MCF awards $59K in arts grants to more than a dozen recipients
Photo / Robin Farrin, Eastport Arts Center
The Eastport Arts Center, which runs a summer camp (shown here in 2019), was awarded a $5,000 Maine Community Foundation grant for lobby center improvements.
The Maine Community Foundation’s Maine Expansion Arts Fund has awarded 13 grants totaling $59,250 to support indigenous, ethnic or rural arts programs or projects, particularly those serving areas with limited access to arts events.
Recipients include the Down East Singers in Rockport, which was awarded $2,205 to produce a virtual concert, in collaboration with Bay Chamber Concerts and Halcyon String Quartet.
Another is the Eastport Arts Center. It was awarded $5,000 to improve its lobby entrance to ensure a safer, more efficient and more welcoming visitor experience.
The Maine Expansion Arts Fund is a collaborative effort of the National Endowment for the Arts, Lillian Berliawsky Charitable Trust, Maine Community Foundation and Maine Arts Commission to strengthen and ensure the future of Maine’s artistic traditions.
Additional funding is provided through the Elizabeth Laughlin Anderson Memorial Fund.
The grants come amid a difficult time for the arts and cultural sector nationwide during COVID-19, with the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group Americans for the Arts estimating a total economic impact of $14.6 billion for more than 120,000 arts and cultural organizations. It also reports that 96% have canceled events.
In Maine, it puts the financial impact at $19,000 for 164 organizations.
MCF grant recipients and projects
- Apogee Arts, Brooksville: $5,000 to produce a series of movement-based videos with sociopolitical messages created with students from the region.
- Bagaduce Theatre, Brooksville: $4,825 to present a new play set in rural Maine.
- Bethel Area Arts & Music: $5,000 to install a large-scale, public art mural inspired by members of the community and designed by a professional Maine artist.
- Deertrees Theatre, Harrison: $5,000 to reach out to senior citizens, students and immigrants with affordable entertainment, informational meetings, classes and volunteering possibilities.
- Down East Singers, Rockport: $2,025 to produce a virtual concert, in collaboration with Bay Chamber Concerts and Halcyon String Quartet:,
- Eastport Arts Center: $5,000 for lobby entry improvements.
- Friends of the DaPonte String Quartet, Damariscotta: $5,000 to bring a Maine Bicentennial Concert and accompanying educational opportunities to underserved communities in Maine,
- LEAPS of Imagination, Rockport, $4,400 to bring in-depth art programs to underserved children and individual art packets to students in keeping with COVID safety precautions.
- Maine Forestry Museum, Rangeley: $3,000 to promote, expand and preserve the folk art traditions of clogging, bluegrass/folk music,and childhood oral lore.
- Our Town Belfast: $5,00 to add artwork to the downtown crosswalks,
- Penobscot Nation Boys and Girls Club, Old Town: $5,000 to create a safe community theater stage.
- Saco River Theatre: $5,000 to help with general operating expenses and innovative programming during the pandemic: $5,000
- University of Maine Foundation, Orono: $5,000 to create and promote a virtual Wabanaki Winter Market, including educational content and a Wabanaki Artist Directory.
The next deadline for grant applications is September 15, 2021. More information about all Maine Community Foundation grant programs and applications are available online.
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