From macnewsletter at lists.maine.gov Tue Apr 17 14:57:55 2007 From: macnewsletter at lists.maine.gov (A bi-weekly e-newsletter and agency press releases) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 14:57:55 -0400 Subject: [Macnewsletter] Maine Arts News April 17 Message-ID: <199FFF7DB0D4724FA7630DEA667E838A032A1554@SOM-TEAQASMAIL1.som.w2k.state.me.us> Maine Arts News Listserv Greetings from the Maine Arts Commission. News from our associates for the week of April 17, 2007. ***************************************** 1. You Are Invited to Attend a Celebration of Poetry 2. The Maine Arts Commission offers free artME workshops in Fort Kent, Millinocket and Skowhegan 3. Maine Arts Commission Hosts Regional Meetings for Community Arts Leaders in Rumford 4. Director of Development Position Open 5. Maine Performing Arts Network Announces Conference Schedule 6. Job Opening for Performer 7. New weekly magazine The Maine Switch Covers Arts and Events 8. Met Opera Executive Joins Bowdoin Festival Board 9. North Meets South: Art Brings Together The "Two Maines" 10. Maine Company Offers Earth-Friendly CD and DVD Manufacturing 11. The Center For Maine Contemporary Art Seeks Work 12. Did You Know? ************************ 1. You Are Invited to Attend a Celebration of Poetry Maine's Poet Laureate, Betsy Sholl and the Maine Arts Commission are hosting a coffee at the Blaine House to celebrate National Poetry Month. The coffee begins at 10 A.M and runs to 11:30 A.M, Wednesday April 18 at the Blaine House, on State Street in Augusta. Come and enjoy a celebration of poetry as some of Maine's most well known poets read some of their favorite works. Among the poets present will be Kathleen Ellis, author of three collections of poetry, with a chapbook, Vanishing Act, forthcoming this May. Kathleen's poems and translations have been widely published in literary magazines and anthologies, and she co-edited, with Margery Irvine, The Eloquent Edge: 15 Maine Women Writers. Also present will be Theodore Enslin, a long-term resident of Milbridge, Maine, where he has lived a life close to the land that has nurtured his nearly 70 published books of poetry, including notably the two-volume poem Ranger and Then and Now, his mammoth volume of selected poems, which appeared in 1999. For more information please contact Donna McNeil, 207/287-2726, or email donna.mcneil at maine.gov ************************ 2. The Maine Arts Commission offers free artME workshops in Fort Kent, Millinocket and Skowhegan Do you have questions about grant writing, marketing, working with the press, or creating your own website to improve your artistic endeavors? Are you interested in community art, public art, or art in education? If so, you will have the opportunity to have all your questions answered by joining the staff of the Maine Arts Commission for an afternoon of free workshops that discuss these areas and much more. Contemporary artists, traditional artists, cultural administrators, educators, cultural entrepreneurs and community members are invited to participate. The staff of the Maine Arts Commission is finishing up this year's artME tour in Fort Kent on May 2, Millinocket May 3, and Skowhegan May 23. With no need for pre-registration the workshops are open to all and will begin with introductions at 1:00 P.M, except for Fort Kent, that will begin slightly earlier at 12:40 P.M. There are eight, 1-hour workshops to choose from, they are free, open, do not require pre-registration and run throughout the afternoon. The entire staff of the Maine Arts Commission will be on hand during that time to answer your questions. This is a great opportunity for people to find out more about the agency, a chance to speak with all staff members one on one about issues that concern you, and to hear about the agency's new and developing programs. Currently there are changes in both education and community arts at the Maine Arts Commission. After nine successful years of arts in education projects in schools, the Partners in Arts & Learning program is concluding and will be replaced by a new pilot program focusing on creating collaborations between artists, arts organizations and schools. The community arts program has also changed with the introduction of the Building Capacity in Maine's Communities program, and this event would be a great opportunity to ask questions about both of these changes. All open houses will be held in accessible venues. For a detailed schedule and a look at each workshop, please visit http://mainearts.maine.gov/events/artME For more information please contact Darrell Bulmer at, 