Wonderful, devoted, kind readers,
Would you be interested in hosting a student musician during the upcoming Vermont All State Music Festival being held in Middlebury, May 6-9?
Each year, a different town or city hosts the Vermont All State Music Festival, featuring the state’s top band, orchestra, and chorus music students – this year, Middlebury has the honor of hosting this exciting event. The greatest challenge is finding housing for the 409 student musicians who will be attending the ASMF – Vermont is the last state in the country that uses host families rather than hotels, largely because Burlington would be the only feasible host site if hotels were used. To keep the festival rotating to smaller towns like ours, we need our community to step up to host these excellent students.
At this point, housing has been found for only 157 students. Consider joining other area families in hosting one or more of these kids.
You can host for two nights (5/6 and 5/7) or three (5/6-5/8). A typical day for your musician involves breakfast at your home (probably between 7:00-7:30 am, a bowl of cereal is fine!) and then dropping them off at the high school around 8:00 am. They will be fed lunch and dinner and will need to be picked up from the Memorial Sports Center (Hockey Rink) around 9:00 PM as they attend concerts after a day of rehearsal. We have hosts from all around Addison County, and once we have a list of hosts, we can help arrange carpooling as necessary.
If you agree to host, a brief background check is required; it’s a simple form that is required by the state for Little League coaches, parent volunteers, and All State Music Festival hosts. The Festival requires that each student has a bed (you can ask for them to bring their own bedding, and an air mattress on the floor is fine). If you agree to host more than one student, you tell us if you’d prefer boys or girls. The students leave your house Saturday morning at 8:00 (or Friday morning if you select the 2 day option) and that’s it. Host families will get complimentary tickets to the final concert on Saturday afternoon.
If you’re interested in learning more about the ASMF, or to sign up as a host family, please contact Hannah Benz at hbbenz@yahoo.com. And if you can think of other people who might be interested – or other ways to find volunteers – please send this information along. Thanks for your consideration & support for student musicians!
