Looking Ahead to Fall at The Creative Campus
As summer gives way to fall, The Creative Campus at Goddard is preparing for several special events at The Haybarn Theatre, beginning with three gatherings in September.
Coming Up This Fall
Chad Hollister Trio with Special Guests SIRSY
The Chad Hollister Trio returns home on Friday, September 25, for a special night of music with SIRSY.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the show begins at 7 p.m. at The Haybarn Theatre, located at 123 Pitkin Road in Plainfield.
Fur Fest 2026
On Saturday, September 26, the Central Vermont Humane Society will bring its annual Fur Fest gala to The Haybarn Theatre from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
The evening will include hors d’oeuvres from The Haybarn Restaurant, live and silent auctions, special animal guests, and stories about some of the animals CVHS has cared for over the past year. Proceeds will support the organization’s work with animals and people in our local communities.
The deadline to purchase tickets is September 18.
Gone Guys Film Screening and Panel Discussion
On Wednesday, September 30, MENTOR Vermont and several local partners will host a free screening of Gone Guys from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at The Haybarn Theatre.
Set in rural Vermont, the 45 minute documentary explores the growing disengagement and isolation of boys and young men. A panel discussion with community members will follow the screening, giving those in attendance an opportunity to continue the conversation.
The event is presented in collaboration with Twinfield Together Mentoring, Cabot Mentoring, Youth First Mentoring, Everybody Wins!, Washington County Mental Health Services and The Creative Campus at Goddard.
Sacred Sound Sanctuary
Sacred Sound Sanctuary comes to The Creative Campus on Saturday, October 24.
Led by Melinda Kinzie, this group sound experience combines elements of a shamanic journey with music and sound intended to encourage deep relaxation and reflection. Melinda uses her voice, crystal singing bowls, medicine drum and other instruments to create the experience.
Participants should bring a yoga mat, blanket, pillow and anything else they may need to rest comfortably. An eye mask is optional, and guests are encouraged to arrive at least 15 minutes early to settle in.
A Season of Learning, Conversation and Creative Work
The Education Justice Coalition of Vermont
The past several months have shown us just how many different kinds of gatherings can find a home at The Creative Campus.
Artists, writers, musicians, educators, naturalists, community leaders and young people all spent time here this spring and summer. Some came for a performance or a daylong gathering. Others stayed for several days to learn, write, rehearse or exchange ideas.
It has been exciting to see the campus busy again.
A First Summer for GIDA
Cast of Deep Blue Sound
One of the most important chapters of the summer was the first season of the Goddard Institute of Dramatic Arts and its Haybarn Summer Theatre Ensemble, HaSTE.
HaSTE develops new works in dramatic storytelling through staged readings, workshops and full productions. It brings writers, actors, designers and audiences together from Vermont, around the country and beyond.
The season began with Driver, Lender, a satirical play by Leo Kurland exploring questions of identity and artistic representation. It continued with Hopscotch & Other Prayers, a work in progress solo performance by artist and abolitionist Patrisse Cullors.
The summer closed with Deep Blue Sound, a play set in a Pacific Northwest island community facing the disappearance of its local orca pod. These three very different productions marked the beginning of GIDA’s work at The Haybarn Theatre, with plans for HaSTE to become a year round presence in Central Vermont.
Music, Film and Performance at The Haybarn Theatre
Pokey LaFarge
The Haybarn Theatre held an especially wide range of performances this year.
HOT PINK Combustible Cabaret filled The Haybarn Theatre with burlesque, live music, satire, color and immersive performance. Later in the spring, the Saturn People’s Sound Collective brought its large ensemble sound to The Haybarn Theatre, performing original work alongside unexpected interpretations of music by Björk, Radiohead, David Byrne, Jimi Hendrix, M.I.A. and St. Vincent.
The campus also welcomed a gathering of singers celebrating music from William Walker’s The Christian Harmony, a collection connected to the early American tradition of community singing. It was a reminder that people have been gathering to sing together for centuries, and that the tradition is still very much alive.
In July, filmmaker Robbie Leppzer joined us for a screening of An Artist Responds to War, his documentary portrait of Bread & Puppet Theater founder Peter Schumann. The day also included campus tours with Goddard archivist David Halé and an opportunity to visit Cate Farm, Bread & Puppet’s former home.
Later in the summer, Pokey LaFarge brought his solo tour to The Haybarn Theatre, drawing longtime fans and many first time visitors to campus.
Music, Meals and Familiar Faces
The Haybarn Restaurant & Lounge became a gathering place of its own throughout the summer. Local musicians filled the room each week, and Wednesday Trivia with Kristen gave people a regular reason to meet up, share a meal and spend an evening on campus.
We were also happy to welcome Chef Jimmy Kennedy back to Plainfield for a Sunday River Run breakfast. Jimmy’s former restaurant, River Run, was a much loved part of the Plainfield community, and the pop up brought a little of that familiar spirit back for the morning.
Chef Jimmy will return for another Sunday breakfast on October 4.
A Place to Gather and Learn
The campus also became a meeting place for conversations about education, community and Vermont’s future.
We hosted the Education Justice Coalition of Vermont’s Statewide Youth Gathering, which brought more than 200 young people together for a day of connection, learning and collective action.
On May 13, The Future of Vermont’s Campuses: Protecting and Preserving Vermont’s College Campuses Through Complicated Transformations brought leaders, planners and community members together to consider the future of Vermont’s former college campuses and the part they can continue to play in the communities around them.
Congresswoman Becca Balint also visited the campus. We appreciated the opportunity to show her what is being built here and to talk about the importance of creative spaces, Plainfield’s continued recovery and the work that still lies ahead.
Vermont Adult Learning joined us as part of its work helping adult learners pursue their educational and career goals. The Community Engagement Lab’s Project Design Lab brought educators and young musicians together for collaborative, arts based learning and creative project development.
The Goddard Spark returned classes to the campus with an eclectic selection of subjects shaped by curiosity, creativity and critical thought. The first courses explored everything from community organizing and activism to art, culture and storytelling.
The Institute for Social Ecology also returned for a weekend of learning focused on grassroots organizing, community building and social ecology.
Learning From the Landscape
Through its Biodiversity University, North Branch Nature Center held three immersive five day programs on campus.
Participants studied Vermont’s birdlife through field ornithology, explored the plants of Plainfield and the Granite Hills through a botany course, and spent another week studying moth taxonomy and identification. The classrooms, trails and nearby natural areas were all part of the experience.
Time and Space for Writers
The Green Mountain Playwright Retreat
The Green Mountain Playwright Retreat brought playwrights together for several days of writing, conversation and creative community. The annual Clockhouse Writers’ Conference welcomed alumni of Goddard College’s MFA in Creative Writing program back to campus, while the Solstice Retreat offered another quiet place for writers to step away from everyday life and spend time with their work.
The Green Mountain Playwright Retreat returns October 15 through 18 for its Fall Foliage retreat, with plenty of independent writing time and room for conversation, walks, reading and rest.
The Christian Harmony Singers
Across the spring and summer, the campus held theatre, music, film, writing, field study, education, civic conversation, shared meals and community action. No two weeks felt quite the same.
We are grateful to everyone who spent time here and helped shape this new chapter. As we move into fall, we look forward to welcoming familiar faces and new visitors to The Creative Campus.
Photos by Shannon Alexander
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