Past Grants
Grants Made By Maine Humanities Council : 2008–2009 (arranged by town)
- Augusta - University of Maine at Augusta
$500.00 - Discretionary
Réveil—Waking Up French: Documentary Film and Discussion with Director Ben Levine on History of Franco-Americans in New England
In January UMA presented Ben Levine’s groundbreaking documentary on the history of the French-Canadian and Franco-American community in New England, entitled "Réveil—Waking up French". After the film, Levine led an interactive discussion with the audience on issues of language and cultural identity.
- Augusta - Arnold Expedition Historical Society
$5,000.00 - Humanities Infrastructure
Martha Ballard Exhibit
In conjunction with renovations to the Reuben Colburn House in Pittston, the historical society will create a permanent interpretive exhibit focused on the world of Martha Ballard, (1735-1812), Maine’s famous midwife. In addition to general information about colonial life, one room of the house will be turned into a "borning" or "birthing" room of Martha’s time.
- Augusta - Maine State Archives
$1,000.00 - Community Outreach
Maine National History Day 2009
This annual educational competition for all Maine students in grades 6-12 challenges students to prepare papers, exhibits, documentaries, or performances that explore a broad historical theme. The 2009 theme "The Individual in History" asked students to explore the role of one person, famous or not, in history. The contest took place March 25 at UMaine-Augusta.
- Augusta - University of Maine at Augusta
$1,000.00 - Community Outreach
The Dignity of Difference: First Mainers and New Mainers
A photographic exhibit (Sept. 18 thru Oct. 30, 2009), a public panel and discussion (Oct. 22), and multiple events on Wabanaki Perspectives (Oct. 13-16) allowed Maine’s Native Americans, immigrants, and refugee communities to showcase their cultures, history, and ethnic survival experiences to people in Augusta and the Central Maine area.
- Bar Harbor - Abbe Museum
$4,000.00 - Major
Indians and Rusticators: Wabanakis and Summer Visitors on Mount Desert Island 1840s - 1920s
Based on a new 600-page National Park Service study of the history of Wabanaki Indians in the Mt. Desert Island area, a character-driven exhibition will open in February 2010. The exhibiton will highlight the role which burgeoning 19th century tourism locations such as Mt. Desert Island played in the cultural and economic survival of Wabanaki Indians.
- Bar Harbor - Union River Watershed Coalition
$989.00 - Community Outreach
Union River Watershed Regional History Project
The small towns of Hancock County’s Union River Watershed have a rich history of lumbering, farming, and community activity which was at risk of being lost. Through the cooperation of local organizations, a record of this history was captured through film and local records. In addition to local presentations, results were archived at the Maine Folklife Center and the local towns.
- Bath - Portland Harbor Museum
$1,000.00 - Community Outreach
Exhibit - Women Shipyard Workers during World War II
As the museum moves to new space in Portland - a new exhibit is planned which will tell the story of local women who worked in the WW II shipyards, filling jobs formerly held only by men. The impact of this change permeated every aspect of wartime culture, and the museum’s abundant collection of artifacts and archives will tell the story, along with an online educational unit.
- Bath - Maine Maritime Museum
$1,000.00 - Community Outreach
Fisheries Past: A Hands-On Look at 17th Century Native American and European Fishing on the Maine Coast
This exhibit in 2009 illuminated the history, economics, politics, and technology that have shaped fishing in Maine for both Native Americans and Europeans. Public programs in July and August featured Native American historian and Penobscot Tribal Elder Reuban Phillips and reenactor/historian Gus Konitzky demonstrating historic fishing techniques.
- Bethel - Northern Forest Center
$4,039.00 - Major
Ways of the Woods: People and the Land in the Northern Forest, Maine, 2009
This grant provided place-based humanities education to more than 6,500 people in rural Maine communities. A mobile museum (housed in an 18-wheel tractor trailer) traveled to six community events where the humanities were used to help people appreciate the past, understand the present, and plan for the future of the Maine woods and Northern Forest region.
