Free Outdoor Community Concerts - a Maine Tradition
Bath, Brunswick and Bowdoinham offer free evening concerts in local parks. Click town for schedules.
Summer ArtWalks in Brunswick/Topsham and in Bath
July 11 - 2nd Friday ArtWalk in Brunswick & Topsham. Visit 25 sites, including restaurants, artist studios, two business centers with regular exhibits and galleries downtown.
July 18 - 3rd Friday ArtWalk in Bath. Visit 20 sites-home studios, downtown galleries, inns and businesses. New artists this year.
August Artscape: Support your local arts calendar with your advertising.
To advertise, contact Bertha Brown at The Times Record: 504-8260, or John Bamford: 504-8252.
Volunteer opportunities at Five Rivers Arts Alliance
We need your talents! Five Rivers Arts Alliance is growing and we need your skills and your help. Share your creativity, get your name out there, meet artists, members and the community and help support Five Rivers programs: Volunteer needs:
- Heritage Days: we have a information booth this Saturday, July 5 at Heritage Days.
- Can you volunteer for one or two hours, or help set up/take down? If so, or you want more information, call Harriet at 798-6964 or Marlene 721-1128 Thursday or later).
- We are seeking volunteer writers for Artspeak (artist profile) and Art+Tour-the driving tour.
- Call 798-6964 or email us at info@fiveriversartsalliance.org for more info.
Call 798-6964 or email us at info@fiveriversartsalliance.org for more info.
Strategies for Success Workshop in Bangor, May 14:
a success for attendees
Sixty Maine arts leaders, directors and artists attended "Marketing/Emarketing," with Maren Brown and Dee Boyle-Clapp at the University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor on May 14. Co-spoonsored by Five Rivers and the Maine Arts Commission, the workshop was made possible by grant funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Evaluations from the workshop were very positive! Here is one:
"So, I just wanted to re-iterate how great I thought the marketing class was. It was a great use of MAC funds and a good arts community event. Believe it or not, I had never been to that gallery before. By my calculation there were at least 20 artists there. If that is 10% of the total in the area, that’s a lot of artists! I thought the class was positive, dynamic and inspiring. I thought the teachers were great to encourage us to do group work with others (rural people sometimes get out of the habit of meeting new people and thus feel awkward about it, so they need a bit of a push). I met some other interesting artists there whose work was of high caliber and who did have a lot of good creative ideas themselves. Cross-fertilization was definitely in effect."
2nd Friday Art Walk May 9 in Brunswick & Topsham
Twenty four art sites open their doors for a spring evening of art on May 9. Sites are open 5-8pm in Brunswick and Topsham and are within walking distance of one another. Galleries, artist studios, restaurants and businesses join in to celebrate spring and the creativity of area artists. Enjoy receptions at many locations and performances round out the evening. Listings here!
New sites include: a group photography exhibit by Merry-Meeting Art Association on view at the Border Trust Business Center and Artifacts/Gilders Studio, next door to Maine Fiberarts in Topsham. In Brunswick, Weaver Michael Patterson opens his Pleasant St. studio, Kim Moody, Christine DeTroy and Theresa Hossenlopp join the Fort Andross open Studio curcuit.
VSA Arts Maine opens its Gallery at Park Row with “Selections” a group exhibit of six artists. The Art Walk also offers a chance to see Bowdoin College student works in several venues, including “Community Housing Designs” at McLellan Hall, and a collaborative project with Woodside School 5th grade students, on view at Frontier Cafe, Cinema and Gallery and additional photography exhibits in Fort Andross. Kat Logan and Jim Loney perform for an art opening at Little Dog Coffee Shop. Après Art offerings include “Steel Magnolias” at The Theater Project, “Animations Festival” of short films at Bowdoin College’s Visual Arts Center and a jazz trio at Sweet Leaves Tea House.
Annual Appeal for Five Rivers Arts Alliance
December 2007
Dear members and friends,
It’s hard to believe that as we write this letter, we are planning our tenth annual Arts Downtown & All Around open studio, exhibit and performance event. Since 1998 this event has grown from a small gathering in downtown Brunswick to a weekend-long regional celebration of art and creativity featuring work by more than 400 artists, at 60 venues all across our region. The growth and strength of Five Rivers Arts Alliance parallels this event.
This year has been an important one that builds on our past successes and addresses needs of our communities, the artists, cultural nonprofits and creative businesses that reside here. We cannot do this work alone and we ask for your support by making a tax-deductible financial contribution to Five Rivers Arts Alliance.
Memberships and donations are important to our success; supporting our programs and helping us strengthen our communities by connecting arts, culture and heritage through advocacy, education, promotion and celebration.
Specifically, your contributions supports arts programming open to all:
- Art Walks-Evening gallery & studio tours; in Bath on Third Fridays four months of the year; in Brunswick and Topsham on 2nd Fridays seven moths of the year.
- Arts Nights at the Library-Last year we explored “Stories of the Five Rivers” as our theme at four area libraries – Bowdoinham, Topsham, Brunswick, and Bath
- Family Arts Festival-performance, art workshops, and demonstrations for all ages on the Brunswick Town Mall.
- Arts Downtown & All Around-December 7, 8, & 9, 2007. Meet artists in their studios, at group shows and galleries across the region and enjoy great performances.