207/287-6746 direct line 877/887-3878 TTY, NexTalk user ID: darrell.bulmer, or, darrell.bulmer at maine.gov ************************ 3. Maine Arts Commission Hosts Regional Meetings for Community Arts Leaders in Rumford This is a reminder that the Maine Arts Commission is hosting a series of regional meetings for community arts leaders in Maine, the fourth of which will be held at Rumford Library on May 18, at 1:30 p.m. Community arts leaders, regional business owners, municipal representatives and interested members of the public are all welcome to take part in what is sure to be an interesting afternoon of discussion and brainstorming. These discussions are designed to provide local community arts leaders with an opportunity to learn more about the Maine Arts Commission's new program for building the capacity for the arts in Maine communities. The capacity building program will be of particular interest to leaders in local community arts organizations that are committed to strengthening the position of the arts in their community. To read more about this event and the planned future conference, please use this link: Capacity Building Meetings Page For further information contact Keith Ludden at 207/287-2713, 877/887-3878 TTY, NexTalk user ID: keith.ludden, or email keith.ludden at maine.gov ************************ 4. Director of Development Position Open The Children's Museum of Maine is seeking a full-time Director of Development. This position is responsible for all of the museum's fundraising including: annual appeal, endowment, special events, education and exhibit sponsorships, and grants. Requirements: successful fundraising experience, excellent management, planning and organizational skills, strong interpersonal and communication skills, careful attention to detail, and data base management proficiency. Send cover letter, resume, completed application*, salary requirements and 3 references to: Executive Director, Children's Museum of Maine, P.O. Box 4041, Portland, ME 04101 E.O.E. * Please download the application from the museum's website: www.kitetails.com . Click on "About Us" and then "Jobs" ************************ 5. Maine Performing Arts Network Announces Conference Schedule The schedule for the upcoming Maine Performing Arts Network annual spring conference has been finalized, and is now available to view at www.mepan.org. The conference is taking place this spring, just outside of Bath, at the Sebasco Harbor Resort May 14 and 15, and boasts an array of practical workshops, panel discussions, expert advice and artists showcases which will educate, entertain and provide countless networking opportunities for those in attendance. The two-day conference entitled: "Performing Arts New England: Building Knowledge & Connections," will bring together presenters, artists, and representatives from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the New England Foundation for the Arts, and the Maine Arts Commission. Conference keynote addresses will be made by Felicia Knight and Mario Garcia Durham of the NEA, and also from John Rohman of the Maine Arts Commission. These addresses will enrich conference dialogue, provide expert opinion and lend national and regional perspectives. Mario Garcia Durham will also be conducting a workshop that explains the work of the NEA and its grants programs, and represents a fantastic opportunity for attendees to ask questions directly to a program director from the NEA. At www.mepan.org, you will find descriptions of the scheduled conference workshops which cover various topics, such as the role of the arts in the creative economy, fundraising for new and seasoned practitioners, grant writing, new trends in marketing, using new technologies, arts in education, best practices in community arts, and much more. As part of the conference package there will also be an evening of entertainment for attendees with an artist showcase on Monday, May 14, which will highlight a selection of regional talent. The artist showcases will include nine performing artists from theater, music and dance. Registrations, directions and more details are available through the web site: www.mepan.org. For more information contact Barbara Truex at 207/892-7578, or email barbt at mepan.org. ************************ 6. Job Opening for Performer Figures of Speech Theatre, a puppet/actor/movement theater based in Freeport, is looking for a performer with solid acting skills, a good sense of movement, and a flexible schedule to do regional touring with Far East - Tales from China and Japan. We'll teach the puppetry skills! If you're