- Bethel - Bethel Historical Society
$500.00 - Discretionary
,Celebrating Western Maine History
The historical society’s annual series of six lectures on local history ran from mid-May to mid-November, 2009. Executive Director Stanley Howe opened the series with a lecture on the 50th anniversary of Eva Bean’s East Bethel Road. Other speakers included Earle Shettleworth, Jr., H. Draper Hunt, and Thomas Desjardin, all speaking on topics of local interest.
- Bethel - Bethel Historical Society
$8,000.00 - Humanities Infrastructure
Microfilm Reader/Printer Purchase
The purchase of a versatile microfilm reader/printer eliminated the need to manually copy the society’s large microfilm collection of newspaper, census records, local vital records, and more than 20,000 pages of Maine cemetery listings. Having these records conveniently available allows the general public to do much more research work through the library.
- Brunswick - Five Rivers Arts Alliance
$1,000.00 - Community Arts & Humanities
Preserving & Celebrating Place-Based Narratives
In an effort to present, share, and record place-based narratives from Southern Midcoast Maine, the Five Rivers Arts Alliance sponsored a series of "Arts Night at the Library" events February thru May 2009. In addition to 3 public interviews, the final event offered an opportunity for members of the public to record their own story as part of the Story Bank recording project.
- Brunswick - Oratorio Chorale
$500.00 - Discretionary
Panel Presentation, Dominick Argento’s "Jonah and the Whale"
A panel presentation will accompany the May 2010 performance of "Jonah and the Whale", a dramatic oratorio. The panel of experts will address various aspects of the work and performance—scientific, natural, biblical, literary, and musical. The presentation will be in a public location and widely publicized to help draw a larger audience.
- Camden - The Camden Conference
$2,000.00 - Major
Global Leadership and the U.S. Role in World Affairs
The conference in February addressed major economic, environmental, and security challenges facing the new President’s foreign policy leadership. Speakers brought global perspectives, analysis, and opinions to approximately 675 participants located at several sites in Maine. The conference was the culmination of a year’s worth of public events related to the topic.
- Camden - Coastal Mountains Land Trust
$4,950.00 - Humanities Infrastructure
Beech Nut Historic District Interpretive Project
Beech Nut is a sod-roofed stone hut on the Land Trust’s 295-acre Beech Hill Preserve in Rockport. This Infrastructure project involves producing a permanent interpretive history panel for the exterior of the building and historically accurate replica table inside the building, both of which will provide information to visitors about the history and conservation of Beech Hill.
- Camden - Camden Conference
$1,000.00 - Community Outreach
The Community Events Series leading up to Camden Conference 2010: "Afghanistan, Pakistan, India: Crossroads of Conflict"
The annual Camden Conference in February will be preceded by a series of lectures and other events to illuminate the conference topic. These events enhance public understanding of the cultural and historical background of the foreign affairs situation covered by the conference and are produced in cooperation with Maine schools, museums and public libraries.
- Cape Elizabeth - Cape Elizabeth Historical Preserv. Society
$962.55,Community Outreach
I Remember Cape Elizabeth: Senior Stories, Extraordinary Memories Connections Between People & Places in our Community.
In 2008, members of the Cape Elizabeth Historical Preservation Society attended a Maine Humanities Council oral history workshop with Jo Radnor and were inspired to start this local project. In 2009, they gathered enough historical material about the area for a summer exhibit at Thomas Memorial Library.
- College Place - University of Southern Maine
$700.00 - Community Outreach
"Writing a Woman’s Life" - A Public Lecture
Joan Hedrick, the 1995 Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life, presented a lecture, "Writing a Woman’s Life" at USM on 10/22/09. Drawing on the life of Harriet Beecher Stowe, her talk explored the challenges and choices involved in writing biography, specifically the way gender shapes those choices.
