The Big Picture Community Hub for the Arts (formerly the Big Picture) open its doors on May 1, 2025, with a family-friendly celebration getting underway at 3 p.m.
The celebration will feature a range of family-friendly activities, including a community gardening party, lawn games, a potluck picnic, and a traditional Maypole ritual. Guests are encouraged to bring gardening gloves, tools, flowers, herbs, and a dish to share.
Live music will begin in the lounge at 5 p.m. with local band Phineas Gage, accompanied by craft cocktails, local beers, international wines, and soft drinks. At 7 p.m., the theater will host a double offering: a live performance by Vermont favorites Kat Wright and Brett Hughes and a screening of Marvel’s “Thunderbolts.”
The full May 1 schedule includes:
- 3–5 p.m.: Gardening party, community picnic, lawn games, Maypole celebration.
- 5–7 p.m.: Live music with Phineas Gage in the Lounge.
- 7 p.m.: Kat Wright and Brett Hughes concert (ticketed).
- 7 p.m.: “Thunderbolts” film screening.
The lounge and bar will remain open from 3 to 10 p.m.
The Big Picture Community Hub is the first initiative from The Bigger Picture Community Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The organization’s vision includes cultural programming: animation camps, escape room experiences, youth dance parties, matinees, outdoor movies, educational workshops, and community-led pop-ups.
Theaters will open in May, with the café slated to reopen in June.
In its first year, the organization aims to stabilize operations, build community membership, and reestablish the venue as a hub for creative life in The Valley. In year two, plans include a feasibility study and capital campaign to purchase the building, with fundraising efforts launching in year three.
The Bigger Picture Community Fund board members include president Alex Harvey, treasurer Kari Dolan and secretary Anna Jarecki. Other board members include: Aidan Schoellkopf, April Smith, Beth Schoellkopf, David Babbott-Klein, Julie Parker, Lexi Leacock, Lucas Bates, Sam Talbot-Kelly, and Tracy Martin.
For more information, event tickets, or to support the Bigger Picture Community Fund, visit bigpicturetheater.info.
