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Stonecutters Ply Their Trade In Barre Granite Sheds

Steve Zind
/
VPR

This week on Vermont Edition, we're hearing from people who have worked as masters and apprentices in the Vermont Folklife Center's "Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program," which is celebrating its twentieth year. 

The program has been instrumental in helping to train some of the stonecutters who still ply their trade in the granite sheds in Barre.

It's been particularly successful in opening what was once an all-male trade to a new generation of women.

Heather Milne Richie, an apprentice stone cutter in the program, is currently working on a public sculpture commissioned by the city of Barre.

Steve has been with VPR since 1994, first serving as host of VPR’s public affairs program and then as a reporter, based in Central Vermont. Many VPR listeners recognize Steve for his special reports from Iran, providing a glimpse of this country that is usually hidden from the rest of the world. Prior to working with VPR, Steve served as program director for WNCS for 17 years, and also worked as news director for WCVR in Randolph. A graduate of Northern Arizona University, Steve also worked for stations in Phoenix and Tucson before moving to Vermont in 1972. Steve has been honored multiple times with national and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for his VPR reporting, including a 2011 win for best documentary for his report, Afghanistan's Other War.
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