Vacant to Vibrant
A Downtown Storefront Activation Program
of the Downtown Brattleboro Alliance and the Town of Brattleboro
Program Overview
Vacant to Vibrant Brattleboro is a pilot program from September – January designed to transform vacant and underutilized downtown storefronts into places of creativity, commerce, and community activity.
The program will pair downtown property owners with local artists, entrepreneurs, retailers, makers, service providers, nonprofits, and community organizations to create short-term activations in vacant storefronts.
The goal is not simply to make empty windows look better. The goal is to put people, ideas, and activity into spaces that are currently dark or underused—and to use those temporary experiences to test what could become permanent.
The program will provide small grants, technical assistance, marketing support, and coordination to help selected “activators” launch short-term projects while reducing barriers for participating property owners.
With a $20,000 pilot investment, Vacant to Vibrant will offer several levels of support, ranging from temporary art and window installations to retail pop-ups and more substantial service-based or experiential business activations.
Three Ways to Go From Vacant to Vibrant
The program will offer three tiers of activation:
Window to Vibrant will support artists and creative projects that bring vacant storefront windows to life through temporary exhibitions, installations, photography, murals, community storytelling, and other visual displays.
Pop-Up Vibrant will support retail and maker pop-ups, giving entrepreneurs and existing businesses an opportunity to test a brick-and-mortar concept with a lower level of risk.
Vibrant Business Lab will support more substantial temporary activations, including service-based businesses, creative studios, workshops, wellness concepts, educational programs, and other experiential uses.
Participating property owners will be asked to make their spaces available at no or substantially reduced rent during the activation period. DBA and the Town will provide coordination, marketing, technical assistance, and help navigating municipal requirements.
Questions? Read our FAQs for more details.
