The Maine Arts Commission hired Linda Nelson after a search conducted early in 2014.

Nelson is currently the Founding Executive Director of Opera House Arts in Stonington, ME. With over 25 years of experience working in nonprofit organizations, the media industry and the corporate world, Nelson has demonstrated the experience that is needed to assist the agency to move to the next level.

From 2006-2010, Nelson served as a commission member for the Maine Arts Commission. With this knowledge and experience coupled with her other skills, Nelson emerged as the clear candidate for the Assistant Director position.

As the Assistant Director of the Maine Arts Commission, Nelson will be responsible for the agency’s day-to-day operations, including budgeting, strategic planning, and human resources. The Commission will be unveiling its Cultural Strategic plan in April 2015. With this new five-year plan’s release, Nelson will be joining the Commission at an important transitional moment. “I am thrilled to have Linda join our team. She will be instrumental in helping us implement our new Cultural Strategic Plan. Her energy and knowledge will add greatly to an already dynamic Maine Arts Commission staff,” said Julie Richard, Executive Director of the Maine Arts Commission.

Nelson’s work at Opera House Arts and her love of Maine will help her with her job at the Commission. She is familiar with the role that arts play in the communities of Maine and the impact of the work of the Maine Arts Commission within those communities. “The arts are hugely important to Maine’s vitality and future, and I am honored and excited to join the team at the Commission to advance the arts equitably statewide,” said Nelson.

Nelson will assume her new position in May 2015.

The Maine Arts Commission is a state agency that receives tax money appropriated by the Maine State Legislature. In addition, the Agency receives funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and other federal sources.