- Damariscotta - Damariscotta River Association
$1,000.00 - Major
Damariscotta River Association’s Wabanaki Living Skills and Culture Program
This program was developed for school groups and the general public to recreate a Wabanaki village with wigwams, cooking areas, live traps, and a corn grinder. A new guide to the medicinal plant garden was produced, and activities included covering a wigwam with birch bark and providing web site support for teachers attending the program.
- Deer Isle - Deer Isle-Stonington Historical Society
$1,000.00 - Community Outreach
Deer Isle-Stonington Oral HIstory Project
The Deer Isle-Stonington Historical Society started an oral history project in 2008 by identifying potential narrators of island history and training volunteers in oral history techniques. Trained volunteers will record their interviews with residents using both video and audio, and resulting tapes will be archived and shared with the Maine Folklife Center at the University of Maine.
- Deer Isle - Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
$500.00 - Community Arts & Humanities
Akiko Busch, Artist-in-Residence
As part of Haystack’s Vistiting Artist Program, award-winning writer Akiko Busch was artist-in-residence June14-26, 2009. During her residency, she worked with 2nd session participants at Haystack, presented a public program, and wrote a monograph reflecting on contemporary craft. The result was published as part of the school’s monograph series.
- Eastport - Tides Institute & Museum of Art
$500.00 - Discretionary
The Architecture of New England and the Atlantic Provinces: Perspectives from Maine and New Brunswick
This program on July 24, 2009 included a series of public presentations by leading architectural historians on the architectural and cultural ties between Maine and New Brunswick within a broader context of New England and the Atlantic Provinces. The program also included a walking tour to view Eastport’s downtown architecture.
- Farmington - Mountain Counties Heritage
$10,000.00 - Humanities Infrastructure
Maine Woods Interpretive Kiosk System
Representatives from nine communities in western Maine collaborated to create a traveling exhibit with local stories of regional significance. The exhibit uses digital formats delivered through a touch screen kiosk to present the local and natural history of participating communities. This grant placed touch screen kiosks permanently in Farmington and Skowhegan.
- Freeport - Freeport Historical Society
$3,950.00 - Major
Lessons from the Tam ’O Shanter
A multi-format series of public events during the year, including lectures, music, dramatic reading, theatrical presentation, and exhibits, will bring to life various aspects of life aboard merchant sailing ships during the 19th Century. The programs are tied to the experiences of Maine mariners and their families and especially to the ship Tam O’ Shanter out of Freeport.
- Hanover - Classical Association of New England
$500.00 - Discretionary
The CANE Summer Institute 2009: Expanding the Map
The emphasis of this six-day collegial program of lectures and mini-courses (July 6-11) was cultural exchange between the Greco-Roman Mediterranean and peripheries of the classical world, plus the reception of classical ideas in Europe, America, Africa, and Central Asia. Support from the Council provided scholarships for Maine teachers to attend the Institute.
- Hinckley - L.C. Bates Museum (Good Will Home Assn.)
$500.00 - Discretionary
Publicity and Programming for Living the Good Will Idea Exhibit
This exhibition in 2009 explored the lives of orphan children who lived at the Good Will school and were raised under George Hinckley’s philosophy of child care. Programs to promote the exhibition included public tours and family-oriented open houses offering children’s programs. Alumni weekend in August included recording of interviews with older alumni.
- Kingfield - The Stanley Museum
$5,000.00 - Humanities Infrastructure
The Stanley Museum: Virtual Exhibit—Reaching Beyond Kingfield
This project involves vastly improved accessibility, storage, and long-term preservation of the museum’s records and artifacts, including the process of cataloging and digitizing the collections. A virtual exhibit is planned in cooperation with the Maine Memory Network, making the information available to a much wider and more diverse audience.
- Lewiston - Bates Dance Festival
$500.00 - Community Arts & Humanities
Dance in Context: Building Informed Audiences
Dance writer Debra Cash conducted a 3-week residency in 2009 in conjunction with the Bates Dance Festival. She wrote in-depth program notes, provided pre-performance lectures, and moderated post-performance discussions on the work of several contemporary choreographers. Cash also offered a course on Dance and moderated a panel discussion.
