Who We Are
Our Mission
Empowering children to find joy and
authentic self-expression through the arts.
The Arts Bus is a traveling pop-up theater, music & dance stage, ceramic/paint/textile studio, library and creative safe space. Its creation responded to the challenge parents in rural towns face attempting to transport children to educational and cultural activities at distant sites by bringing the visual, performing and literary arts to kids where they live.
The impact of the Arts Bus Project seeks from its work is (1) improvement in the quality art programming provided to children of Central Vermont; (2) emphasizing public commitment to the importance of the arts for children; (3) affirming the value of the region’s many excellent artists and cultural institutions as resources for young people; and (4) consistent integration of quality art education into the core of school curricula and community life.
Our History
A Community Project
The Arts Bus was conceived in 2008 by a group of parents, cultural leaders, and public school principals and teachers from Braintree and Randolph as a response to the continuing need of children to have consistent and meaningful exposure to the arts. The members of the group all shared a strong conviction that learning through the arts and living with the arts should not be peripheral but basic in the educating process, and that a continuing proximity to the arts accelerates healthy development during early childhood and serves people through every subsequent stage of life, profoundly affecting human function, sensitivity and fulfillment.
Knowing the financial pressure on small rural schools was making it difficult for the schools to provide the kind of arts education children need and deserve, our citizens’ coalition wanted to help the schools supplement their curriculum. We knew we needed to be a charitable organization to achieve our purpose, something the founding members from The Chandler Center for the Arts understood perfectly, so they sponsored our nonprofit status.
We were also aware of a nagging transportation problem faced by young people and their families in rural America — many parents (particularly in single-parent households or in households where two parents both work full-time jobs) are unable to drive children to enrichment activities at distant sites. So, why not bring creative experiences to them? A retired school bus driver donated his bus to us in memory of his wife, a music teacher, and we were on our way!
It ended up taking us two years to makeover the bus. With the fabulous contributions of students at Vermont State University, Norwich University, cartoonist Phil Godenschwager and a tag team of local artists and students,
the magic of the bus
came to life!
Roll forward fifteen years, and today The Arts Bus is a fixture of quality art enrichment throughout Vermont in demand year-round from afterschool programs, public & alternative schools, preschools, libraries, recreation departments, summer camps and others to bring the wonderful world of art to their neighborhoods & facilities.
Meet The Team
Executive Director:
Genny Albert is a late-blooming artist with a head for math and love of community. For two decades, Genny was an executive in the pension fund advisory business with a continual commitment to charitable work. More excited about the missions of nonprofits and making communities beautiful on the inside, she dramatically altered course.
In 2012, she founded an organizational health consultation business focused on building non-profits from tiny to college-sized. Thereafter, in response to community need, Genny started a one-woman operation of artistic expression involving interior design, personal/sous chef, gardening, sewing, animal and property care. Through this time, she traveled across the North American continent, meeting, making and learning from new friends at each stop.
In 2018, Genny arrived at Brookfield, Vermont to care for goats, chickens, a cat and Buddy the Great Pyrenees. It didn’t take long for the beauty of the area and its people to work their magic, and she is thrilled to call Vermont her new home. After 6 years and working with thousands of Vermont’s kids, she is hooked!
Genny believes there is an artist in everyone just learning when and where to express its best self.
Program & Media Manager:
Morgan Menzel is a brightly-dressed, cheerful and enthusiastic artist with a love for children that resides in her heart. She initially came aboard the bus as a summer art educator in 2023, jumping right into The Puppet Factory production in Rutland City and extending over 10 weeks of touring & teaching resins, acrylics, wind & heat powered art, painting, dancing and so much more! Since then, her time on The Arts Bus has grown exponentially and she is now a full-time spirited addition to the team, with particularly awesome skills in ceramics, children’s crafting and teasing out smiles & giggles.
Prior to her work on the Bus, Morgan spent her life energy with children of all ages and abilities. She was once an early childhood educator for children 6 weeks old to preschool age, a 1:1 paraprofessional for children with special needs, the director of an afterschool program, and an assistant teacher in a preschool classroom.
Morgan always has an appetite for learning, exploring gardening, carpentry, chicken rearing and expanding her love of music. She is also a sea turtle aficionado — ask her about it when you see her on the Bus!
Featured Artist Educators + EncourageMentors
Tony Perham
Sculptor Extraordinaire
Tony has been professionally sculpting with snow, ice, Pal Tiya, foam and even water slush for over 11 years. He competitively sculpts with a team called The Pour Saps, representing the State of Vermont at six national championships and winning the 2020 US Nationals in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin! He’s a self-taught artist specializing in interior and exterior permanent 3D sculptures, and a bit of a celebrity, as his team competed on Disney channel’s “Best in Snow” series. Tony is gearing up to tour with The Arts Bus in Summer 2025 to explore “Water in Every Form”!
