By Desmond Peeples
Though far from the buzzy valley corridors of northern and central Vermont, the towns and villages of Southern Vermont’s rolling hills punch above their weight when it comes to arts and culture. Both of the region’s counties, Windham and Bennington, have been noted recently for their arts and culture by SMU DataArts: Windham County in 2024 was named the #4 most arts-vibrant rural county in the U.S., and in 2023 the town of Bennington, shire town of Bennington County, was the #4 most arts-vibrant community with a population under 50,000. Southern Vermont is often the first stop for visitors from cities like Boston and New York, and the region offers a memorable slice of Vermont’s creative spirit with world-class performing arts organizations, museums, galleries, and more.
Windham County
To find out why Windham County is so vibrant with arts, you might start in its largest town, Brattleboro, where a stay at the Latchis Hotel treats you to art deco architecture and an in-hotel movie theater. Kitty corner from the Latchis is the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, which rotates exhibits featuring regional and international artists. Brattleboro is also home to the renowned New England Center for Circus Arts, where circus stars and students from around the world come to learn and perform–mark your calendars for their annual Circus Spectacular and other live performances.
In the hills outside Brattleboro, the Marlboro Music Festival is a world-famous retreat for advanced classical music training each summer on the former campus of Marlboro College, with weekend concerts featuring master artists held for the public. Lovers of classical music will find another Windham County gem just up the river from Brattleboro in Putney, where Yellow Barn holds internationally-recognized artist residencies, performance series, and educational programs. Putney is also home to Sandglass Theater, a theater company specializing in puppetry that joins Northern Vermont’s Bread and Puppet Theater in making Vermont a national center for puppetry.
North of Putney on the Connecticut River is the town of Bellows Falls, a historic mill town whose downtown of galleries and shops is anchored by a beautifully restored opera house showing films and special events.
Bennington County
Home to the storied liberal arts college of Bennington College, the town of Bennington has long attracted creatives of every stripe. Check out what’s showing at the College’s Usdan Gallery, then head into town to see the Monument Arts & Cultural Center’s rotating exhibits featuring local and regional painters. For a rich exploration of the area’s art, history, and culture, visit the Bennington Museum, whose 13 gallery spaces house diverse collections from “Gilded Age Vermont” and “Bennington Modernism” to Grandma Moses’ artwork and the 1863 Jane Stickle Quilt. The museum’s outdoor grounds also host each summer and fall part of the North Bennington Outdoor Sculpture Show, along-running show featuring local and regional sculptors with installations throughout the village of North Bennington.
About 30 minutes north of Bennington is the other of Bennington County’s two shire towns: Manchester, perhaps best known to out-of-staters as the location of Hildene, the historic estate of Abraham Lincoln’s son Robert. Manchester is also home to the Southern Vermont Arts Center, a sprawling campus of galleries that exhibits local, national, and international artists and offers educational programming throughout the year. The Southern Vermont Arts Center also hosts the annual Manchester Music Festival, another classical musical festival bringing together renowned and emerging talents of the genre each summer.
This story is brought to you in partnership with the Vermont Arts Council, working for a creative state. Explore Vermont’s arts sector and discover opportunities to engage with the arts, including classes and workshops, through this series of spotlights. The Vermont Creative Network is working to advance Vermont’s creative sector in communities throughout the state.
