Vermont Granite Museum asks local taxpayers for support

On Tuesday, voters in Barre City will decide whether to provide $15,000 for the Vermont Granite Museum.

It’s the first time in 25 years the museum has requested financial support via ballot initiative, according to Scott McLaughlin, the museum’s executive director.

“It is a community museum through and through,” McLaughlin said. “From beginning to end.”

McLaughlin says the funds will be used for general operating expenses.

“It’s not a huge amount of money, but we’ll take and use that money wisely,” said McLaughlin. “We’ll use it to leverage other funds, whether it’s through grants or getting the supplies necessary.”

In addition to being a museum, the organization has partnerships with many granite businesses and historical organizations. It provides education as well as job training. Its Stone Arts School gives sculptors a space to refine their stone carving abilities.

Vermont Granite Museum also supports other nonprofits. It averages 7,000 volunteer hours a year, working with people of all ages. The facility also serves as an event space for businesses, organizations, and social clubs.

Gina Akley is chair of the Vermont Granite Museum Board and owner of Trow & Holden Co. Akley hopes the ballot initiative will reemphasize the museum’s role as a community space and increase the visibility of the granite industry.

“One of the things we want to make sure that people understand is that yes, we function as a museum, and that’s our mission, genuinely,” said Akley. “But we’re also here as a space for the community to use and take advantage of and appreciate.”

Akley says that for everyone on the board, the staff and volunteers, dedicating time and effort to the museum is deeply personal.

“I think we’re so used to it here, because it’s ‘Barre granite.’ We grew up with it, we see it everywhere,” said Akley.

“But this is world-renowned stone. We have sculpture in this town that is some of the best sculpture you can see,” she said.

Akley believes $15,000 will be appropriate and impactful.

“Making sure that we have the ability to teach people about that, to publicize that, to draw people in, that’s really genuinely important to everybody involved in the organization,” she said.

Finding grants for the museum may get harder. The Trump administration is attempting to defund several potential funding sources for the museum, including the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Additionally, the role of the museum as a granite education center has become that much more important in light of the closure of the Rock of Ages visitors center earlier this year.

Barre City Manager Nicolas Storellicastro says he will certainly vote “yes” on Article VII to provide the museum with funding, and encourages others to do the same.

“I think $15,000 is a small token of support that the city can show for this really wonderful institution,” Storellicastro said.

“I hope when they see that name on the ballot that it will encourage them to vote in favor, in memory and honor of all the people who came before us in this community,” Storellicastro said.

Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, on assignment for The Times Argus.