interested in consideration, please send info to Carol Farrell at figures at concentric.net . ************************ 7. New weekly magazine The Maine Switch Covers Arts and Events If you are looking for new ways to get yourself noticed, then check out the free weekly magazine The Maine Switch which is on newsstands every Thursday in Greater Portland from Brunswick to Old Orchard Beach and west to Windham and online at www.themaineswitch.com The Maine Switch is the ultimate weekly guide to what's hot and what's not in Greater Portland. To read the full press release, use this link: Maine Switch Release ************************ 8. Met Opera Executive Joins Bowdoin Festival Board Sarah Billinghurst, the Metropolitan Opera's Assistant Manager, Artistic, has joined the Bowdoin International Music Festival board of trustees. Ms. Billinghurst is responsible for running the Metropolitan Opera's artistic department, and for presentations, media, recording, and touring. Billinghurst, who reports directly to artistic director James Levine and general manager Joseph Volpe, oversees radio and television broadcasts and is involved in current efforts to preserve past broadcasts. Her most visible recent project is the highly-acclaimed movie theatre simulcasts of Metropolitan Opera performances. To read full press release, use this link: Bowdoin Festival Release ************************ 9. North Meets South: Art Brings Together The "Two Maines" North meets South art and fine craft show and sale is occurring through a partnership between the Bayside Community Development Corporation, a Portland group that builds art and culture in their community and guides development in a sustainable and community-friendly manner, and The Maine Highlands Guild, whose mission parallels and compliments Bayside by trying to grow vibrant rural economies and communities in The Maine Highlands with art and culture at its forefront. Ten "north" artists (from The Guild) and ten "south" artists (from the Portland area) have been invited to show and sell 1-5 pieces of their work priced between $200-400. Work to be shown includes a diverse array of well-known artists work in pottery, wood furniture and bowls, jewelry, quilts and felted fiber art, baskets, painting and photography. This event will kick-off with a public reception on Friday, May 4, 5:30-8pm with complimentary food catered by Wild Oats, as well as local music. Governor Baldacci is scheduled to attend and show his support. The art sale will continue on Saturday, May 5, 10 am-4pm. To read the full release use this link: North and South Release ************************ 10. Maine Company Offers Earth-Friendly CD and DVD Manufacturing EkoDisk.com, an emerging service company focused on earth-friendly CD and DVD manufacturing, has announced six new packaging options for CD and DVD products using the companies "less plastic" approach to manufacturing CD and DVD packages for retail. The company is delighted to announce that these products are now available, in time for Earth Day 2007. This broad new product line will provide clients in the music, video, gaming and cd-rom business with high impact earth-friendly retail packages for their disc products. To read more, use this link: Earth Friendly Release ************************ 11. The Center For Maine Contemporary Art Seeks Work CMCA is seeking works of art for a small group show entitled MISUSE. The exhibition will predominantly feature object-makers who use ideas of reverse functionality-making the domestic exotic, making the benign political, making the familiar alien, etc.-taking recognizable (and often comfortable) objects and giving them problematic or contradictory meanings. The exhibition will take place in the Tucker and Bruce Brown Galleries 8/4-10/7, 2007. Please send up to 10 images on a non-returnable CD. (Preferred image format: 360dpi, 6 inches at widest dimension, jpeg or tiff files.) Please mail to MISUSE at CMCA, P.O. Box 147, Rockport, ME 04856. If sending by other than U.S. Mail, ship to CMCA, 162 Russell Avenue, Rockport, ME 04856. Submission Postmark Deadline: Friday, May 11th, 2007. ************************ 12. Did You Know? Findings reveal that non-local attendees at arts events spend nearly twice as much as local attendees ($38.05 compared to $21.75), demonstrating that a community that attracts cultural tourists stands to harness significant economic rewards. Source: Americans for the Arts 2002 ************************ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.informe.org/pipermail/macnewsletter/attachments/20070417/6d5b81a8/attachment-0001.html