About the Burklyn Arts Council
The Burklyn Arts Council wears two hats! Most people know us as the organizer of two major craft fairs in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. These fairs have earned a reputation for high quality over the years as a result of the standards maintained by the Council’s crafts jury.
These fairs help the Burklyn Arts Council raise around $30,000 each year as an operating budget to provide arts and music opportunities to children in our local schools and in the community. We serve the communities of Burke, Concord, East Haven, Gilman, Lunenburg, Lyndon, Newark, Sheffield, Sutton, and Wheelock, Vermont. A dedicated volunteer board meets monthly to accept grant applications, plan the craft fairs, distribute funds, and implement marketing strategies to expand the Council's reach and budget.
These fairs help the Burklyn Arts Council raise around $30,000 each year as an operating budget to provide arts and music opportunities to children in our local schools and in the community. We serve the communities of Burke, Concord, East Haven, Gilman, Lunenburg, Lyndon, Newark, Sheffield, Sutton, and Wheelock, Vermont. A dedicated volunteer board meets monthly to accept grant applications, plan the craft fairs, distribute funds, and implement marketing strategies to expand the Council's reach and budget.
History of the Burklyn Arts Council
Elizabeth Brouha, a lifetime member of the Council, founded Burklyn in 1971 to focus attention on a local landmark, Burklyn Hall. Burklyn Hall, a 35-room mansion with panoramic views of two sweeping valleys, had been the 1908 creation of New York hotel owner Elmer Darling, who owned and operated a farm on the ridge where his mansion was built and from which he supplied his hotel’s dining rooms with Vermont dairy products.
In the 1950s, Mrs. Brouha had discovered a junior conservatory being held during the summer months in one of the Burklyn barns. An artist herself, she understood the value of arts in education and development of young minds, so she dedicated herself to ensuring that the Northeast Kingdom youngsters have at least some of the benefits she had enjoyed growing up in Belgium.
By the 1970s, when she had become a permanent resident of Sutton, Mrs. Brouha found Burklyn Hall in a sad state of repair and falling into the hands of the state; Elmer Darling had no heirs to maintain his masterpiece. It was the fate of the Burklyn Hall that prompted her to incorporate Friends of Burklyn to find a way to save the estate, but this original purpose soon gave way to the goals which Burklyn Arts Council now holds. In the meantime, the building has gone through many changes and now is in private hands.
Today, the Burklyn Arts Council is a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging arts opportunities for young people in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.
In the 1950s, Mrs. Brouha had discovered a junior conservatory being held during the summer months in one of the Burklyn barns. An artist herself, she understood the value of arts in education and development of young minds, so she dedicated herself to ensuring that the Northeast Kingdom youngsters have at least some of the benefits she had enjoyed growing up in Belgium.
By the 1970s, when she had become a permanent resident of Sutton, Mrs. Brouha found Burklyn Hall in a sad state of repair and falling into the hands of the state; Elmer Darling had no heirs to maintain his masterpiece. It was the fate of the Burklyn Hall that prompted her to incorporate Friends of Burklyn to find a way to save the estate, but this original purpose soon gave way to the goals which Burklyn Arts Council now holds. In the meantime, the building has gone through many changes and now is in private hands.
Today, the Burklyn Arts Council is a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging arts opportunities for young people in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.