Be More Pacific

Wednesday 6-Friday 8

Over three days of events at Middlebury College, performing arts project Small Island Big Song reunites the distant yet interconnected musical traditions of 16 countries from across the Pacific and Indian oceans. A documentary screening on Wednesday, a panel discussion with the featured artists and cofounder BaoBao Chen on Thursday, and an uplifting live concert on Friday reveal ancient creative traditions from Madagascar to Rapa Nui.

Board This Way

Sunday 10

Pride Center of Vermont, Audubon Vermont and other local orgs invite LGBTQ skiers to hit the slopes and make new friends at the annual Pride Ski Day at Craftsbury Outdoor Center. Ski rentals and trail use are complimentary for all participants, and volunteers are available to help newbies navigate.

Man and Beast

Thursday 7

Vermont International Film Foundation airs the ultimate creature feature, The Animal Kingdom, at Burlington’s Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center Film House. In this French fable, a hit at Cannes and the 2023 Cesar Awards, a father and son embark on a desperate quest in a world where humans are inexplicably transforming into animals.

Saint Francis

Thursday 7 & Friday 8

Lit lovers enjoy two intimate appearances by Vievee Francis, poet, Dartmouth College professor and author of The Shared World. After a Thursday night reading of her work at Johnson’s Vermont Studio Center, Francis gives an instructional, inspirational craft talk on Friday for anyone interested in the art of writing.

Wish You Wood

Opens Thursday 7

“Rise: Trees, Our Botanical Giants,” the latest group show at the Gallery at Mad River Valley Arts in Waitsfield, is all bark. Twenty-eight artists, working in 2D and 3D formats, celebrate wood as a material and trees as subjects, blurring the boundaries between art and nature.

Never Ghana Give You Up

Saturday 9

Shidaa Projects presents Eat, Drum, Dance! In Celebration of Ghana’s Independence Day at First Church in Barre, Universalist. The festivities include drum and dance performances featuring renowned dancer and choreographer Samuel Maama Marquaye, a traditional jollof rice dinner, and a West African DJ set.

Carry a Neptune

Wednesday 13

Concertgoers get jazzed for the upcoming solar eclipse at Preclipse, a classical trip through the cosmos at Elley-Long Music Center at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester. Vermont Symphonic Winds and Bella Voce Women’s Chorus perform the entirety of Gustav Holst’s “The Planets,” an orchestral suite with one movement for each of the planets (not including Earth or Pluto, sorry).