This year we developed and implemented several new programs:
- Artscape, published six times a year; each issue profiles an artist, arts, cultural and heritage events, and explores one of one of our communities with a driving tour. Distributed locally, to visitors centers and as an insert in The Times Record.
- Online Cultural Directory-celebrating and promoting our region’s artists, performers, cultural sites and presenters. Find it at www.fiveriversartsalliance.org/directory/
- Crossroads for Community Arts Conference brought together community arts groups like Five Rivers from across the state to improve skills, develop plans for improved advocacy of the arts. Five Rivers co-sponsored with the Maine Arts Commission.
Most of these programs are offered at no cost. They enrich our lives, our sense of place and promote our artists, cultural institutions and history. We hope you will support these efforts with your creativity, time and financial support. We welcome your ideas and your involvement. As we enter our tenth year, we continue to grow and promote the arts in our region; we recognize the continued importance of our members and our business sponsors. It is because of your financial support that we are able to put our vision into action.
Thank you for helping us to keep the arts alive and accessible to all!
Sincerely,
Kathy Durgin Leighton
Five Rivers Board Chair
Crossroads for Community Arts:
Strategies for Success on the Road Ahead
Conference participants,
please return your evaluations to have your input heard and included in planning for the future. Download PDF evaluation here. Word version of evaluation is also available. Download Word version of evaluation here.
Many thanks to all who contriubuted to a successful “Crossroads for Community Arts: Strategies for Success on the Road Ahead" conference on Thursday, October 18, 2007 in downtown Lewiston. Co-sponsored by Maine Arts Commission and Five Rivers Arts Alliance, it was made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to Five Rivers Arts Alliance. Conference hosts are L/A Arts, Franco American Heritage Center and Lewiston Public Library.
Anne Katz, Founder and Executive Director of Arts Wisconsin gave the keynote.
One hundred and ten Community arts leaders attended the conference and learned from 30 professionals from across Maine and the nation. From Fort Kent to Eastport to South Berwick, individuals came to the Franco-American Heritage Center and the Lewiston Puiblic Library for an engaging, thought-provoking day.
Anne Katz, Founder and Executive Director of Arts Wisconsin gave the Keynote: : “A Voice for Change: The Power of Arts on the Statewide Level.”
Here are links from Anne Katz at Arts Wisconsin:
- Additional content from Crossroads Conference:
For Powerpoint or PDF version or Reed Berkowitz's presentation " Five Essentials of Successful Community Arts Websites," go to the "Opportunities" page of this site. Look to this page of Five Rivers Arts Alliance website to report developments-next steps outgrowths of the Crossroads Conference.
- Conference wrap-up session at day's end included input from more than participants. Notes from wrap up will be posted soon on this website.
Thank yous
Steering committee, Presenters, Support staff of the Franco, L/A Arts and the Library, Participants-networking and input from other conference attendees israted as a prime benefit of the conference! Restaruants: Fuel, DaVinci's, Gritty's
Thanks to sponsors
And hosts
Family Arts Festival is a success!
What a great day. Find more more photos on Family Arts Festival page.
Artscape Fall 2007
Fall is a new start for kindergarteners and collegians. Let it be for all of us.
Take time to explore and learn. Apple orchards are open for “pick your own” and a trip along Merrymeeting Bay to visit art sites offers the glorious sight of Canada geese, heading south. Learn about woodworking in Harpswell, ghost stories of Bath, theater production in Brunswick, and smelt shack racing in Bowdoinham. Haven't you always wondered how to race a smelt shack? Find out at Celebrate Bowdoinham.
Join in on the Merrymeeting Arts Center’s Grand Opening on September 8. Don’t miss the October 14 ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Bowdoin College Art Museum’s inspiring makeover. And plan to come back; the museum is adding Thursday evening hours and the college’s cultural offerings are bountiful.
Make a date for the Family Arts Festival on September 22 on the Brunswick Town Mall. Bring your kids, bring your folks, roll up your sleeves and put your dancing shoes on for art making and fun! Thirty artists share their talents! This year includes an invitation to artists to “paint the town,” alter on-the-spot photographs, create a 3-D collage, and that’s just for starters. Find out more at www.fiveriversartsalliance.org.
Artscape is published by the Five Rivers Arts Alliance with support from The Maine Community Foundation, Davis Family Foundation, Midcoast Council for Business Development & Planning, Town of Brunswick, Town of Bowdoinham, Our Advertisers & Our Members.
Support Artscape with your sponsorship - find out more.
Artscape-Fall 2007 - PDF back
August '07 Artscape - PDF front
August '07 Artscape - PDF back
Cultural Directory now online
Our online Cultural Directory is now live! Listings are a benefit of membership. Fill out form at http://www.fiveriversartsalliance.org/directory/directory.aspx. Each listing includes contact info, hours open, 100 word description, an image of your artwork, place of business, or organization. The directory is made possible, in part, by frants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Maine Community Foundation.
Our programs rely on community support
Find out how you and your business can support Five Rivers programs and gain valuable visibility with a sponsorship. Click here for Sponsorship rates for Five Rivers programs. Call Five Rivers Arts Alliance at 798-6964 for more information.
