Programs/Events

We are open for the 2023 season and look forward to seeing you!

Ongoing

Guest-Curated Exhibition Finding Hope Within
August 10–October 14, 2023
in the Jane Williamson Gallery at Rokeby Museum
Guest-Curated by John Vincent, A Revolutionary Press

Finding Hope Within is an exhibition of artwork created in Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts by artists from within a carceral facility or through collaboration between an artist on the “inside” and an allied artist on the outside who may have access to a wider range of mediums and tools. Each piece speaks to the ideas of healing, forgiveness, and growth.

2023 Special Exhibition Ourselves & Others: Racial Learning with Preschoolers
May 27–October 14, 2023

Ourselves & Others: Racial Learning with Preschoolers uncovers recent research in the fields of racial and anti-bias learning which has emerged from the work of early childhood educators and child development experts. These topics are explored through the lens of the Museum’s in-classroom Pre-K pilot program completed in the ‘22/’23 school year.

October

Art, Advocacy, and Abolition: Panel Discussion as part of the guest-curated exhibition Finding Hope Within
Sunday, October 1, 1:00 pm
At Rokeby Museum
Free thanks to a sponsorship by A Revolutionary Press

The museum’s current exhibit, Finding Hope Within, featuring the artwork of incarcerated artists and poets in Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine, will inform the context for a discussion among those connected to and affected by our criminal justice system and incarceration. Invited guests participating in this dialogue include Isaac Dayno, Vermont Department of Corrections; Tiffany Harrington, organizer with FreeHer Vermont; Heather Newcomb,  program director for justice-involved services of Vermont Works for Women; and Sam Williams, executive director of Concord Prison Outreach in Concord, MA.

Questions and comments from the audience will follow the discussion along with cider, donuts, and letterpress printing by the people of a broadside relevant to the topic of the day. Please join us and learn how we are all connected to this work.

For more information email:  arevolutionarypress@gmail.com

The Vermont Sampler Initiative: Uncovering a Rich Heritage
Presented by Dr. Lynne Anderson, Director of the Sampler Archive Project & president of the Sampler Consortium
Tuesday, October 3, 6:00 pm
via ZOOM, please register on Eventbrite
Cost: $5

For girls growing up in 18th and 19th-century Vermont, school was more than a place to learn the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Plain and fancy needlework was an essential element of the curriculum, and all girls embroidered at least one sampler as part of their education – many embroidered two or more. Dr. Lynne Anderson will describe the Vermont Sampler Initiative’s efforts to locate, photograph, and document these schoolgirl samplers so they can be included in the nationally recognized Sampler Archive, an online database of American samplers and related girlhood embroideries. In addition, she will share some of the project’s important findings and conclusions, using the samplers as evidence. Of particular interest will be her focus on the variety of educational experiences and options available to Vermont’s early daughters, the diversity in needlework samplers that emerged under the instruction of Vermont’s female teachers, the impact of religion and community values on sampler format, and content, and the ways in which schoolgirl samplers from Vermont both reflect and participate in the larger New England experience.

Spirits of Rokeby: Spectral Rooms
Saturday, October 21, Friday, October 27, &
Saturday, October 28 
at Rokeby Museum
With Appalachian Gap Distillery
Cost: $20 for members, $25 for non-members

Rokeby Museum presents a new production inspired by the Spiritualist history at the museum. Ticket holders will gather for a drink and a short talk on Victorian Spiritualism before entering the historic home, where actors guide visitors through a participatory dramatization, recreating a series of séances in various rooms of the historic house. A study in mediumship methods, the script draws from Rokeby records and other historical accounts. 

New this year is a partnership with Appalachian Gap Distillery! Those aged 21 and over can purchase a specialty cocktail before the performance and enjoy it at the program’s start. Also available will be a selection of tastings from the distillery.

Ticketholders can also enjoy a Non-alcoholic hot cider before the performance.

Saturday, October 21 Program Times:
4:15 pm, 5:00 pm, 5:45 pm, 6:30 pm, 7:15 pm, 8:00 pm

Friday, October 27 Program Times:
5:00 pm, 5:45 pm, 6:30 pm, 7:15 pm, 8:00 pm

Saturday, October 28 Program Times:
4:15 pm, 5:00 pm, 5:45 pm, 6:30 pm, 7:15 pm, 8:00 pm 
 
The program lasts about an hour, limited to 14 people per group. Tickets must be purchased in advance.
 
About Spiritualism at Rokeby: In the 1840s, a social-religious movement called Spiritualism took the Western world by storm. At gatherings, mediums held séances with “sitters,” providing a new communication path between the living and the dead. They used techniques such as telepathy, table-rapping, levitation, trumpets, automatic writing, materializations, and others to pass on their messages. Radical Quakers were early converts. The Robinsons at Rokeby were fascinated with Spiritualism, and they purchased texts, organized séances in their home, attended meetings, and publicized their beliefs in newspapers. A family friend recorded Robinson’s spirit encounters word-for-word, and these transcripts are preserved in the Museum’s collection. 

About Appalachian Gap Distillery: Appalachian Gap Distillery is the country’s first climate-neutral certified distillery. Founded in 2014 in Middlebury, VT, with the ethos of doing the right thing, the distillery has made delicious and sustainable spirits from local ingredients that delight those with a discerning pallet. Whether our flagship Ridgeline Vermont whiskey aged for over six years in port wine barrels, our Mythic gin with forest and floral botanicals, or our Papilio agave + maple spirit, our spirits will surely delight. Learn more at www.appalachiangap.com or on Instagram @app_gap_distillery and visit us in our tasting room, open Thu-Sat 12-6 pm.

December

Holiday Shop Sale
Saturday, December 2, 10:00 am–1:00 pm

Join us for the annual holiday sale in Rokeby Museum’s shop. Door swags, made by Rokeby volunteers, will be for sale, and the store will be open for shopping.

Additional Programs are being planned. Check back frequently for announcements of programs and events we will be offering, or sign up to receive the museum’s news and announcements.