Trish Denton is the new executive director of the Saint Albans Museum. She previously worked at the Center for Research on Vermont.
ST. ALBANS — For Trish Denton, rural Vermont looms as large in her mind as any big city.
“I’m sick of people discounting themselves because they live in smaller places,” she said, seated in the archive room of the Saint Albans Museum. “It’s just as important to have a museum like this that is dedicated to exalting the local. I think it’s just the most beautiful thing.”
An experienced multimedia artist and documentarian, Denton took the lead at Saint Albans Museum this past November. As executive director, she wants to make the museum a community hub for education, research and storytelling.
Her professional background positions her well for success. Originally from Michigan, Denton spent the early part of her career working in fashion, theater, filmmaking and more. She received her graduate degree from Dartmouth College, and then joined Vermont Folklife Center, where she worked statewide with communities to produce locally-focused storytelling projects.
She is also the founder of the nonprofit In Tandem Arts, an afterschool program for youth.
More recently, she led the Center for Research on Vermont at UVM.
“I had this group of really talented people who were running this small organization under my lead, and I made a ton of amazing contacts in history, humanities, the environment — anything that has to do with people doing research in Vermont,” Denton said.
Already, those connections are leading to a robust winter and spring of programming at the museum. “SAM Talks,” a new lecture series that’s free and open to the public, kicked off Thursday with a talk by Emerson College professor William Edelgass on the history of race.
There are a total of four “SAM Talks” and companion workshops scheduled through April. Denton is also excited about “SAM Americana Sampler,” a ticketed event series of performances by musicians interpreting the “American sound.”
The first “Americana Sampler” is set for April 25, the first night of the Vermont Maple Festival, and will feature indie rock musician Chris Staples.
“I think this next era for the museum under my leadership is going to have a very strong programming lineup,” Denton said. “Programs weave together the social fabric by bringing people together for real, interfacing, personal experiences that cultivate a sense of place and enhance the mission of the museum.”
New to St. Albans, she’s keenly interested in learning what makes this place unique, and then celebrating that history and way of life. New York and Los Angeles are not the only places setting trends and creating pop culture, she said.
Looking further ahead, Denton plans to kick off SAM’s official 2025 season with a “decades” party in May. Guests will be invited to dress up in the fashion of their favorite decade from 1920 to 2020 to enjoy a DJ, a projection show and new installations that borrow from the museum’s archives.
The party will align with the peak of the museum’s membership drive, in hopes of enticing new people to support the institution.
Denton is also looking forward to rolling her sleeves up and refreshing some of SAM’s exhibits. She hopes to get some items out from storage to see the light of day and wants to connect with a conservationist to restore certain collections.
The Bliss Room could use a fresh coat of paint and there’s more fundraising to do for the restoration of the building’s windows.
“I really want the museum to feel so special the second you walk through the door,” she said. “It’s an educational experience, because you’re learning throughout this place, but there should also be that other component, where design and color and taste comes in and makes it feel like an elevated experience.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.samessenger.com ’
