UVM GO Cities offers students the opportunity to participate in four-day travel programs, led by a UVM faculty and staff leaders who have extensive experience in the city and program theme. Participants and Program Leaders will stay overnight in group accommodations (usually hostels or hotels) as they explore the city with a fresh perspective, form bonds with their peers, and build relationships within the community and the UVM Alumni network in that city.
Participants in UVM GO Cities programs are responsible for arranging their transportation to and from the designated meetup location in each city. Each UVM GO Cities program is capped at 20 students, and UVM GO participants are selected through our lottery process.
UVM GO: New York City 2025
Performing Arts in the Heart of the City
Tuesday, July 15 – Friday, July 18, 2025
Led by Dr. Robert Shimko and Sara Nelson, MFA
New York is a city built around a variety of cultures and many internationally significant arts organizations. Dr. Robert Shimko, Head of the Program in Theatre and Dance, and Sara Nelson, Lecturer and Production Manager in Theatre and Dance, will be your guides as you engage with multiple types of performing art, from live theater to music. By meeting with actors and designers, and visiting arts organizations in New York City, students will explore the arts as a connector between people and cultures. The focus of the trip will be to expose incoming UVM students to a shared experience of art, and to expand their perspectives on the creative world. Our group will focus on the arts as an expansive language that functions across cultures to connect people.
Sample Activities: Attending Broadway and Off-Broadway performances; taking walking tours of the High Line and the Broadway Theater District; attending workshops or tours at the Lincoln Center, The Public Theatre, and The Irish Repertory Theatre; visiting the Whitney Museum; sharing a meal with UVM Arts Alumni.
UVM GO: San Francisco 2025
How Public Art Tells the Story of a City
Tuesday, July 15 – Friday, July 18, 2025
Led by Prof. Sarah Richter, PhD, and Prof. jen berger, MFA
San Francisco is a city known for its culture, art, and rich history of human rights struggles. Explore how Public Art captures and reflects the city’s vibrant social history. Tour the Mission District, famous for its colorful murals, and learn about the area’s cultural history and historic and current social-political statements. Visit the Coit Tower for a panoramic view of the city and discover its fresco murals, made during the WPA era, depicting working-class struggles and the economic culture of the time. See how art is displayed and experienced, and what stories are told, at famous institutions like the Museum of Modern Art and the de Young Museum of Fine Arts. This program is led by Professors jen berger and Sarah Richter of the Department of Art and Art History, who specialize in Community Engagement, Public Art, Modern Art, and Museum Studies. This immersive experience will reveal the art, history, and vitality of the Bay Area.
Sample Activities: Visiting the SFMOMA, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the de Young Museum; touring Coit Tower, the murals of the Mission District, and Diego Rivera’s works; sharing a meal with local UVM Alumni.
UVM GO: Washington, DC 2025
Climate Change and Youth Activism
Tuesday, July 15 – Friday, July 18, 2025
Students will explore what it means to be an agent of change as they witness global efforts to address climate change and learn how they can combat climate change in their own lives. Program Leaders will accompany students as they enjoy a guided bike tour along the Potomac and around the museums and monuments of the National Mall, meet and learn from changemakers at local and national non-profit agencies working to address climate change, and meet with staffers from Vermont’s congressional delegation.
Sample Activities: Taking a guided bike ride along the Potomac; touring the US Capitol and other landmarks; visiting community organizations and NGOs; touring the Anacostia River by boat and learning about conservation efforts; working on a community service project; sharing a meal with local UVM Alumni.