- Lewiston - Franco-American Heritage Center
$480.00 - Discretionary
"They came, they served. Elles sont venue, elles ont servi."
The Heritage Center and Bates College collaborated on the creation of an interactive computer exhibit about the Sisters of Charity (known as the "Gray Nuns") who were an important part of the social and educational infrastructure of the local Franco-American community. Bates college students studying French assisted in organizing and creating the exhibit.
- Lisbon Falls - Friends of the Lisbon Library
$500.00 - Discretionary
,Lisbon Library Summer Reading Program
The library’s Children’s Department presented two of Joan Creamer’s Magic Sceptre presentations (1 for Kindergarten-Grade 2 & one for grades 3-6) to kick off the 2009 Summer Reading Program. The program had two separate themes: for children in Kindergarten through 2nd grade, "I Scream for Ice Cream," and for grades 3-6, "Get Creative at Your Library."
- Livermore - Livermore Falls High School
$1,000.00 - Community Outreach
Bringing Longfellow to Life
This project offered a three-part interdisciplinary study of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, his literary work, and the times in which he lived. LFHS students, faculty, and community members studied Charles Calhoun’s book Longfellow: A Rediscovered Life. The author paid a visit to the school in November 2009 to enhance the discussion program.
- Lubec - Association to Promote & Protect the Lubec Environment
$1,000.00 - Community Arts & Humanities
Promoting the Art and Culture of the Lubec/Campobello Area
The Association prepared and disseminated a map and guide (with companion website) to inform visitors about local arts and cultural places of interest like studios & galleries, museums, musical performances, and historical societies. During the summer of 2009, the Lubec Memorial Library hosted a month-long exhibit by artists featured in the guide.
- Lubec - Lubec Historical Society
$1,000.00 - Community Arts & Humanities
A Bicentennial Mural for Lubec
In preparation for Lubec’s Bicentennial in 2010, this project in the fall of 2009 created a mural depicting significant landmarks, events, people, and scenes of Washington County life, with the help of community residents and visiting artists. The mural is a permanent installation on the exterior wall of the Lubec Historical Society.
- New Gloucester - Merriconeag Waldorf School
$1,000.00 - Community Outreach
Second Annual Merriconeag Poetry Festival
This annual festival encourages high school students to find their poetic voices and is an opportunity to recognize their poetic work while fostering appreciation of poetry’s power to raise social and cultural awareness. For the May 3, 2009 event, organizers expanded the number of students participating in the poetry contest segment.
- New York - Bar Harbor Music Festival
$1,000.00 - Community Arts & Humanities
Bar Harbor Music Festival
Funding brought guest composers Douglas Anderson and William Dickerson to the Bar Harbor Music Festival’s "New Composers" forum and concert July 14 &15, 2009. Anderson teaches at Manhatten Community College and conducts for the American Chamber Opera Company. Dickerson is on the faculty of The Third Street Music School Settlement in NYC.
- Newfield - 19th Century Willowbrook Village
$450.00 - Discretionary
Newfield Old Home Days - Program Component
New field Old Home Days took place August 22-23, 2009. On the second day, a program was presented at the Newfield Historical Society building to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth and to compare and contrast the issues and concerns of the Civil War era with those of today.
- Orono - University of Maine
$3,500.00 - Major
Loyalism and the American Revolution in Maine
Six spring lecture-workshops were offered to explore the importance of loyalism and how it affected events related to the American Revolution in Maine. This series brought recent scholarly work to the general public and to Maine students and served as an introduction for those who wanted to attend a June conference for a more extensive academic experience.
