Pine Cobble School, Vermont Arts Exchange, to co-host benefit concert


Pine Cobble School and the Vermont Arts Exchange are pleased to announce a collaborative concert featuring the region’s most promising and dynamic young musicians, on Saturday, February 28, 2015. The concert will be held at the Vermont Arts Exchange in North Bennington, as part of their basement concert series. All proceeds will go to Pine Cobble School.

The evening features Take 2, a singer/songwriting duo comprised of Adrian and Julian Woodrow and The Snaz, a dazzlingly original indie rock band. Winners of the Brattleboro Battle of the bands, The Snaz has been featured onVPR and NPR’s Studio 360, nominated best new act at the New England Music Awards, and featured at renowned venues like the Iron Horse, Next Stage, and Keene Music Festival; they’ve even caught the attention of Grammy-winning music producer Peter Solley. One reviewer, noting their youth, observed that, “if this is the future of rock, a then all is not lost.”

The evening will open with performances from the Pine Cobble students, including the Pine Cobble Rock Band. Among the Pine Cobble performers will be Sophie Lane, recent winner of Berkshire Idol and featured performer at many local venues, including the inspired Billsville House Concerts series; Mariah Lewis, who has performed across the country, including solo performances at MASS MoCA’s FreshGrass, and Savannah Byrne, whose family band, Blueberry Buckle, has become a favorite at coffeehouses and festivals throughout the region.

“Both Pine Cobble School and the Vermont Arts Exchange are incredibly important institutions to southern Vermont,” says Matthew Perry, director of the Vermont Arts Exchange and a Pine Cobble parent. “Both institutions enrich the Vermont community through robust hands-on experiences with art and ideas. This evening will capture the spirit of both places by featuring talents of young independent musicians.”

While Pine Cobble School is located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, a third of its students come from Vermont. The 78-year-old school school accepts all Vermont school vouchers.

The Vermont Arts Exchange, located in a historic mill at the end of Sage Street in North Bennington, is a not-for-profit institution is dedicated to strengthening the community through robust arts programming. The VAE offers classes and workshops, after-school and camp programs, exhibitions, and performances. The Basement Concert Series transforms the lower floor of the VAE into a high caliber performance space, and has featured Grammy-winning musicians, as well as renowned musicians from as far away as Cuba and Tuva to Brooklyn. The New York Times called the series “a Park Slope Bistro right in the Green Mountains.”

 

Pine Cobble is an independent day school for grades Pre-K through ninth grade. Its 150 students hail from southern Vermont, northern Berkshire County, and eastern New York State. The school’s offers a strong focus on the arts, an athletic program directed by a former professional soccer player, healthful lunches from Wild Oats Community Market, a proven character education program, a vast array of hands-on project-based learning opportunities, the chance to do original scientific research, robust opportunities for free play and collaborative learning, small class size, and a wide variety of extracurricular experiences.