, Serenity Smith Forchion

BDCC Annouces Vital Projects, NECCA #5

Brattleboro Reformer

Elsie Smith, artistic director and instructor at New England Center for Circus Arts, said she was “super excited” to host a news conference Monday morning at their new studio in the Cotton Mill building owned by the BDCC.

Design and construction of a circus school and performing arts facility off Putney Road was ranked number five on a list of 14 vital projects. The center hopes to develop property it owns on Town Crier Drive.

More at Brattleboro Reformer