Grace Potter creates Grand Point Foundation to benefit Vermont arts community
Vermont native Grace Potter is creating an organization to support the arts community in the state that helped launch her career in music.
The Grand Point Foundation, announced June 4, “will be dedicated to supporting existing arts and culture programs, along with building our own programmatic outreach,” Potter said in a news release announcing the foundation.
“Finding a place for artistic expression as a kid set me on the path for where I am today and I’ve been dreaming about how to support my beloved Vermonters for a while now,” the Waitsfield native said in the news release. “I witnessed how we showed up for each other as neighbors time and time again, throughout the pandemic and last year with the catastrophic flooding. I want to create that same activation and response for our artists.”
Support 'keeping Vermont weird'
The Grand Point Foundation will support existing organizations focused on arts education and cultural programming. The foundation will award a “creation stipend” each year to a Vermont artist to support their vision in “keeping Vermont weird,” according to the news release. International artist programs and workshops as well as an annual film festival in Burlington will also be aided by the foundation.
The Grand Point Foundation shares a name with Grand Point North, the two-day festival Potter curated for nearly a decade prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The name is being revived this year for the Grand Point North Concert Series, a two-day event in late July that will include performances by Potter, Michael Marcagi, Anderson East and several Vermont-based acts.
Potter has raised money on Vermont’s behalf in the past, most recently following the July 2023 flooding that devastated Montpelier and other areas of the state. She held a livestream last summer that raised more than $20,000 for The Vermont Community Foundation’s Flood Response and Recovery Fund.
Phish, Noah Kahan fundraisers
The Grand Point Foundation follows other charitable organizations started by Vermont musicians. Phish, which began more than 40 years ago at the University of Vermont, has The WaterWheel Foundation that benefits a variety of charitable causes. The band’s fans created The Mockingbird Foundation to support music education for children. Strafford-raised singer-songwriter Noah Kahan established The Busyhead Project that helps people dealing with mental health issues.
If you go
WHAT: Grand Point North concert series headlined by Grace Potter
WHEN: 4:30 p.m. Saturday, July 27 with Grace Potter, Michael Marcagi, Henry Jamison, Sarah King, The Bubs and Copilot; 4:30 p.m. Sunday, July 28 with Grace Potter, Anderson East, Ali McGuirk, Acqua Mossa, All Night Boogie Band and Marcie Hernandez
WHERE: Waterfront Park, Burlington
INFORMATION: $52 in advance, $56 day of show per concert; $92 two-day pass; optional add-on to benefit Potter’s Grand Point Foundation; free for children 12 and under. www.highergroundmusic.com
Contact Brent Hallenbeck at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Grace Potter creates Grand Point Foundation to benefit Vermont artists
