Along the River's Way

November 6- December 13

Open: Tuesday- Saturday, 1-5pm

Reception: November 6, 2025



This is a first time collaboration between Mad  Arts, Mad River Valley TV and anthropologist/journalist Tracy Brannstrom.

“Along the River’s Way” is a storytelling project that formed as the ‘Mad Artist Residency, 2024. This project documents the creative practices of 12 elder artists in the Mad River Valley. It culminates into an immersive multimedia exhibition during November and ends on December 13th. The art of storytelling is a fundamental aspect of human communication and has been an integral part of our cultural heritage for centuries. Today our communities are in crisis. Studies suggest an epidemic of loneliness, which negatively impacts community well-being, social cohesion, individual and public health. The arts can restore this large feeling of social and moral decline in America and our Elders can lead the way. Audiences can wander in and out of our documented visual stories, or they can sit, listen and dip into these stories with headphones. Stories are viable territory to gain new understanding of who we are, and to learn that a collective soul can heal many times over. Engaging with elder artists is one of our forms of story- telling that carries the potential to facilitate social cohesion and belonging for everyone in the community.