- Orono - Friends of Dr. Edith Marion Patch
$3,000.00 - Major
Fiber Maine-ia: A Celebration of the International Year of Natural Fiber
In celebration of the 2009 International Year of Natural Fiber, this conference (October 9-10) brings together scholars, artists, educators, agriculture specialists, and the broader public to explore the history, cultural traditions, arts, economics, and agricultural practices associated with production and use of fiber. A year-long series of events will lead up to the conference.
- Orono - Maine Forest and Logging Museum
$442.85 - Discretionary
The Forest Comes Alive With Music
On August 22, 2009, the museum presented a program to share Maine’s history through its music. A group of folk musicians and an author shared songs and stories and demonstrated early American music styles and instruments. Work songs, sea shanties, children’s music, and the Acadian story "Pepe’s Fiddle" by Krista Watson were shared with those in attendance.
- Parsonsfield - Friends of Par Sem
$600.00 - Community Arts & Humanities
Bringing History to Life
As part of the group’s Fifth Annual Victorian Tea and in honor of the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, a program was presented July 19, 2009 at the Parsonsfield Seminary which featured enactors portraying President Lincoln and his wife. They spoke on personal experiences related to the issues of their day such as slavery and the Underground Railroad.
- Portland - Terra Moto Inc., City Hall
$3,000.00 - Major
Thin Blue Lines
This project partnered local poets and photographers with Portland police officers and detectives to create poems and photographs for a calendar. It is hoped the project will increase the public’s knowledge and appreciation of the work of police in the community. The format of a calendar allows the poems and photographs to become a part of people’s daily lives.
- Portland - Maine Jewish Film Festival
$3,000.00 - Major
The Maine Jewish Film Festival - The Diaspora Experience: What it means to be from away
This nine-day festival in March 2009 presented 23 films in several different Maine communities, using the Jewish Diaspora as its central theme. The films were selected to encompass a diverse range of experience and to help enrich, educate, and entertain a diverse audience regarding the Jewish experience.
- Portland - Maine Reads
$1,500.00 - Major
Maine Festival of the Book
Presented by Maine Reads, the Maine Festival of the Book 2009 was a literary extravaganza of reading and writing held the weekend of April 3 in Portland. The festival celebrated Maine’s rich contemporary literary scene and its heritage, presenting literature in all its forms and appealing to a wide range of tastes, audiences, and reading abilities.
- Portland - Portland Conservatory of Music
$1,000.00 - Major
International Piano Festival Audience Enrichment and Development
This grant covered funding for four lectures during the festival in Portland June 22-27, 2009. With these enrichment events, the Conservatory hoped to increase audience knowledge about music, its meaning in the context of other art forms, and promote a deeper understanding of the world by way of music.
- Portland - Portland Ovations
$4,050.00 - Major
Travel The World of Imagination, Inspiration, and Innovation
A series of humanities-based education and outreach activities placed artists, their art forms, and specific works of art in historical, literary, cultural, aesthetic, and social contexts. Central to the project was the free pre-curtain lectures offered before all classical music, dance, opera, and theater performances. Community and school-based events were also offered.
- Portland - Museum of African Culture
$500.00 - Community Arts & Humanities
Ebune Project
Ebune is a month-long celebration of spring in the African Igbo tradition. The Museum of African Culture used the opportunity in April of 2009 to connect local students and the general public of all cultures through public events related to education and art. Events included mask-making workshops and discussions, and the celebration ended with a parade.
- Portland - Greater Portland Landmarks, Inc.
$1,000.00 - Community Arts & Humanities
Flag Day at the Portland Observatory Museum (1807)
A community celebration took place on Flag Day (June 14, 2009) at the Portland Observatory Museum to promote public appreciation of the unique history of Portland. Highlights included free tours of the Observatory and Mujoy Hill area, flag making and art activities for children and families, and sea shanty music by local musician David Peloquin.
- Portland - Maine Alliance of Media Arts
$500.00 - Community Arts & Humanities
In Good Time: The Piano Jazz of Marian McPartland
As part of a documentary film being produced about 91-year-old jazz legend Marian McPartland, this grant will help acquire archival images for the film to illustrate key events in her life. The project by local filmmaker Huey explores McPartland’s life as a pioneering woman jazz musician, composer, and host of National Public Radio’s "Piano Jazz".
