Young Entrepreneur

Recently named a Southern Vermont Emerging Leader by Southern Vermont Young Professionals, Daniel Chiaccio, 33, of Guilford, Vt., is striving to share the arts with the community. Chiaccio grew up in Fryeburg, Maine, and went to the New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester, where he graduated in 2015. After an internship at a printmaking studio, he decided to open his own community printmaking studio, First Proof Press, in Brattleboro, Vt., in March 2020. Despite COVID-19's interrupting the grand opening of his business and health concerns getting in the way in recent months, Chiaccio's strong passion for printmaking and the community's support have kept him going. He has continued to grow his business, recently moving to a new location in downtown Brattleboro. Have you always wanted to own your own business, or was this something that you decided later in life? I would say this business idea didn't happen until after college. I just fell in love with being in the printmaking studio there. So, right after school I took on an internship at a printmaking school in Florence, Mass., called Zea Mays. I always loved the environment of being in a printmaking studio and being around other artists. It was then that I decided to open up my own in Brattleboro. Could you tell me about your business, First Proof Press? The business, I always kind of refer to it as, "it's like a gym — but for art." The way it works is, there is a lot of very heavy equipment and chemicals used for printmaking that people don't normally have access to, so I built this space to be used by the community and anyone who wants to learn. It's a way for people to have access to all the supplies and equipment under one roof. We do memberships, we teach workshops, and we also partner with local nonprofits and businesses like Youth Services, HatchSpace and The Boys and Girls Club — teaching kids' and teens' art classes. I also teach printmaking part time at the Community College of Vermont (CCV). What kind of equipment and supplies do you have at the studio? We have traditional etching presses. We also have a full letterpress setup. We can do screenprinting, and we can make our own screens and do screenprinting for T-shirts and other garments. We have many fine-art applications involving printmaking, too. Have you come across any challenges with starting this business? Oh, a ton, actually. I opened up March 6, 2020. That was the date of my grand opening party and announcement, and of course two weeks later shutdowns were starting to happen. So, I started right before I knew COVID was going to be a thing. More recently, a couple months ago, I was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin's lymphoma. That has been quite a challenge, but it is going to be all right. It's been a tough three-ish years, but we have been hanging in there. And the people who are members and the students have all loved it, and they definitely have cherished having this resource in town. Do you have any plans for growth in the near future? We have actually just moved to a new location in a more prominent downtown space. We have plans to grow our members and are always accepting new memberships for people that want to join the studio. Could you tell me a little bit about your Southern Vermont Emerging Leader Award? Yes, this came about just from members at the studio who nominated me because they thought I was doing a lot for the town and the community and they wanted me to be recognized. They sent forward a nomination, and I got it. I also just got a Vermont Biz Rising Star Award in November. This nomination was through the Southern Vermont "Emerging Leaders" initiative, which was created to increase regional visibility and support for young leaders and to increase statewide recognition of Southern Vermont's young leaders. Do you have any advice for aspiring entrepreneurs? I would say it's really scary, especially at first, and there are definitely a lot of challenges to it. You do end up working a lot more than you would working for someone else, but it feels a lot better than having a boss looking over you. Just knowing in life that you didn't do what you really wanted to do with your life — I feel like that would be a big regret. You really need to just go for it and make sure you have a really, really strong community of supporters behind you. It is always going to take more than just one person. First Proof Press is located at 22 High St. in Brattleboro, Vt. For more information, visit www.firstproofpress.com, send email to firstproofpress@gmail.com or call 802-490-2540.