VOICES OF COMMUNITY
Voices of Community (VoC) presents top-level performance artists from around the country whose work embodies a commitment to social change. We connect visiting artists with local partner organizations to create programs that inspire dialogue around diverse issues within our community in Southern Vermont. These programs address issues such as housing security, racial equity, gender identity, disability, and more.
Voices of Community has been supported by the National Performance Network (NPN) Artist Engagement Fund, with funding from the Doris Duke Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information, visit www.npnweb.org.
2026 Featured Program:
PRAISE! Project Sacred Bodies
Join us for Praise! Project Sacred Bodies, A creative storytelling workshop and community gathering on May 23 at All Souls Church in Brattleboro, VT. For ages 16+ (parents are welcome to bring their children).
Workshop is Saturday May 23rd, 2pm-4pm followed by a community potluck.
Created by Wender and VT Dance Co-presented by Sandglass Theater and All Souls Church, this welcoming space invites participants to explore themes of healing, identity, and belonging through movement, reflection, and shared stories. Rooted in the Praise! Project, this workshop centers curiosity, connection, and collective meaning-making.
No prior experience is needed, just bring yourself. Whether you’re drawn to creative exploration, meaningful conversation, or simply being in community, all are welcome.
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Vincent E Thomas is a Black gay man, a professional dancer, and a Professor of Dance at Towson University (MD). Vincent’s dance company, VTDance, recently celebrated its 22nd Anniversary in Baltimore. Vincent grew up in Edgefield, SC where he sang joyfully (and dutifully) in the choir at his Southern Baptist Church, and yet he felt as though he had to spend much of his adult life washing the church from his soul.
Gabriel Thom Pasculli is a queer, white-bodied, second-generation Italian-Irish-American, who has been working in Chicago and New England as an ensemble theater-maker and is now a Lecturer of Directing and Performance at Union College (NY). Gabriel Thom grew up in the Catholic Church in New Jersey and has spent his adult life seeking the mystical experience he failed to find in the religion of his childhood.
Both artists are returning to a time they thought they had left behind. They are returning to the tender questions they developed as young people, torn between their inner desires and the confounding morality of the communities in which they were raised. With great curiosity, intimacy, risk and availability, Praise! is asking how we reconcile those past experiences and conflicted parts of our younger selves to make new meaning in the present.
Praise! Project events are co-created, curated, and co-facilitated by Desiré Graham, a New Haven-based artist working in original theatre and musical performance, and Malia’Kekia Nicolini, a Massachusetts-based dancer, actress, choreographer, artistic director, facilitator, and arts educator.
PRAISE! Project is supported by Vermont Community Foundation’s Samara Fund and theNational Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund, with funding from the Doris Duke Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information, visit www.npnweb.org.