- Portland - The Choral Art Society
$312.00 - Discretionary
Pre-Concert Lecture, Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah
On March 31, 2009, the Choral Art Society and the Portland Symphony Orchestra performed Felix Mendelssohn’s "Elijah" oratorio. This grant covered costs of a pre-concert lecture by composer Elliott Schwartz who explained Mendelssohn’s life, work, place in the musical world of the 19th century, and musical setting for the Old Testament story of the prophet Elijah.
- Portland - SPACE
$500.00 - Discretionary
Food+Farm: Ted Ames Discussion
On May 7, 2009, Maine lobsterman and MacArthur "Genius Grant" recipient Ted Ames discussed his research into collapsing fish populations, using oral histories collected from Maine fishermen. The evening included a screening of Cecily Pingree’s film "Fishing Voices: Insight into the Future" as part of the annual Food+Farm series on sustainable food at SPACE Gallery.
- Portland - Maine Olmsted Alliance for Parks/Landscapes
$200.00 - Discretionary
The Making of a Book: Designing the Maine Landscape
This book is the first comprehensive study of Maine landscape design, the product of a ten-year survey conducted by the Maine Olmsted Alliance and the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. On May 28, 2009 co-authors Theresa Mattor and Lucie Teegarden gave a free, behind-the-scenes presentation on the making of the book, followed by a public discussion.
- Portland - Chinese/American Friendship Assoc. of Maine
$450.00 - Discretionary
Visions of Maine’s Chinese Past
CAFAM has been working with the Maine Historical Society since 2002 to develop the Maine Chinese Archive, a collection of documents, photographs, and artifacts. CAFAM plans to frame representative historic photographs from the archive for display in local Chinese restaurants to raise awareness about Maine’s Chinese community, which dates to at least 1857.
- Portland - Portland Museum of Art
$8,850.00 - Humanities Infrastructure
Winslow Homer: Wood Engravings Access Project
The museum is digitizing its collection of 400 wood engravings by Winslow Homer and making them accessible for the first time to a broad general auduence through the museum’s website. In-gallery access to these images will be provided, allowing visitors to view the engravings, zoom in on the finest details, and get a more complete understanding of Homer’s work.
- Portland - Portland Public Library
$10,000.00 - Humanities Infrastructure
Audio/Visual Equipment for Portland Public Library Renovation
This project covers purchase and installation of a large audio/visual system at the library’s Monument Square location. The equipment will provide the technology needed to significantly improve the delivery of quality humanities programs, enhance audience experience through appropriate sound amplification and visual quality, and record events for wider dissemination.
- Portland - Documenting Old Maine Jewry
$910.00 - Community Outreach
Oral History Training & Interviewing
This statewide effort to collect, present, and preserve historical information has already placed over 20,000 records of Jewish Mainers on its website. In 2009, volunteers who have been trained in oral history will interview residents in their eighties and nineties about the character and quality of family and community life for Jewish immigrants and first generation Americans.
- Portland - King Middle School Library
$1,000.00 - Community Outreach
Understanding Courage: Community Interaction with the Story of Unsung Civil Rights Hero, Claudette Colvin
Claudette Colvin, unsung hero of the Civil Rights era, was the subject of a new book by award-winning Maine author Phillip Hoose. In February 2009, Colvin visited Portland to launch the book, Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice. In addition to discussing the book with King Middle School students, Colvin and Hoose appeared together in a public program at USM.
- Portland - Maine African Film Festival
$1,000.00 - Community Outreach
Maine African Film Festival
Films selected through the New York African Film Festival’s traveling series were screened at a number of Porland locations in April 2009. One film was shown free of charge, with advertising at local shelters, soup kitchens, and resource centers and was intended to attract an audience that wouldn’t otherwise participate.
