Seven Below Arts Initiative

Reductions in public funding for the arts have dramatically minimized opportunities to both advance and explore the richness of sculpture, painting, music, dance, and other artistic endeavors at all levels. Due to the daily demands of surviving in today's economic climate, few artists are able to work undisturbed, or in deliberately collaborative environments, for significant periods of time. Similarly, today's youth have few opportunities to actively engage in the arts in meaningful educational contexts.

To help fill this gap, in 2006 the Seven Below Arts Initiative was established to foster artistic development and support arts education in the state of Vermont. Seven Below offers a series of artistic residency sessions based at The Barn, a visually inspiring, uniquely renovated, 200-year-old property nestled in the hills of rural Vermont. During the first phase of the program, the Initiative is focusing on the visual arts - specifically, sculpture, painting, and related media - as its primary area of activity.

The Barn residency program offers living accommodations, studio space, and stipends for artists who have established a focused, rigorous, and consistent body of work, but who have not yet achieved the level of commercial success that will allow them to work undisturbed for long periods of time. Seven Below will facilitate educational outreach activities designed to benefit the broader community in the region of The Barn.