Christopher Thompson Named Executive Director of Generator

The Board of Generator is pleased to announce the appointment of Christopher Thompson as Executive Director.  Chris is a founding board member of Generator with over twenty years of experience in corporate technology management and ten years in non-profit institutions focused on the intersection of art and technology.  Chris is also a lifelong Maker.

As the founder and Director of the Champlain College Art Gallery, he has staged over fifty exhibitions.  Chris has taught Professional Practices for Artists and other courses at Champlain since 2013. Prior to coming to Champlain College, Chris was the curator of the BCA Center in Burlington Vermont where he staged over thirty exhibitions in five years and was awarded a 2008-09 Andy Warhol Foundation grant. Chris’s artwork, inspired by data-visualization, complex systems theory, neuroscience and artificial intelligence algorithms has been featured in exhibitions, publications, and lectures. Chris has served as a Lecturer in Digital Art at the University of Vermont, and as Visiting Artist at the Vermont Studio Center. He has received artist grants from the National Endowment for the Arts/Vermont Arts Council and the Vermont Community Foundation. Chris is a twenty-two year resident of Burlington’s South End neighborhood and serves on the board of SEABA—the South End Arts and Business Association.

Before becoming an artist Chris spent over twenty years in corporate technology management, including six years as Chief Technology Officer for Gardner’s Supply Corporation, overseeing its $35 million/year e-commerce business and seven years as Director of Advanced Technology for Jager Di Paola Kemp Design, creators of the Burton and Xbox brands.  Chris is a 2014 graduate of the Champlain College MFA in Emergent Media program.

Chris takes the helm of Generator at a pivotal time in its development.  In January 2017, the organization moved to its new location at 40 Sears Lane in the South End Arts and Business District.  The move has allowed Generator to expand its studio space and offerings to community members.  Generator was originally founded in March 2014 with support from the City of Burlington, Champlain College, the University of Vermont and numerous institutional, corporate, and individual donors and it has become a hub of creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation in Burlington and Vermont.

“The initial concept and design of Generator was done as my thesis project for my MFA program in Emergent Media at Champlain College,” said Chris Thompson.  “It has been gratifying to help bring that original vision to life and watch it grow, and I’m excited to have this opportunity to take it into the next phase of its evolution.”

Generator is a combination of artist studio, classroom, and business incubator at the intersection of art, science, and technology.  For more information about Generator, membership, and programs, visit https://generatorvt.com/ or call 802-540-0761. Chris Starts in his new role on August 24

Michael Metz – Interim Director – on behalf of Generator’s board of directors.

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Nikolas Kotovich Revives Family Designs at Generator

I was giving my sister, visiting from Boston, a tour of my workplace.  On this Sunday, Nik Kotovich was in the wood shop working on a fascinating project.  On any given day, someone at Generator is working on big and exciting things.  Talking to members and finding out what they are working on is by far the best part of my job. Nik Kotovich explained how he had cast and reassembled a family design of a fire tool set.

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My parents started the company in the early 1970’s in NYC. My fathers family owns a large foundry in Mass, where all the products were originally designed and produced. In the late 1980’s the whole collection was licensed to a leading furniture distributor. They were acquired by a larger company in the late 1990’s and the collection has been off the market in the interim. My sister and I inherited all the designs, manufacturing equipment, and copyrights in 2015. We thought it would be a fun project as well as potentially lucrative to reintroduce the collection onto the market. We started with fireplace furnishings because there’s really no competition in terms of quality of design and materials. As of now, we are working with showrooms in Manhattan and Munich.

Nik Kotovich

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][vc_column_text]Come take a tour at Generator and check out what members are working on at that time! Tours are available with our volunteer at the front desk anytime between noon and 6PM.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Have you ever camped at a music festival and nearly died of heat exhaustion? This is a common discomfort for music enthusiasts.  “Each summer, just as anticipation for Electric Forest reaches fever pitch, tens of thousands of fans – traveling from all parts of the country, and the world – gather at the Double JJ Ranch in Rothbury, Michigan for the music & camping adventure of a lifetime.” Stu McGowen, Brendan Terranova, Jess Scribner, Adriana Lentrichia, and Maddy McKenna teamed up at Generator to solve this design problem. For the last few weeks, they were at Generator building Skinny Onion Tents in preparation for this music venue.  These tents reflect 94% of light, are fitted with LED black lights inside, and powered by solar.

