The pandemic threatens arts groups bottom lines, but not their creative spirit.
December 17, 2020
JORDYN WALKER IN ALUMNI THEATER COMPANY’S ORIGINAL PRODUCTION “THE GRIND” IN JANUARY 2020 | PHOTO BY MARK SIMPSON
In June, 14-year-old Jordyn Walker stood on the stage of Alumni Theater Company in Homewood and performed her latest work: “Dear Black Child.”
“Dear Black Child,
so we guide you to do what’s right.
We trust you to pick back up what we left behind.
A change is gonna come but not this time.
I know this is a long race but we can’t leave anyone behind.
…
Listen to me.
The Maine Community Foundation has awarded $95,000 in grants to 11 recipients in Hancock and Washington counties through its Downeast Innovation Fund, the foundation said.
Launched in 2018, the fund supports nonprofits that provide programs to improve or increase entrepreneurship and innovation in business and the local economies in Hancock and Washington counties.
Recipients in the latest funding round include the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center Inc. in Walpole, which will receive $10,000 to study the feasibility of farming sea scallops in the two Downeast counties.
New Ventures Maine in Bangor will also receive $10,000, to boost partnerships within the Downeast entrepreneurial ecosystem and expand access to micro-enterprise training advising and resources.
Biddeford arts organization Engine hires a new director
Jessica Muise brings experience working with the creative economy and on community-building in the Boston area.
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Engine, the decade-old community catalyst in Biddeford that focuses on the arts, has hired a new executive director with experience in metro Boston as an artist, administrator, curator and community builder. Jessica Muise of Waltham, Massachusetts, will begin her duties in Biddeford on Feb. 1, after emerging from a field of about 75 applicants.
She will replace Engine’s founding director Tammy Ackerman, who announced her departure in the spring.
Jessica Muise will begin her job as executive director of Engine in Biddeford on Feb. 1.
Reaching into its archival treasure trove of rarely seen recordings of past events, The American Dance Guild continues their virtual offering 10 Years Over 10 Weeks, a rich collection of video performances of honorees and guest artists over the last ten years of ADG Performance Festivals.
The video stream, which runs for ten weeks, features works by 25 dance luminaries from ADG Festivals 2009-2019. Each of the Festival artists appear sequentially by year, running for one week. The live festival has been postponed this year in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The American Dance Guild s 10 Years Over 10 Weeks is available to stream on Vimeo and through the ADG website. The showings are free, with donations welcome. The full 10 Years Over 10 Weeks lineup is below.