VTISA Purchases 7-Stars
Center in Sharon

The Vermont Independent School of the Arts (VTISA) recently purchased, at a discount, the 7 Stars Center in Sharon and the adjacent house from Mary and John Abele of Shelburne.

The property was previously a grange hall once owned by Wilmer Brooks, former owner of Brooksie’s Restaurant, and before that it was a Baptist Church. Both buildings are on the Vermont Historic Register, and are eligible to receive funds for repairs and maintenance. 

VTISA had been renting space at the center for its programs for the last five years. During that time, it has researched grant and funding opportunities to renovate and restore the property, despite the fact that they did not own it. With this new acquisition, VTISA plans to move forward with various building repairs, including handicap accessibility.

"Our intention is to open up the building to our community, and expand the programming that VTISA has to offer," says Barbara Smith, President of VTISA. Currently, the school encompasses steel drum programs, but other teachers at 7 Stars offer piano, drums, woodwind, guitar, bass, and bagpipe lessons. A new theater program called "Expressions," directed by Kimberly Hackett, will be housed there on weekends, starting later this month.

According to Smith, even with all these activities, the space is under-utilized.

"The main hall upstairs is only used two nights a week," she said. "We would love to see the space used by the Sharon community and other organizations in the Upper Valley. As a former grange hall, this space was a focal point for the town’s social activities. It is centrally located, and could be a great location for meeting space, dances and other functions."

Smith noted that the Upper Valley is home to many non-profit arts organizations, but many of them do not have space.

"Here we are, with an abundance of space; we want to spread the abundance, and open it up to these communities," she said.

Over the past five years, VTISA has served 600 students of all ages from Central Vermont and the Upper Valley Regions of Vermont and New Hampshire. Some of their most popular programs have included Caribbean Steel Drums and Cape Breton fiddling workshops featuring Jerry Holland.

The school expanded quickly, emphasizing the need in the area for music and arts instruction. Smith and Scott Paulson, Artistic Director and founder, say one of the school’s assets is its convenient location off Exit 2 on I-89.

"That’s why we have been interested in acquiring this property ever since we started the school," says Paulson. 

The school has had its share of growing pains.

"The rapid expansion left us unprepared for the administrative duties that would naturally come with managing 11 teachers and 300 students per term," said Smith. As a result, the school was forced to cut back their offerings in summer of 2006.

Smith, having grown up in Bethel, knows first hand how difficult it is to find quality music and arts instruction in a rural area.

"My mother was driving me to Plainfield every week for flute lessons. That is a lot of time and mileage!" she said. VTISA has, over the years, brought various outreach music programs to rural schools such as the Newton School in Strafford, the Killington Mountain School, and the Bridge Street School in Middlebury. 

Currently, VTISA hosts steel drum programs directed by Scott Paulson for the Sharon Academy and Sharon Elementary Schools. Paulson also directs several other steel bands for all ages at the 7 Stars. Teachers affiliated with VTISA recently teamed up with Joshua Stumpff, instrumental teacher at RUHS, to offer affordable private music lessons to students in the Randolph Middle School and High School. A grant was written to reduce the cost to students.

"If the grant comes through, about 25 students will now be able to participate in lessons," Paulson said. "We are very optimistic that 2007 is going to be an incredible year for VTISA. We have been promised a matching $10,000 grant from the Byrne Foundation. We have a lot to be thankful for. This grant will help us jump start our projects. We have already raised $1500 toward the match."  

For more information on the school, contact Barbara and Scott at 763-2334, email VISAVT@aol.com or go online to www.vtisa.org.

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