“Electric Forest is known for bringing together a passionate group of fans whose shared community spirit makes the festival a truly unique experience. The festival incorporates the natural beauty of the venue into carefully crafted art pieces and creatively themed environments, while colorful interactive characters and storylines blend with eclecticperforming artists and musicians. Experience videos, galleries, the lineup, and more at ElectricForestFestival.com”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/4″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][image_with_animation image_url=”4442″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/4″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][image_with_animation image_url=”4439″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/4″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][image_with_animation image_url=”4438″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/4″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][image_with_animation image_url=”4436″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

If you don’t count our backyard production of Little Red Riding Hood when I was 8 years old, I’d say the 2007 Hinesburg Community School K-4 musical The Aristocats was the first show I’ve worked on as a Theater Production Artist. Well, more “volunteer parent” at the time, but the work was the same: read the script, pull out the props, set and costume items to make, and make them. Alongside my adult peers, our job was to make the young cast and their staged universe look good and we did.

Post-Aristocrats I was hooked. Next up was The Jungle Book, Annie Get Your Gun, The Wizard of Oz. Play after play I happily took on the responsibilities of creating the shows’ artistic elements. And people noticed – kids noticed, and asked: “Ooh, can I help?!” If you’ve ever said yes to that question, you know what a double-edged experience that can be. It’s at once joyful to be making something with a young child and much harder to execute than doing it yourself. But I was that kid once, and I remembered that – it was now my turn to give a “Yes” to the hopeful faces in front of me. Most of them weren’t interested in being on stage, in the spotlight, and neither was I at that age. Where was their opportunity to be a part of the show if not behind the scenes?

So I started a theater production program for kids at HCS, teaching everything from how to create an eye-catching show flyer, to making props, costume and scenic elements, and special effects. I can’t tell you how much fun / not fun it is to supervise two 11-year old boys and an FX bubble machine for 5 shows straight, or to find a sink full of sloppy paint brushes after your “helpers” have left for the day. But I kept at it – Willy Wonka, Little Mermaid, Aladdin. Along the way, I met Danielle Sertz, a director for the FlynnArts Youth Theater program, and I was recruited as a true Production Artist for them. I was back to making these creative show elements alongside adults – and that was fine for a while. I was able to up my game, introducing more complex making into my creations, and only had to clean up after my own messes. But sure enough, after every show, there’d be those kids looking up at me saying, “How did you make that? That’s SO cool! I wish I could do that!” It was now their parents with the hopeful faces, looking for opportunities for their out-of-the-spotlight kids.

And that’s how this summer’s Generator – Flynn camp partnership was born. Last week, Generator member, Brook Martenis, and I hosted a group of five students that signed on to make props and scenic elements for the FlynnArts show, Honk!

Brook and I read the script and made our production lists, worked out budgets and timelines, gathered tools and materials, and set-up the work tables. All that was left was for the campers to show up on Day 1. And they did – five sleepy-eyed but curious kids walked through Generator’s doors and we got started. We made painted paper-bag rocks and cattails from pool noodles. There were laser-cut leaves and snowflakes, a tinfoil butcher knife, and our pièce de résistance – a giant nest made from 2 kiddie pools, cardboard and contractor paper.

At lunch time, we talked about what Production Artists do and how important their role is to this show. I realized how far I had come as a PA myself when I began to discuss things like teasing prop specs out of the directors, audience sight lines and their perception of lettering and details. By the end of the week, our campers delivered dozens of items, on spec and on time, to the FlynnSpace. The actors were thrilled to start working with these creations, remarking on the ingenuity of the working propeller, or the funny, hidden text meant just for them on the giant remote control (“Free Pizza”).

  I was delighted and proud to watch the shows, and even a little teary at “strike”, the breaking-down process after the last show. I hauled off the now-crumbling nest, along with its lessons of how to use a staple gun (grip tight!), or how to properly spray paint (with a swooshing movement – no drips!). And I remembered how we filled it up with our campers for a group photo, our own “fledgling” Production Artists who will someday be looking down at their own set of shy but hopeful faces and saying “Yes”.