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Charles recently retired from his public service career at the nation's oldest federal cultural institution, the Library of Congress. He served the library as assistant chief operating officer, working alongside Librarian James H. Billington on executive matters of congressional, legal, and public affairs, as well as private sector fund-raising and donor cultivation. These responsibilities supported the library's well-regarded exhibit, literary and poetry program, including the activities of the U.S. Poet Laureate. He is especially proud to have served on the library team that designed and established the National Book Festival, which annually draws over 150,000 lovers of books and reading to the National Mall. A new resident of Southwest Harbor, Charles graduated from the University of Maine with a bachelor's degree in French and from the Catholic University of America with a master's degree in library science. At UMaine, he has established an endowment to support travel for research purposes for honors college undergraduates. His upbringing and education have instilled in him a love and value for the arts - fine art, performing arts, literary arts - and he has long supported and attended musical and theatrical endeavors in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Owen F. Smith is an Art Historian, Curator, Artist, Writer and Teacher whose interest lies in the exploration of the cultural gap between art and life. He is Alston D. and Ada Lee Correll Chair in New Media and the current Director of the Intermedia MFA Program at the University of Maine. Owen received his BA in Art History, MA in Museology, and PhD in Art History, from the University of Washington in Seattle. Owen has authored some 50 books, book chapters and articles, key among these being his book, Fluxus, a History of an Attitude. Currently he is editing several publications, including Events and Event Structures, which will be published by the Danish Academy of Art and was an outcome of an conference he co-organized there in 2007. Owen is an active artist, preferring digital art and new media forms. His work has been exhibited nationally, as well as internationally in over 80 exhibitions in twelve different countries. In the state of Maine, Owen has exhibited his work in Maine at the Carnegie Art Museum at the University of Maine, the University of Southern Maine and Whitney Artworks in Portland and at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport. This last December his work was included in an international Media Arts Festival in Slovenia and Italy.

is an Arundel resident serving as superintendent of schools for RSU #38. He has been a lifelong educator serving as teacher, special education director, principal, and superintendent. He also has served as executive director of associations such as the YMCA, special education directors, and retarded citizens. He has served as chair of the Maine Alliance for Arts Education, an organization that presented Rich with their Advocacy Award in 2000. He has also been active in the Maine Arts Commission’s Arts in Education committee and has supported the arts throughout his Maranacook district.

Skip Bates is the board president of Midcoast Magnet, a creative economy networking organization in Knox and Waldo Counties. In that capacity he worked as founding organizer of the Juice Conference, a statewide gathering of creative economy leaders. Skip works at Bangor Savings Bank as a commercial loan officer. He also serves on the boards of the Small Enterprise Growth Fund and the Camden Conference. He and his wife, Kate, live in Camden, where they are avid kayakers and runners.

Cynthia has worked on developmental, educational, artistic and political endeavors for many years. Her artistic background includes experience as a production assistant for "Music From Maine," a program aired on National Public Radio, as a public school music teacher, as a member of the Advisory Committee on the Arts of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and as the Chair of FORUM-A, an arts consortium between the University of Maine and local communities.

She has worked in schools, K-12, both teaching and counseling, and /or sat on the boards of small liberal arts colleges and Maine’s University System. She has been an advocate for many causes for women and children, at the legislature, in public forums and as a volunteer in places like Haiti, S. Africa, Honduras, and most recently last summer in Kaoma, Zambia where she worked to support the needs of local residents in housing, food and health care distribution systems.

Paul began promoting blues shows as a hobby in 1978 and has been fortunate enough to turn that passion into a full time occupation. He is the cofounder of the award winning North Atlantic Blues Festival, which is now in its 18th year. Paul is the owner of Benjamin Productions and North Atlantic Blues Records. He currently produces blues music shows throughout Maine, offers consulting services to festivals nationwide, and manages national touring blues artist Kenny Neal. Paul has been recognized many times for his exceptional work and dedication to the music industry: he was awarded Mississippi Trail Marker for his 32 years of work showcasing Mississippi born artists in Maine; he is one of eight such markers located outside of Mississippi. He was the first person elected president of the board of directors of the Blues Foundation that did not reside in Memphis, TN. He was music director of the 25th and 26th Blues Music Awards show in Memphis and was awarded Chamber Person of the year in 2003 by the Rockland/Thomaston Area Chamber Of Commerce. He has also been a guest speaker at a number of music conferences throughout the U.S. and Canada.

is the director of the Portland Museum of Art. Previously, he was director of the Bates College Museum of Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art at the Maine College of Art.

Bessire holds an M.B.A. from Columbia University, an M.A. in art history from Hunter College and a B.A. from New York University. He was a Helena Rubinstein Fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art and a Fulbright Fellow in Tanzania. He has published widely, organized traveling exhibitions, and is active in local, community, and national public art programs. Bessire is also a founding board member of the nonprofit Africa Schoolhouse, which builds schools in rural Africa.

