ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center at the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain is a $14.5 million waterfront project that was ten years in the making. Its exhibits highlight the ecological, geological, biological, and cultural history of the Lake Champlain Basin, and include Awesome Forces Theater (800 million years compressed into 6 minutes of crashing, flashing, caving glaciers, and continental collision!), a water-play space for kids to build dams and float boats, and an Atlantic tide pool touch tank with periwinkle snails, horseshoe crabs, sea stars, anemones and urchins. Beautiful views of the lake are a constant, as is a café, gift shop and multiple meeting rooms next to the live animal exhibitions.

Vermont's premiere performing arts facility presents a broad range of internationally acclaimed activities including performances and workshops featuring dance, jazz, Broadway musicals, multi-media events, and popular and classical concerts.

There are over a dozen exhibit buildings at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum at Basin Harbor, housing the collective maritime history and nautical archeology of the Champlain Valley through hands-on interactive learning stations, video and audio displays, historical artifacts (many from the lake's more than 200 shipwrecks) and images. 802-475-2022, www.lcmm.org

This non-profit, volunteer community theatre organization has helped to keep Burlington's local theatre lifeblood pumping since its inception in 1973. Past performances include productions of Hello Dolly!, La Cage Aux Folles and The Full Monty.

Downtown's only cinema combines art house film sensibilities with first-run Hollywood movies in a setting that somehow manages to combine cafe and theater. Just steps from the Marketplace, the Roxy is a perfect punctuation mark for any evening out on the town.

From its humble beginnings in 1947, Saint Michael's Playhouse has blossomed into an award-winning, highly regarded equity theater company, recognized by The Drama League in NYC as "One of the best regional theater companies in America." Featuring talent from Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theaters nationwide, the company is housed in one of the finest theater facilities in the state.

The UVM Theatre Department's company of actors presents a variety of performances during the academic year at the historic Royall Tyler Theatre on campus. Its season consists of three major productions, an annual holiday event, and a festival of one-act plays in the spring that is the culmination project of the senior directing class.

The Vermont Symphony Orchestra Association, Inc. a state-supported non-profit institution founded in 19 exists for the purpose of fostering an appreciation of music in all forms, with emphasis on orchestral, choral, and chamber music. It seeks to provide affordable, quality performances for a diverse public throughout Vermont.