BCAT News

The Burlington Economic Development Office is pursuing a plan to bring a popup art gallery to town, with the details still to be determined and no firm plan confirmed. 

Economic Development Director Melisa Tintocalis said Monday her office hoped to purchase a roughly $23,000 trailer using funds from the same grant that paid for Burlington’s summer beer garden and a new mural near True North coffee shop. 

“When we had talked about placemaking, we talked about layering some of the interventions in, almost whimsical ideas,” Tintocalis said. “You can bring in fresh foot traffic and tap into the creativity and inspiration of different things, and of residents themselves.”

The proposed trailer could have rotating themes or alternating programming, scheduled and implemented either by the Economic Development Office or by a hired or volunteer Artist in Residence. The trailer could be brought to town events. When it was staffed, people could walk inside for an immersive experience, and when it was not staffed, people could look through a window at the art inside. 

Response to the idea from the Select Board was mixed. 

“I love this idea,” said Select Board Member Mike Espejo. “I think the possibilities are endless. Art contests for students, you could bring it to Celebrate Burlington, Burlington 225 could have a nice display, any town event, opening day of baseball. It could become a fixture in town. We could even pull it in the parade.”

“The notion of spending $23,000 on a trailer, I’m going to say I don’t know if I love it as an idea from an economic development perspective,” said Select Board Member Nick Priest. “I’m the first person to say don’t let logistics kill a good idea, but having to pull a trailer around town, having to outfit it, sounds exhausting. Even with a resident artist, that sounds like an intense endeavor.”

Priest suggested looking into a truck instead of a trailer, so moving it wouldn’t be dependent on finding someone from DPW to haul it behind a truck. 

The Select Board tabled the discussion, with a plan to revisit it sometime this summer.