- Portland - Lyman Moore Middle School
$1,000.00 - Community Outreach
Community Read: Linking Children Around the School and Around the World
Cadillac 6, one of two 6th grade teams at Lyman Moore Middle School, had 93 students enrolled in September 2009 from a variety of "sending schools" and situations representing a dozen ethnicities and nationalities. This project built community relationships through reading the Young Reader’s Edition of Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson.
- Portsmouth - Old Berwick Historical Society
$10,000.00 - Humanities Infrastructure
Village Voices Exhibition at the Counting House Museum
This new, permanent display doubles the exhibit capacity of the Counting House Museum in South Berwick by providing six custom display/storage cases for the second-floor hall. As an outcome of this exhibit, visitors will be able to better understand the influences which transformed southwestern Maine from a rural economy to an industrial community.
- Presque Isle - University of Maine at Presque Isle
$500.00 - Discretionary
Foreign Language Day
In April 2009, high school teachers and students from Presque Isle, Ashland, and Mars Hill attended this annual event at UMPI. The day included mini-lessons in language and culture from native speakers and various cultural experts, folk dances and ethnic food. Activities this year represented France, Italy, Puerto Rico, Portugal, China, Nepal, Poland, and Germany.
- Princeton - Passamaquoddy Tribe
$1,000.00 - Community Arts & Humanities
Passamaquoddy Language Revitilization Project
93 year old master Passamaquoddy tribal linguist David Francis has been the key to developing a dictionary of the endangered tribal language system. In 2009, Passamaquoddy historians and linguists recorded Francis speaking and defining every word in the dictionary. Sound files will be preserved for the public in a computer system at the Univ. of Maine.
- Rockland - Broadreach Family & Community Services
$500.00 - Discretionary
Literary Feast II: An After School Book Discussion Group for High School Students
This 2010 after-school program will offer low performing students and reluctant readers an opportunity to discuss books and prepare meals inspired by what they have read. Participants at Rockland District High School will explore a range of titles and create the foods enjoyed by the literary characters. An online blog will augment the project.
- Rockport - Everyman Repertory Theatre
$1,000.00 - Community Arts & Humanities
Celebrating Nevelson
During 2009, Rockland celebrated a former resident, the internationally-renowned sculpress Louise Nevelson. Events included a talk about her position in American art history, focusing on the collection of her works held by the Farnsworth Museum. There was also a presentation (the Maine premier) of Edward Albee’s play "Occupant" about Nevelson’s life.
- Saco - Dyer Library/Saco Musuem
$1,000.00 - Community Arts & Humanities
Heat Stroke: New England Wax, Artists Working in Encaustic
This special exhibition features work from New England Wax, an assoc. of artists who work in encaustic (a beeswax-based painting medium). The exhibition will offer the opportunity for local and regional artists to exhibit their work together and exchange ideas. Public programming in the form of lectures & demonstrations also will be provided.
- Scarborough - Friends of Scarborough Library
$500.00 - Discretionary
,Scarborough Reads
Scarborough Reads promoted literacy and community building by encouraging residents to read The Lobster Coast by Colin Woodard during the summer of 2009. On Sept. 26 the community participated in a program highlighted by the author’s keynote address and followed by multi--media presentations specific to the theme of the book.
- South Portland - Long Creek Youth Development Center
$1,000.00 - Community Arts & Humanities
"Pointed Firs Meet the Sea" Library Mural
Residents of the Long Creek Youth Development Center studied the writings of Sara Orne Jewett, with special emphasis on The Country of the Pointed Firs. In addition, they created a 10’x24’ mural in the Center’s library, depicting a forest-to-the-sea landscape as a tribute to the Maine author.