Joshua is the executive director of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and co-founder of the Biddeford arts organization Engine. As a journalist, his work garnered awards from the Maine and New England press associations. Joshua served as the associate editor on the founding staff of Maine Home + Design magazine, and today is a regular contributor to Poets & Writers magazine and a contributing editor of the online journal Fiction Writers Review. Joshua’s fiction and poetry has appeared in magazines and quarterlies across the United States, England, and in Europe.

Sharon Corwin is an art historian and museum professional. She currently serves as the Carolyn Muzzy Director and Chief Curator at the Colby College Museum of Art, where she has worked since 2003. At the Colby Museum, Sharon established the yearly exhibition program, Currents, which showcases work by emerging artists who have ties to the state of Maine. She also oversees the museum’s exhibitions, acquisitions, and public programs. Sharon received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and has published numerous articles and books on modern and contemporary American art.

is a sculptor, draftsman and writer living in Liberty. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Goddard College and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, he has taught at Colby College, the MFA program at Vermont College and the Farnsworth Museum and has exhibited throughout Maine and New England for over 30 years. He is the co-founder of Waterfall Arts, a center in Montville and Belfast, which for 11 years has brought together artists from Maine and around the world to celebrate creativity and promote sustainability through education, artists’ residencies, exhibits and events.

Hugh is the director and co-founder of the Tides Institute and Museum of Art in Eastport. The institute is an innovative cultural center that combines a mixture of cultural resources (museum, research, art production facilities and workshops) with regional renewal. Located on the Maine/New Brunswick border, the center focuses on the region's broader Canadian-American relationships, working as much in Canada as in the United States. Prior to his work in Eastport, Hugh was involved for 19 years with the establishment of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, departing in 2001 as associate director. He holds a MA in history from the University of New Brunswick.

has served as the executive director of Waterville Main Street since March of 2003. She has overseen a number of community projects and events, including the Waterville Intown Arts Fest, the Downtown Waterville Lebanese Heritage Mural, the Downtown Waterville Farmers Market, several façade improvement grant programs and training for downtown businesses. Haines is the director of the Maine International Film Festival, which is held annually in Waterville and features approximately 100 films and 50 visiting filmmakers over the course of 10 days. She is also a founding member of the Waterville Arts Council and serves on the Maine Downtown Center Advisory Council and many local boards.

Shannon holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies and Japanese from Middlebury College. In 2008, she was named in Maine Biz’s “Next List” of top 10 individuals shaping the Maine economy and was presented with the Ken Curtis Leadership Award from the Maine Development Foundation.

Mary Harding is a 1975 graduate of Brown University, and has always been passionate about art. After graduation, she was an exhibit designer for Strawberry Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH and for the Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum in Rochester, NY. She served as director of the Barn Gallery in Ogunquit, ME for four years. Since 1990, she has been an independent art consultant specializing in regional contemporary art. Beginning in 1996, Harding has worked as curator for the contemporary art exhibits for the George Marshall Store Gallery, a property of the Museums of Old York.

Monica earned a B.A. in Visual Arts from Bowdoin College and continued her graduate studies in painting at the Cleveland Institute of Art. After studying in France she moved back to Maine in 1989, settling in Port Clyde. She joined the Board of Trustees of Bay Chamber Concerts in 1996 and was active with their education programming. Monica is a practicing visual artist and has exhibited her paintings in galleries throughout New England. She has shown regularly at Greenhut Galleries in Portland since 2002. In 2000 Monica founded the Odeon Youth Orchestra, a community string orchestra which eventually merged with Bay Chamber in 2006. At that time, she joined the staff of Bay Chamber as director of education. In 2010 she was promoted to executive director and has overseen the founding of Bay Chamber’s Community Music School based in Rockport Village. She serves as chair of Midcoast Community Partnerships, a group of area nonprofits and businesses interested in opportunities for collaboration and joint marketing. She continues to serve as an adjunct reader of applications as part of Bowdoin College’s admissions program having become involved there in 1996. Monica is the proud mother of three sons, Noah, Angus and Conor.

Felicia is president of Knight Vision International, LLC, a strategic media and policy consulting firm.

She is a 20-year veteran of Maine broadcasting and spent 10 years in public service in Washington, DC. Felicia began her career at WABI radio in Bangor, Maine. From there, she moved to WABI-TV where she served as anchor and Managing Editor of Channel 5 News. In 1988, she moved to WGME-TV in Portland where she anchored the station’s number one rated First News at 5:30 and Noon Report. She also served as Channel 13’s political reporter, analyst, and debate moderator. In addition to her anchoring and political coverage, she carved out a niche in arts reportage. Over the course of her broadcasting career, she won numerous state and national awards for writing, anchoring, producing, and reporting.

