The Perks of Together Works

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Created on Friday, 25 April 2014 17:33

Written by Elyssa Ellis

ST. JOHNSBURY- Guitar, drums, homemade basses, fiddle, and cello are just some of the instruments at the weekly open mic night in St. Johnsbury.

Every week the organization "Together Works" holds an open mic night from 7pm - 9pm at Catamount Arts.

According to "Together Works" Program Director Anne Campbell, the event was started about seven years ago.

"Together Works" is an organization that has been doing alcohol and drug prevention programs for around eight years.

"This was one of the programs that ran out of Together Works and this is the one that has really stayed over that time period," Campbell said.

On average you can find at least twenty to fifty people there on a given Friday. "We definitely see some new faces every week but there is a group of regulars," Campbell said.

For many years the open mic night was held in the Cabaret Room at Catamount Arts, but just this past year moved into Catamount Arts Outback Arts Space.

"Now that it's moved into the new building we can have amplified music and drums that we couldn't have because the space it was in before was below the movie theater in Catamount Arts so it had to be kind of acoustic and low key," Campbell said.

Along with live music, standup comedy and poetry have made it to the stage.

"I think the best thing is just giving kids a safe and comfortable place to go to be creative and to be with friends and to learn to express themselves in new ways," Campbell said.

"We have a number of Lyndon State College students who are in the Music Business and Industry program who kind of mentor the younger kids and help them. We are trying to do more of that mentoring just because we have the expertise. It can be passed on to the teens so I think that's a really important piece that a lot of other open mic nights don't have," Campbell said.

The mic night is open to everyone. "One of the great things about the open mic night is it's inter-generational, so we have kids as young as middle school, and we have adults that come," Campbell said.

The program is funded through a grant from the Children's Trust Fund in Vermont. Together Works is holding a number of fundraising events to keep the program going because, according to Campbell, they have recently received less grant money.

"The students that we have working this year are really, really committed and they are doing other events as well. They are doing another fundraiser to raise money for bullying awareness. The proceeds will go to Rachel's Challenge which is a non-bullying organization. So they're not just focused on entertainment, but community service," Campbell said.

The next event "Together Works" is a pancake dinner along with the open mic night, and will be held on April 25th.