What's the Arts Bus?
In 2008 a coalition of community organizations in Randolph, Vermont, hit upon the idea of finding an old school bus, gutting the interior and renovating it as a mobile art lab, free library, music space, and pocket theater equipped to teach the visual, literary and performing arts to children in Central Vermont. The founding partners behind the Arts Bus were the White River Craft Center, Kimball Public Library, The Boys and Girls Club of the White River Valley, The Vermont Independent School of the Arts, the elementary schools of Randolph and Braintree, and Chandler Center for the Arts (under whose 501(c)(3) the project operated from 2008 to the end of 2011; as of 2012 The Arts Bus is its own incorporated non-profit organization). In the fall of 2008, a 1994 school bus was donated by a retired bus driver in memory of his wife who had been a music teacher.
A Community Project
Close up of bus mural
Raring to get the vehicle outfitted and on the road, we targeted the 2009 Randolph July 4th parade for the public debut of the Arts Bus. Then we set to work looking for skilled volunteers to transform the ugly duckling into a swan. We were encouraged to find community groups and individuals stepping forward to help. The automotive students at Vermont Technical College (VTC) did a detailed condition assessment, described the extent of the overhaul that would be needed and listed the parts that would have to be replaced. Students from the Norwich University Architecture Department made the bus a class design project and came up with 21 approaches to reconstructing the interior as a multi-use space. The noted stained-glass artist and cartoonist Phil Godenschwager, a Randolph resident, designed a wrap-around mural for the exterior of the bus, and supervised a tag team of local artists and high school students in painting it. And area merchants started contributing needed supplies and materials.
Getting the Job Done
Parked and ready for a day of fun!
The vehicle's mechanical issues were more challenging than expected, and on July 4th, instead of leading the parade in Randolph, the bus was slowly wending its way over a mountain, coughing and sputtering, to a local garage. There it spent months getting its engine re-built and its body rehabilitated after many years on the rough back roads of Vermont. With the talents of the VTC automotive department, a local mechanic and community volunteers, an extensive engine and body reclamation was competed over the year. And from this labor, the swan has emerged -- complete with interior restaurant booths rescued from a local eatery, and recycled counters for drawing, painting and a variety of on-board projects. A "free book" nook, storage bins for art supplies and musical instruments, and a theatrical stage at the back of the bus (built from a handicap access lift platform), have been installed.
Debut!
Bus at the Fiddlehead Festival
The Arts Bus finally had its debut in the pouring rain on Saturday, May 8, 2010 at the Fiddlehead Festival in Randolph, an annual celebration of the growing season. The bus chugged up Route 66, and when it arrived at its assigned place on the VTC site near the Border Collie sheep herding demonstration, there was no ribbon-cutting ceremony and there were no fancy speeches. The rain saw to that. When the door of the bus opened Cynthia Sandusky, the project director, was handed a dripping daffodil of welcome and the Project was officially launched. The Arts Bus team formed up for the parade and the vehicle took its place at the very end of the line of tractors and four-legged critters, and proudly passed the reviewing stand as the featured new kid on the block. An unruly crowd of at least 30 cheered. Then Rev. Kathy Eddy blessed the tractors and came over and sprinkled an ample amount of holy water on the bus, as if any more was needed. Cynthia and her husband Eddie Freund set up a reading tent outside the bus and stocked it with books and little chairs. Inside the Arts Bus the day's program was a great success. Barry Miller, the featured artist of the day, had loaded the back space with many bongo drums, shakers and other percussion instruments, and led a continuing drumming circle. Cynthia taught kids how to make Chilean rainmaking sticks -- important for crops in dry climates, but hardly necessary on a wet Vermont day in May -- but a great activity nonetheless. The interior of the bus, the tables, the long counter, and the open space in the back, worked perfectly. The two separate activities held their own: the little rainmaker-makers grooved to the rhythm of the drumming as they put their projects together. Children flowed in and out at a steady pace through the afternoon. According to the ebullient director: "Reception to the Arts Bus was so great, that at times during the day we could not have packed more people in. Everyone seemed to have a spectacular time." A mood of levity and hospitality prevailed. The first day of the Arts Bus was a delight.
Randolph Technical Career Center and Lucky's Trailer Sales Help with Stage Redo, Funded with a Grant by the Lamson Howell Foundation
In the winter of 2011, Chuck Lyman and the students of the Diesel Technology program at the Randolph Technical Career Center (RTCC) undertook the task of redesigning the pocket stage. The stage, which is deployed by opening up the entire back of the bus, was given a new roof and a steadier stage platform. Lucky's Trailer Sales of South Royalton, Vermont, also assisted in the project by donating parts and labor. Kimball Public Library's Youth Services Librarian Judith Flint created the beautiful stage curtain. This stage, unlike any other, now serves as a performing platform for children's plays, poetry readings and improvisation sessions.. This project was funded by a grant from the Lamson Howell Foundation. Pictured to the right is the RTCC crew: Blake Quillia, Larry Severance, instructor Chuck Lyman, James Spaulding, and Jack Chase.
The Need for Arts Education in the Lives of Our Children
In pursuit of our goal to provide meaningful exposure of the arts to the children of our community, The Arts Bus Project addresses a nagging transportation problem that faces young people and their families in rural America. Many parents (particularly in single parent households or when two parents both work full-time jobs) are unable to drive children to daytime activities at distant sites. Can we find a way, we wondered, to bring creative experiences directly to the children? Our answer was the Arts Bus.
Beyond the direct benefit to participating children, the anticipated impact of this project on central Vermont towns is:
Beyond the direct benefit to participating children, the anticipated impact of this project on central Vermont towns is:
- 1. To improve public perception of the importance of the arts for children.
2. To bring central Vermont's many excellent artists and cultural institutions into closer range as mentors and resources to young people growing up in the region.
3. To encourage educators to consider making deeper commitments to integrating the arts into the core of children's school experience.
The Arts Bus Project / c/o Kimball Public Library, 67 Main Street, Randolph, VT 05060 / 802-728-5073 / artsbus@Chandler-arts.org