Burlington Art Scene—The Underground

Matthew Toll
3.13.2010

Burlington, Vermont is a college town, stereotypically known for nights of heavy partying and days spent on the surrounding ski slopes. Often overlooked are the vast array and variety of events and gatherings that aren’t necessarily accessible to someone who doesn’t have an “in” or knowledge of the event. These range from poetry readings in small coffee shops, to rap concerts at pizza places and bars, to cultural events for refugees, places ranging from The Sudan, to Bosnia.

Burlington has a sub-culture that remains unknown to many students at the University of Vermont, Champlain College, and other colleges. While a large number of students strap up for the mountain on weekends, another demographic prepares to read poetry at various locations in the Greater Burlington area, including The Block Gallery coffee shop in Winooski.

The Block Gallery provides a haven every week, on Sundays, for aspiring and active poets to read in front of an audience, or just listen and have a coffee if they’re so inclined. Although there are numerous coffee shops downtown, there are few that allow such freedom for open expression, in such a welcoming environment, with a mixture of residents and students.

“The average size of an audience for any given Sunday reading is about fifteen to twenty people, about half of which read material,” said Block Gallery employee, and aspiring poet, Dan Ritter. Underground communities like this one are all over Burlington, and are often tough to find, but well worth seeking out.

Something else that remains unknown about Burlington, VT is the large population of foreign refugees, ranging from Bosnia, Sudan, and Vietnam, among others. Although solidifying its reputation as a college town, Burlington’s also a home to thousands of refugees, most recently from Sudan. This has given Burlington the assortment of restaurants and shops that make up a thriving downtown area, often voted the best downtown and best college town in polls.

On Church Street, the main drag downtown, one of the most popular attractions to students, residents, and tourists is a Vietnamese woman who makes dumplings from a street stand, all essentially from scratch.

“It’s great that there’s such a selection of food here. Sometimes people think we only eat organic food, and make maple syrup, but they don’t realize how much the different cultures have brought to the town,” said UVM student and artist, Kristen Newell. With an assortment of diverse restaurants and vendors, Burlington’s able to keep the city feeling more like a large-scale city, as opposed to a college town.

Another stereotype sometimes given to Burlington is that it’s a “hippy” town, with music that appeals to that demographic. Far from the truth, the town offers a number of outlets for musicians and artists of any kind to display their work. For example, Manhattan’s Pizza, and Radio Bean are often known for showcasing independent artists, and even student-musicians.

Especially at Manhattan’s there’s an atmosphere starting to be established far different than the “norm” for Burlington. Instead of instrumental music, there have been a number of underground poets/rappers who have been able to get a small boost in their career through playing at the pizza place’s bar, and the rapid “word of mouth” complex in a college town.

Burlington resident and Vermont native Aleck Woogmaster said, “The demographic in Burlington allows for so much free expression, and so many outlets to express yourself, that it’s inevitable that almost every genre of music and art will sneak their way into the Burlington sub-culture.” Woogmaster also raps at Manhattan’s Pizza & Pub, as well as other various small venues in the area.

Rap is a genre that wouldn’t necessarily come to mind when thinking about Vermont, yet Burlington houses tons of rappers, including more popular underground groups like The Loyalists, and completely unknowns who simply play for free at Manhattans, just to get the word out.

University of Vermont student Amanda Bell stated, “Before I came here I never expected to be seeing rap music, especially not at a pizza place. It’s what makes Burlington so great.”

Not to say there aren’t plenty of people who uphold Burlington’s stereotypical reputation. Although there are thousands who snowboard any chance they get, building backyard ramps and rails, or drink heavily on “thirsty Thursdays”, all of the groups and variety of cultures in Burlington interact extremely well together. It’s the students who keep many foreign businesses and restaurants open, and even help in efforts to contribute to help refugees make it to Burlington.

It’s also the students who make it possible for aspiring writers, musicians, rappers, poets, etc, to put their work our there, in an environment where they are comfortable having an audience; and furthermore the businesses give back to the community that keeps them running, for example the free “open mic” nights at various bars around town.

What makes this town special is the options for where you want to go, what kind of art you want to see, and any kind of food you could want to eat. On any given night one could see a rap show, or a bluegrass concert, or eat anything from hot wings to Chinese. Burlington, VT is full of surprises that one would never expect before living here, and many of them are so diverse they couldn’t be found anywhere else.