VPT Plans 'Downton Abbey' Experience With Help From Champlain College, Local Businesses

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VPT's Experience inspired by Downton Abbey

ESSEX, VT (12/05/2012)(readMedia)-- The television phenomenon that is "Downton Abbey" on PBS's "Masterpiece" has viewers relishing the Dowager Countess's every barb, worrying about the future of Anna and Bates, and anticipating fireworks when Shirley MacLaine joins the cast in Season 3. On Saturday, Jan. 5, Vermont Public Television will hold a festive fundraising event with the help of a generous group of area businesses and colleges.

The Essex Resort & Spa in Essex, Vt., is co-host of VPT's Experience inspired by "Downton Abbey" and the site where fans of the show will gather on the eve of the new season. Guests will enjoy a culinary, cultural and social event with the flavor of England in the Roaring '20s, the period in which the next season takes place. All ticket packages include a British tea reception and an advance public screening of the Season 3 premiere on Vermont's largest screen in the T-Rex Theater at the Essex Cinemas.

Guests have the option of coming in the afternoon or evening on the 5th, and there are additional activities on Sunday the 6th. Most ticket packages offer access to a Downton-era arcade within the Essex featuring food and entertainment options such as a photo booth, etiquette games, a costume contest, live music and dancing – all happening throughout the event. Some packages include accommodations and even a personal footman.

The Essex Resort & Spa's master chef Arnd Sievers and executive chef Shawn Calley will create a period menu that includes food "shoppes," as well as a sumptuous six-course dinner.

Champlain College faculty members Suzanne Glover (Graphic Design), Nancy Kerr (Communications), Eric Sample (Sonic Arts) and Peter Straube (Event Management) are guiding student interns in graphic design, publicity, social media and event production. The Senior Project Class in the department of Graphic Design, taught by Deborah Kehoe of Kehoe + Kehoe Design Associates, has created the identity for "VPT's Experience inspired by Downton Abbey" and will design advertising, print pieces and installations. A student in the department of Emerging Media is developing a microsite.

Individual students interning on the project are Camille Dodson, Olivia Pratt, Katherine Brockway, James Wicks, Teresa Coathup and Evan Morrell.

Eons Creative, LLC, of Manchester Center, Vt., is producing the event for VPT. "Collaboration, participation and sponsorship are vital components of an event this size, and we are grateful for the support of the region's businesses and institutions," said Michael Ellenbogen, a founder of Eons Creative. "We love creating experiences like this one, where people can have fun and help VPT continue to broadcast "Downton Abbey" and provide all the programs and services viewers treasure."

Tickets and information are available at www.vpt.org/daexp, https://www.facebook.com/DAExp, or by calling Chuck Bongiorno at (802) 654-3663.

Media contact: Ann Curran at (802) 655-8059, acurran@vpt.org

About Champlain College:

Since 1878, Champlain College has provided career-focused education to students from its hilltop campus in Burlington, Vt. Champlain's distinctive educational approach embodies the notion that true learning only occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain offers traditional undergraduate and online undergraduate courses, along with online certificate and degree programs and eight master's degree programs. Champlain offers study abroad programs at its campuses in Montreal, Quebec and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain College will be included in the Princeton Review's "best colleges" guidebook, "The Best 377 Colleges: 2013 Edition." Champlain was named a "Top-Up-and-Coming School" by U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" and was ranked in the top tier of 2013 Regional Colleges in the North. For more information, visit www.champlain.edu.