Imagine sitting down to record your life’s story. Where would you begin? What memories come to mind? What would you want future generations to know about you? How has your skin tone, your race, or your ethnicity affected that storyline?

River Arts is excited to partner with Lamoille Art & Justice Project’s racial justice through the arts initiative, connecting surrounding communities through the transformative power of the arts. Listening Outside the Lines is an oral history project with a mission to document and retell the history of these communities from the perspective of the silenced and marginalized using a counter-storytelling* framework.

*Counter-storytelling: Critical race theorists argue that counter-storytelling, as a method of telling the stories of those people whose experiences are not often told may be a useful mechanism to challenge and change racial dominance.

Listening Outside The Lines - Oral History & Art

Over the past few months artists Kiara Cole and Caitlin Duffy, collaborators of the Lamoille Art and Justice Project, gathered stories from local community members who identify as People of the Global Majority*.

We adopt the term “People of the Global Majority,” or PGM, as an alternative to BIPOC (1) to honor the fact that indigenous, brown, and black people make up the majority of the global population, (2) to decenter whiteness, and (3) to reject the “othering” or “minoritizing” of PGM in our language and communities.

River Arts helped support phase one of Listening Oustide the Lines, an oral history project focused on planning, outreach, and audio recording with People of the Global Majority. The goal was to record and preserve the life histories of residents that identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in order to share them with future generations and disrupt the racially dominant narrative that is white Vermont. After all, history in the United States is built upon a white narrative and by recording the oral histories of Black, Abenaki, Asian, and Latina Vermonters, we are working to shift that narrative. With that shift, not only is there opportunity for further understanding but action that tangibly changes the way we govern, teach, converse, and live in our community of Lamoille County and beyond.

In the quiet setting of the River Arts building or in the comfort of their own homes, Kiara and Caitlin organized the technology, honorarium, and support for 11 narrators to share their unique experiences and perspective. Sharing these histories requires strength and vulnerability. As the process of recording and transcribing these oral histories for archival purposes progressed, it became clear that in order to share these oral histories with a wider audience, a sensitive and creative approach was required.

“The community we have witnessed come out of this is hopeful and healing, but we need your help to continue doing the work.”

Phase two will expand this project by bringing on Vermont-based Artists of the Global Majority to develop artistic compositions that build upon each oral history, eventually debuting in Lamoille County galleries and online in late August of this year. River Arts is excited to host one of these exhibitions in early 2022. The exhibit of voices and a sensory art experience by People of the Global Majority will hopefully provide a mirror for those who have lacked reflection simply by living in Vermont. Phase two of the project will also bring on Maddy Ziminsky, a local student artist.

By donating to the Lamoille Art and Justice project’s GOFUNDME Campaign, you can help Caitlin, Kiara, and Maddy continue this project into its next phase.

The Lamoille Art & Justice Project

The Lamoille Art & Justice Project, led by people of the global majority, is a collaboration that merges public art, oral histories, podcasting, and literature to foster connection and community for PGM in Vermont across generations. Our goals are to bring awareness to the enduring inequities within our region and activate systemic change through collaborative movement in diverse contexts: governing bodies, businesses, neighborhoods, communities, schools, and individuals. Utilizing the power of literature, oral histories, public murals, and podcasts by PGM, this project seeks to engage local artists, educators, students, allies, and organizations in advancing racial equity and justice in Lamoille County.

Kiara J.T. Cole

Oral Histories Co-Producer/Co-Director

Born in Kolkata, India, Kiara Cole (she/her) is a transracial adoptee that grew up in Morrisville, VT. She specializes in post production with an affinity for documentary, most recently working as Post Production Supervisor for 1895 Films in Calabasas, CA. She holds a certificate from Burlington College and a B.A. from Emerson College in Film Production. In pursuit of filmmaking, she has worked with SMUGGLER, SCOUT Film Festival, Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center, SeeThink Films, and DOCdance Productions..

Caitlin Duffy

Oral Histories Co-Organizer/Co-Director

Caitlin is an actor and creator originally from Morrisville, Vermont. Caitlin received her BA in Theater from Middlebury College and her MFA in Acting from Brown/Trinity Rep. She is committed to making compassionate, collaborative, antiracist and anti-oppressive art.

Maddy Ziminsky

Student Mentee and Artist

Maddy is a high school student with the dream of a future career based around art and the incorporation of equitable values and multi-demographic representation into the pieces she creates. Her passion for traditional art has guided her to a variety of platforms, such as the New York Times and multiple art competitions nationwide.