Events

The 10th Annual Art Raffle hosted by the Rockingham Arts and Museum Project (RAMP) will be held on Sunday, December 4, 2011 , starting at 3 P.M. at Windham Antique Center (formerly Sam's) in downtown Bellows Falls. The raffle offers an opportunity to win original artwork, meet artists, fellow art lovers, have some great food and support RAMP.

Over seventy-five regional artists have donated works. Images of the donated works are posted on the RAMP website: www.ramp-vt.org. A selection of the artworks is currently on display in the windows of the Windham Antique Center. A $25.00 ticket can lead to winning one of donated original paintings, drawings, collages, ceramics, or wearable art.

RAMP was founded in 1995 to convey an important message: artists and the arts are essential to the revitalization and sustainability of rural communities. To this end, RAMP focuses on the importance of developing affordable live/work spaces, hosting quarterly regional Artist Town Meetings that bring artists, artisans and local food growers together as a constituency, supporting public art initiatives and participating on a variety of boards of directors in order to make sure the arts are represented and involved in policy making.

RAMP's founding director, Robert McBride whose 35 year journey brought him to Bellows Falls from San Francisco, through New York City where he lived for twenty-five years, and was a founding member of PS122 an alternate art space on the Lower East Side. He feels strongly that rural life and small communities offer a unique opportunity for the residents to directly participate in shaping their own community.

McBride feels that: "The 10th Annual Art Raffle is a great opportunity for the community to come together. It is exciting for both the artists and the people who purchase raffle tickets. "The quality of the art is very high, and the possibility of winning a piece of art is very exciting to the people who purchase tickets. And at the end we feed you!"

The art raffle is part of RAMP's mission to develop an awareness of the arts, create vitality in the community through art, and demonstrate that art can favorably impact a community both financially and culturally. The raffle is an opportunity to meet the artists and become part of the creative arts community.

The donated artwork can be viewed at www.ramp-vt.org

Tickets are $25 each or 5 for $100 and can be purchased on loner. You need not be present to win.

For more information and accessibility inquiries call 802-463-3252; email: ramp@sover.net