A LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
It all began with chickens. Not the stylized chickens of children’s books, or the unseen chickens who lay the eggs we buy at the store, but chickens reduced to essentials: birds dangling upside down on a factory line, being processed. These were proof that chicken is more than the neat packets at the supermarket. And they were my introduction to the Maine Humanities Council, back in 1988.
I’d been hired to move and install a Council-funded exhibit of photographs by Cedric Chatterley documenting the final days of Belfast’s Penobscot Poultry, Maine’s last chicken processing plant. I couldn’t have imagined that hauling those fascinating, beautiful, and repellent pictures from Belfast to Machias would mark the start of a professional relationship that has lasted nearly 20 years, and counting. Since then, I’ve worked with the Council as a contractor, a grantee, a board member, a program provider, and a member of the staff. And on January 1st, I began as its fourth executive director.
In many ways, that first trip to Belfast was an example of what the MHC does best: uncovering and sharing unexpected stories with the widest range of Maine communities. And while we’ve never since funded a project dealing with the poultry industry, we still hope to surprise, challenge, and delight, in every one of our programs.
I’m honored to be leading the Council, and mindful of the challenges we face in extending what has been a remarkable record of accomplishment. I’m grateful for Deedee’s leadership over the past 20 years. She leaves an organization with solid assets: a talented board, a marvelous staff, and the extraordinary humanities scholars who give life to our programs.
The other critical factor of course, is our audience. And I hope you’ll all stick with us (and tell your friends) as we jump off into the Council’s fourth decade.
Erik Jorgensen
Executive Director
