This article by Derek Carson was published by the Bennington Banner on July 26.
[B]ENNINGTON — For the second straight year, a national organization has named Bennington one of the best small-sized arts communities in the country.
For the last four years, the National Center For Arts Research at Southern Methodist University has been ranked America’s arts communities in its Arts Vibrancy Index, the 2018 edition of which was released this month.
“Being recognized by NCAR for the third year in a row, and being only one of two Vermont towns on the list, is a testament to all of those who have been working so hard to bring arts and culture to the forefront of our community,” said Bennington Downtown Alliance Executive Director John Shannahan. “This distinction is well deserved. The artistic talent and cultural resources in our area stand out on the national level. Supporting the cultural community has been part of the Bennington Downtown Alliance’s mission for many, many years and we are just thrilled to see Bennington receive the recognition it deserves.”
Bennington ranked seventh on the list of “small” communities, which the list defines as areas with an urban core of 10,000-50,000 people. The ranking is down a bit from last year’s third place. Bennington finished 17th in 2016 and 15th in 2015. During those years, medium and small communities were in a single category for towns with under one million people.
“In this report, we highlight and celebrate communities of every size and in every region that have cultivated higher levels of arts activity per person living in the community,” said Zannie Giraud Voss, director of NCAR, in the report’s executive summary. “We use the term ‘vibrancy”’ in keeping with Merriam- Webster’s definition of the word to mean ‘pulsating with life, vigor, or activity.’”
Bennington finished just ahead of Oneonta, New York, but was the only entrant on the small communities list from New England. The number one small community for arts vibrancy, according to the list, is Edwards, Colorado.
From New England, the large-sized community list featured Boston in seventh and Cambridge-Newton-Framingham metropolitan area in 13th. Rochester, New York came in 17th. On the list of medium-sized communities, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, came in second and Burlington came in ninth.