- Southwest Harbor - Island Readers and Writers:An Initiative for Maine Children
$1,000.00 - Community Arts & Humanities
The Circus Ship: An Island Author and History Tour
The 1836 shipwreck in Penobscot Bay of a side-wheeler steamboat carrying a full circus and brass band was the basis for an Island Author and History Tour in 2009. Acclaimed Maine children’s book author Chris Van Dusen, whose new book The Circus Ship was inspired by the incident in 1836, was part of the October trip to visit children on eleven Maine islands.
- Swan’s Island - Swan’s Island Educational Society
$10,000.00 - Humanities Infrastructure
"Rebuilding the Swan’s Island Educational Society’s history collection, preservation and presentation equipment—creating a museum (mostly) without walls
Swan’s Island’s small library and historical museum complex was destroyed in a July 2008 fire. To fulfill their dual mission of providing library and museum services, the Educational Society purchased equipment with the technology to create and preserve an extensive digital and virtual museum and exhibit presence while settling into a moderately small physical space.
- Thomaston - General Henry Knox Museum
$950.00 - Community Outreach
Revolution and Evolution: Federal Period Clothing
A public exhibition of historic costumes at the museum ran July 13 to August 22, with specialized tours led by costume historian Julie Stackpole on July 25 and August 21, 2009. Opening night featured a lecture by the exhibition’s guest curator Mary Doering, a professor in the Corcoran College of Art and Design’s Masters of Decorative Arts program.
- Waldoboro - Medomak Valley Land Trust
$450.00 - Community Outreach
Conservation in Context: Exploring Our Connection to the Land Through Media
In recent years, the land trust has focused increased energy on outreach and education. In 2009, events were planned around a variety of media (photography, film, literature, and discussion) to engage an even broader audience. Events included appearances by Maine authors Thomas Szelog and Linda Tatelbaum, plus a discussion program and film festival.
- Westbrook - Westbrook Community Center
$500.00 - Discretionary
"Zaman Zab ("Hard Times")"
Zaman Zab (roughly translated as "Hard Times") is a support group comprised of youth who are immigrants from African countries and have been committed to the Long Creek Youth Development Center. This project allowed residents (aged 13-21) to celebrate their heritage by purchasing and preparing ethnic meals to share during their group discussions.
- Westbrook - Wescott Junior High School
$1,000.00 - Community Outreach
Community Read Program
This yearly project promotes literacy and the love of reading by providing opportunities for students and adults, both in and out of school, to read and discuss books. The book chosen for 2009 was Billy Boy, The Sunday Soldier by local author Jean Flahive, and the author met with participants to offer some perspective on her writing.
- Whitefield - Town of Whitefield
$1,000.00 - Community Arts & Humanities
Whitefield Bicentennial Map
As part of Whitefield’s Bicentennial in 2009, artist Natasha Mayers led Whitefield students in the creation of an 8x12-foot mural depicting historic landmarks and events in town. Tile-making workshops allowed the wider Whitefield Community to provide a tile border for the mural. A written record of the project with photographs was archived at the Whitefield Historical Society.
- Winter Harbor - Schoodic Arts for All
$500.00 - Community Outreach
Art in the 21st Century film series and discussion
In April 2009, Schoodic Arts for All collaborated with Art:21, a series of documentaries made for public television. Films from the series that were screened at Hammond Hall in Winter Harbor depicted the philosophies, methods, and examples of the work of emerging artists of the 21st century. Following each screening, there was a discussion program.
- York - Old York Historical Society
$500.00 - Discretionary
Southern Maine in the Seventeenth Century
In 2009, public events were held to explore experiences and perspectives of Native, English, and French people in 17th-century Maine. An April 12 reenactment showed the origins of conflict between Anglo and French populations. A panel discussion May 17 involved French-Canadian residents recounting their experiences regarding Anglo/French tensions.
- York - Old York Historical Society
$8,000.00 - Humanities Infrastructure
Old York Orientation Video
As part of a comprehensive plan for Old York’s new visitor center, an orientation video is being produced that will include an overview of York’s history and the Museum’s creation, providing a permanent introduction to and historical context for the historic museum buildings.
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