Ida Mae Specker
Folk Musician & Songwriter
A 3rd generation fiddle player, Ida Mae learned to play at a very early age from her father John Specker. Ida Mae fuses original, contemporary, and traditional material, bringing heartfelt new life and relevance to the chain of American folk music. Ida traveled with The Arts Bus in Summer ’22 recording her original song “Vermont, Our Home” at 3 camps with over 70 kids in Vermont and again in Summer ’23 for a 3-day stop in St. Johnsbury. She’s a welcomed addition to the bus, offering her amazing artistry with unique ability to reach into the past and put a legacy of folk music into Vermont’s future.
April Lopez
Theatre Direction & Production
Morgan Easton
STEAM + Print Screening
Katie Runde
Visual Artist, Sculptor
Curran Broderick
Photography
Susan Rule
Song Leader, Stage Director
Summer EncourageMentors
The Arts Bus seeks “EncourageMentors” from 12-18 years old to hop aboard the bus to help us achieve our mission, learn & teach art, and earn a paycheck! Pictured here are Kiara & Brooke, who joined the Summer ’23 Art Adventure Tour in Rutland City, South Royalton & Randolph summer camp programs to make puppets, resin runes & zodiac signs, acrylic flow paintings, cotton candy…and friends for life!
2020 EncourageMentor Alexandra impressed us so much at Imagination Camp that she joined our 2020 adventure tour as a fantastic guide for sock puppetry, scriptwriting, soundtrack production and live theatre.
Board of Trustees
Bethany Silloway
Trustee & Board President
Parent, Community Advocate, Entrepreneur & Business Owner. Bethany grew up in a family of photographers and has been immersed in the art scene her whole life thanks to her Uncle, photographer Jack Rowell. A mother of three, she knows the importance of keeping The Arts Bus rolling. Bethany works in animal husbandry as a sales representative and raises a darling herd of miniature cows! She and her family live on their family dairy farm, which is not only a producer of milk but also one of Vermont’s beloved maple syrups.
Courtney Branstetter-Bowen
Trustee & Board Treasurer
Parent, Community & Youth Advocate. Courtney is the Youth Services Librarian at Kimball Public Library, holds a Masters of Library Science plus a Masters of Arts in Children’s Literature from Simmons University. Courtney loves reading, gardening and hiking in her spare time. Prior to Librarianship, she was the Events Manager at The Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College for ten years. She adores attending live theater, music and dance performances and strives to support local arts
Joan Feierabend
Trustee
Retired art educator & practicing artist. Community Advocate. Joan received her BFA from Pratt Institute and MFA from Vermont College. Her career started with teaching crafts to aged handicapped, then deaf/ blind children. In 1970, she moved to Vermont and began teaching adult courses. When her children were young, she taught art education in Tunbridge, then expanded her impression on area youth teaching K-12 art at Chelsea Public School for 24 years. Now retired, Joan creates new art every day, prolific on canvas and in her gardens.
Kirstie Bailey
Trustee & Board Secretary
Parent, Home-schooler, Community Advocate. Kirstie Bailey lives in Randolph Village with her family and is an art enthusiast, community participant, and delightful addition to the Board as Trustee & Secretary. Her children have grown up with The Arts Bus, attending Imagination Camps, workshops, library + public events.
Heroes
We all need heroes, especially the super kind!
The Arts Bus was founded by
heroes of the arts + children
and is powered by grantors, program partners, sponsors and donations.
Thank you to ALL that give us
the power to empower!
Grantors
Sponsors
Program Partners
Friends + Family
❤️ Tony Keller Family 🧡 Sprague Family 💛 Mary Doyle 💚Leonard Family 💙 Farrow Family 💜 Menzel Family
❤️ Hackett Family 🧡 Kathy Leonard 💛 McCardle Family 💚 Easton Family 💙 Ashley Bouchard 💜 Silloway Family
❤️ Joan Feierabend 🧡 Kirstie Bailey 💛 Courtney Branstetter-Bowen 💚 Cynthia Jackson 💙 Jenn Colby 💜 Hooper Family
❤️ Kenneth Vandermark 🧡 Susan Mills 💛 Langford Family 💚 Heather Bagley 💙Beth Springston 💜 Neas-Cohn Family
❤️ Huber Family 🧡 Dunwoody Family 💛 Rebecca McMeekin 💚 💙 💜