Community Outreach

We believe the studio extends beyond the barn walls. Our goal is to give back to the community at every opportunity, including where projects are taking place. Most projects collaborate with other artisans, schools, crafts people and poets, as well as local barn builders, family run sawmills and farmers. Below is an example of some of the community work Nancy and the studio has done in the past few years.

Since 2016 Nancy has been on the Board of Directors for the Shelburne Craft School, as member, Secretary and President. Since 1945, Shelburne Craft School has been offering hands-on education in artisanal crafts—helping individuals experience the joys of making, while cultivating confidence, character, and community.

In 2017 she was selected as a Humanities Community Scholar for Economics for the Anthropocene: Climate Justice Cohort. This program provided international graduate research and training for McGill, York and Vermont University students by connecting ecological and economic realities to the challenges of the Anthropocene.

in 2018 Nancy co-lead the development and execution of the Feverish World Symposium. This 3+day symposium and art event explored questions of bridging the silos of art and sciences through panels and roundtables, talks and presentations by invited speakers, art and performances by local and invited artists, and open forums including a "Tent City Commons" at the University of Vermont campus and at other area locations. View the film HERE.

In 2019 she was selected as a community partner in the creative arts for the New Perennials project in Middlebury College’s Environmental Studies program. This project builds on the work of the Land Institute and Ecosphere Studies which provide experiential learning with community partners, offering new perspectives on expansion of ideas of what is possible.  

For the past ten years The Studio has created residencies on farms in New Zealand and New England to work in collaboration with the farmers, animals and landscape. The studio celebrates the unique and important role a regenerative farm plays within its community. We honor the covenant between humans, the land, and animals that happens on small regenerative farms working to rebuild our relationship to the earth.

Here are some of the farms the studio has worked with in the past.

Bread and Butter Farm, Shelburne, Vermont

Clemmons Family Farm, Charlotte, Vermont

Shelburne Farms, Shelburne, Vermont

Double Edge Theatre, Ashfield, Massachusetts

Truebridge Farm, Turangi, New Zealand

BlueStar Equiculture, Palmer, Massachusetts

Hartsbrook School Farm, Hadley, Massachusetts