Flynn Center for the Performing Arts

Meeting Community Needs
The Flynn partners with many area institutions and social service organizations to maximize the positive
impact of visiting artists, to create synergies between related missions, and to bring the arts to bear on
community issues. The Flynn Center reaches out to meet important community needs in a variety of ways:
The PACT (Providing Accessible Community Tickets) Program partners with more than 50
Vermont social service agencies annually to make performances and activities accessible and affordable
to nearly 2,000 people who might otherwise be unable to enjoy the arts. The agencies involved in the
program serve over 20,000 constituents from a wide range of backgrounds. At-risk youth are served by
agencies such as Boys and Girls Club, Spectrum Youth and Family Services, the Underground Teen
Center, and others; homeless and food-insecure social service agencies include Committee on
Temporary Shelter (COTS), Burlington Emergency Shelter, and the Burlington Housing Authority; VSA
Arts, The Howard Center, and the Vermont Council for the Blind all serve area residents with disabilities;
other agencies provide support for a wide range of clients including senior citizens, minority students,
cancer survivors, single parents, and a host of other social services. Each year the PACT Program tries
to reach out to new community agencies to increase the reach and availability of these vouchers.
Approximately 15 percent of Student Matinee Series tickets are provided at no cost,
based on student need.
Scholarships are made available to students in the FlynnArts performing arts education program,
making participation possible for a wide range of students.
Partnerships with the University of Vermont and Saint Michael’s College provide students,
faculty, and staff with affordable access to Flynn performances and educational programs that are
integrated into the curriculum across the academic spectrum. These partnerships also serve to make
Flynn performances and other events an integral part of students’ social life and college experience.
The Flynn Center is pleased to be an arts education partner with these vital community
organizations: the King Street Youth Center, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Shelburne Farms,
Burlington City Arts, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, ECHO at the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain,
Rokeby Museum, UVM, Vermont Public Radio, and Very Special Arts of Vermont.
Supporting Artists
The Flynn Center encourages the creative development of new work by providing artists with in-kind and/
or direct financial assistance. Flynn support for artists and the creative process takes many different forms.
Artist Development Projects provide nationally recognized performing artists the use of Flynn
Center facilities, housing, technical and administrative support, and time to explore new works.
The Flynn co-commissions new works by nationally and internationally acclaimed artists and
supports the development of new work by Vermont artists, including Jane Comfort and Company’s
Faith Healing, and a co-commission with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra for a new work by Jennifer
Higdon, winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music.
The bi-annual New Arts Space Assistance (NASA) Grant provides Vermont artists or groups
with the opportunity to develop, rehearse, and perform new work at the Flynn. Previous awardees
include Ellen Smith Ahern, Jen Berger, Kathryn Blume, Selene Colburn, Margot Lasher, Joy Madden,
Hanna Satterlee, Rachel Siegel, and Heat & Hot Water Productions.
This year, poet/performer/writer Muhammad Muwakil, from Trinidad, will be in Burlington for four
weeks, with a Flynn-sponsored middle school residency, college classroom visits, FlynnArts classes,
and a teacher training workshop planned, in addition to performances.
22