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Outstanding Women in Business: Shannon Haines is amplifying the arts in Waterville

Photo / Tim Greenway Shannon Haines has brought an all-encompassing reach to the arts scene in downtown Waterville.
By Peter Van Allen
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Amid the redevelopment of Waterville’s downtown, Shannon Haines has had a key role in the revival of the city’s arts community, having led the Maine Film Center and now Waterville Creates.

Mainebiz: You have a professional background that includes working as a waste-management and recycling specialist. How did you come around to the arts?

Shannon Haines: When I moved back to Maine after college, I was indeed working in the waste management and recycling field; my degree was in environmental studies, and I found a great job at the state planning office in Augusta. I chose to live in Waterville because of all the arts assets that I had fallen in love with as a kid growing up in Central Maine — Railroad Square Cinema, the Waterville Opera House and the Colby Museum of Art. The same year that I moved back, 1998, the founders of Railroad Square Cinema started the Maine International Film Festival, which I thought was just a really cool, audacious thing to do in Waterville of all places, and I wanted to support it. After attending the festival a couple of times, I signed on to be the volunteer coordinator, and after a couple of years of that, the founding director was ready to step away, so they asked me to be the director — a position I ended up holding for 15 years. So, the short answer is that I fell into a career in the arts through volunteering for MIFF.

MB: How did positions at Waterville Main Street and the Maine Film Center prepare you for Waterville Creates?

SH: I served as the executive director of Waterville Main Street for 10 years; I stepped into that role shortly after I became the MIFF festival director, so I held both positions concurrently. What I loved about both jobs was how grounded they were in community and in place. I quickly learned how unique Waterville’s arts assets were and how core they were to our community’s identity. In our small city of 16,000 people, we were home to the largest art museum in the state, the oldest and largest film festival, a Sundance Arthouse Project cinema, a national medal-winning library and a historic opera house that had been lovingly stewarded for over 100 years. In both positions, I was working for small nonprofits that had big missions but limited resources and few staff. By necessity, I had to learn a little bit about everything it takes to run a successful business — fundraising, marketing, budgeting, staff and volunteer management and collaboration — all of which have informed my work at Waterville Creates.

MB: Downtown Waterville now has key downtown assets, including the Lockwood Hotel and the Schupf Art Center. Do those make it easier to bring in other attractions?

SH: Downtown Waterville is certainly becoming a more attractive destination for visitors, and we are seeing more and more inquiries from people interested in hosting conferences and events. Our longstanding events, like the Maine International Film Festival, have also benefited from recent developments. Festival screenings and events are now focused in one centralized location, and visiting filmmakers and guests can stay within walking distance of the action. This really focuses the energy and the impact of the event and maximizes the impact on downtown Waterville.

MB: What’s the ideal mix between arts attractions, retail and housing?

SH: I think successful, thriving downtowns have a healthy mix of all these things, but I also think that each community is different, so there can’t be a cookie-cutter approach. In Waterville, we have around two dozen restaurants in downtown, and they are core to our community’s identity and absolutely crucial to a successful arts and culture scene. When we have a sold-out show at the Waterville Opera House, which now happens dozens of times per year, all the restaurants are packed. When people think about going to a movie at the Maine Film Center, they want to know that they can grab dinner, too.

MB: What does downtown Waterville still need?

SH: Downtown has amazing arts assets, a wonderful public library, diverse dining options, a hotel, great retail and service businesses, a beautiful riverside park and two new large-scale apartment developments underway; honestly, I think we have all of the components of a successful downtown. I do think we could use a few more entertainment options to complement the arts and cultural offerings, but most of all, I think we need a comprehensive and coordinated marketing campaign that tells the full story of Waterville and what makes us unique.

Waterville Creates

What the organization does: Waterville Creates is a nonprofit whose mission is “arts experiences for all.” It offers high-quality, year-round programming in film, visual and performing arts through three divisions, the Maine Film Center, the Waterville Opera House and Ticonic Gallery + Studios. Based at the Paul J. Schupf Art Center in downtown Waterville, it serves around 100,000 visitors per year.

Number of employees: 35

watervillecreates.org

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