Jay Craven to Produce Burlington’s Champlain Quadricentennial

Burlington, VT:  (July 11, 2008) The City of Burlington has announced the hiring of filmmaker, impresario, and Marlboro College professor Jay Craven to produce its 2009 Quadricentennial Celebration, marking the 400^th year anniversary of the region’s first visit by a European explorer, French voyager Samuel de Champlain. 

 “The City of Burlington is planning a grand celebration that will attract tens of thousands of visitors and invigorate the entire Champlain Valley through a vivid and dynamic commemoration of our distinctive history, diverse culture, and spectacular natural environment,” said Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss.  “We’re pleased to bring Jay Craven on board to work with local organizations and Burlington officials including City Arts Director Doreen Kraft and Special Projects Manager, Nick Warner.

“The Champlain Quadricentennial provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to unite the region of Vermont, Quebec, and upstate New York,” said Craven.  “It gives us a unique chance to showcase Vermont, attract visitors, and affirm far-reaching values and goals that, properly articulated, can provide substantial long-term benefits.”

“This occasion has the potential to mark a turning point for Vermont,” said City Arts Director, Doreen Kraft.  Activities will reach into every corner of the community—and, yes, also create spectacle—providing a multitude of entry points so that the experience of the spectacle becomes meaningful.  There’s power here waiting to be tapped.”

Quadricentennial activities have already begun. The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum’s Quadricentennial schooner Lois McClure, sailed to Quebec City for recent celebrations and is making its way back to Burlington, with an expected landing on Saturday, August 9^th.  Scores of additional activities are planned, including symposia exploring the Champlain history and a ten-day Burlington waterfront extravaganza starting July 2^nd of next year. The July festival will include comedy and music galas, film screenings, the staging and broadcast of an original radio variety show, special performances by Vermont and Quebec artists, lake explorations, night walks, history forums, and multi-faceted Native American performances, readings, and special guests.

The City’s culminating “signature event” on Saturday, July 11^th will include a mammoth parade and dozens of activities staged along Burlington’s Lake Champlain waterfront.  After dusk, audiences will be treated to an electrifying evening pageant of world-class theater and dance artists, followed by an international fireworks display.

“Burlington is excited to play host to Vermonters from every corner of the state—and to visitors from throughout Quebec, New England, and beyond,” says Craven.  “We’re issuing invitations to all 251 Vermont cities and towns—and their residents, young and old. Attend events throughout the year, send your stories for use in our radio shows, join our July 11^th parade, lend us banners to flow along the parade route—and more.”

“The City also looks forward to working closely with local schools—and dozens of community organizations, including Burlington’s First Night, the Echo Center, the Flynn Theater, the Vermont Stage Company, Vermont Public Radio, Vermont Public Television, and others,” said Craven.  “And to reach out to other Vermont groups developing Quad festivities, among them the Vergennes Opera House, Shelburne Museum, Vermont Arts Council, and St. Albans Maple Festival.”

“We’re also planning to host Quebec artists, naturalists, historians, performers, and filmmakers,” said Craven, “in the spirit of our shared history and with an aim to forge closer links for the future.  The Quad provides a chance to break down barriers and look forward to the region’s next hundred years—and to have a blast doing it.”

Jay Craven is best known to Vermonters through his work at Kingdom County Productions (KCP), which he established in 1991 with Bess O’Brien.  At KCP, Craven has produced and directed films including, “Where the Rivers Flow North,” “A Stranger in the Kingdom,” and “Disappearances,” based on novels by Howard Frank Mosher.  He has toured these movies to more than a hundred Vermont towns and venues across the U.S. and internationally.  Special screenings include The Smithsonian, Lincoln Center, Harvard Film Archives, American Film Institute, Cinemateca Nacional de Venezuela, Beijing University, Jerusalem Cinematheque, Cinematheque Francaise, Art Institute of Chicago, and Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  Craven’s 2004 TV comedy series, “Windy Acres,” won two New England Emmys and played PBS affiliates in ten states. 

Craven also directs the Film Studies program at Marlboro College and worked as founding director (1975-91) at St. Johnsbury’s Catamount Arts.  At Catamount, Craven established the town’s arts center and staged hundreds of film and performance events, including Northeast Kingdom and Burlington shows by Spalding Gray, Mummenschanz, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Guthrie Theater, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Miriam Makeba, Wynton Marsalis, Pat Metheney, Arlo Guthrie, Stephane Grappelli, and many others.  He also presented shows and residencies by dozens of Vermont artists, co-founded (with Rob Mermin) the Circus Smirkus, and co-produced Don Sunseri’s GRACE Project for mostly older indigenous visual artists.

“I’ve known Jay for thirty years and have worked with him on several projects including a film (the 1982 Nicaragua documentary, “Dawn of the People”) and as a consultant to Burlington City Arts,” said Doreen Kraft.  “I look forward to working with him again—he knows the arts intimately and will bring an uncommon perspective that will make our Quadricentennial celebration dynamic, imaginative, resonant, and memorable.”

Quadricentennial program events will be announced throughout the coming year, starting in mid-August.  “We’re inviting all Vermonters to join us in Burlington,” said Craven, “and to help create Quadricentennnial commemorations.  We’ll be soliciting stories and ideas for our radio variety shows, for example.  We’ll issue a formal call, but people who can’t wait—and have funny or unusual stories about border crossings, first dates, or the December winter holidays should definitely send them along for possible use.”

People wishing to make contact or offer ideas should contact Jay Craven at the Burlington Quadricentennial, c/o Burlington City Arts, 149 Church Street, Burlington, Vermont 05401.  E-mail contact is ( This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it ).