In 1998, she left broadcasting to become Director of Communications for United States Senator Susan Collins in Washington, DC. In 2003, she became Communications Director for the National Endowment for the Arts under Chairman Dana Gioia. The NEA is an independent agency in the federal government and the nation’s largest annual funder of the arts. After five years of directing that agency’s media strategy, Felicia returned home to Maine.

Tim is a cofounder and executive director for the KahBang music | art | film Festival. Established in 2009, the festival showcases independent musicians, artists, and filmmakers and is now the largest indie festival in New England. Building upon the festival’s success, Tim has steered the organization to include expansions such as a nonprofit division focused on the exposure and funding of art initiatives, a concert series on the Maine State Pier in Portland, and an online media magazine for news and original content called KahBang TV. Tim graduated Northeastern University in 2007 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and served two years consulting entrepreneurial business ventures prior to his role at the Festival. Tim applies his business knowledge and creative entrepreneurial skillset to help make art happen.

Aimée Petrin is the Executive Director of Portland Ovations, a non-profit performing arts organization in Portland, ME. Petrin regularly serves on state, regional and national grant panels, forums and task forces/planning committees. She serves as a board member for Association of Performing Arts Presenters and is a member of the Bates Dance Festival Advisory Board. She is the former Board Chair for Arts Presenters of Northern New England, past Northeast representative of the National Performance Network, and an international delegate for NEFA attending curatorial exchanges in Mexico. Petrin previously served for nine years as Programming Manager of the Flynn Center in Burlington, Vermont. At the Flynn her work with AXIS Dance Company helped garner the first Innovation in the Arts Access awards from MetLife and the Arts Presenters. At the Flynn, she initiated longstanding partnerships with educational institutions and community organizations, designed and implemented artists’ residencies, and produced site-specific performances with artists such as Meredith Monk, Eiko & Koma, and Doug Varone.

has been conducting research at Harvard University’s, Project Zero for the past five years. She is currently working on the GoodPlay project, exploring the ethical dimensions of young people's online activities. Past projects have included Qualities of Quality: Excellence in Arts Education and How to Achieve It, and Trust and Trustworthiness. Jennifer conducts professional development workshops and is also an arts education consultant. Research interests include arts education and assessment, professional development, student/teacher/community engagement, and moral/ethical thinking.

Prior to joining the staff at Harvard, Jennifer was a teaching fellow in the Arts in Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Previous experience also includes, directing the education programs at L/A Arts in Lewiston, museum educator for students and teachers at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York, and advocacy for arts education policy and practice at local and state levels. She has been active with the Maine Arts Commission since 1999 and is currently chair of the Education Committee. Jennifer served on the Kennedy Center taskforce for Arts Afterschool, which resulted in The Arts Beyond the School Day: Extending the Power (2001) In 2007, Jennifer received the Outstanding Advocate for Arts Education award from the Maine Alliance for Arts Education. She earned a BA in Art History from Mount Holyoke College and an Ed.M in Arts in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Theresa has been the founding executive director of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA) since 1993. She helped create this organization to sustain the art of basket-making in all four Maine tribal communities (Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet and Micmac).

She is a master artist whose prize-winning work has been purchased by collectors throughout the U.S. and has appeared in several exhibitions at venues such as the National Museum of the American Indian. She has published articles on Maine Indian basketry in various magazines and has received many prestigious awards, including becoming the first U.S. citizen to receive the Prize for Creativity in Rural Life, by the Women’s World Summit Foundation at the United Nations.

She served four years on the board of the New England Foundation for the Arts, where she helped to build one of the nation’s first Native American arts funding programs. Most recently, she was named as the 2011 Traditional Arts Fellow for Maine, by the Maine Arts Commission.

Tracy S. Michaud Stutzman is a native of Dover-Foxcroft and resides there with her husband and two girls. In 2002 she earned her Ph.D. in Anthropology/ Archaeology from the University of Pittsburgh. Since returning to Maine, Tracy has dedicated her life to the arts. She was the original staff person for the Center Theatre in downtown Dover-Foxcroft and co-chair of the $1.3 million capital campaign that purchased and renovated the theatre. Working with local economic development corporations, Tracy founded and ran The Maine Highlands Guild which merged in 2008 with the Maine Crafts Association, a nonprofit organization that promotes Maine Craft Artists. As executive director of the Guild she received state and national recognition as the winner of the 2003 National Social Venture Competition sponsored by Columbia University, Hass Business School at Berkeley, and the Goldman Sachs Foundation. Tracy sat on the Maine Governor’s Council for the Creative Economy and the Governor’s Council on Quality of Place. She was a leader in the Realize!Maine Youth Initiative. Currently she serves on the board of the Maine Association of Nonprofits and the World Crafts Council, and the executive committee of the Maine Arts Commission and the national Craft Organization Development Association. In 2005, Tracey was chosen for Maine Biz magazine’s “NEXT” list and in 2007 won the Governors Award for CDBG Administrator of the Year and the Warren “Pete” Myrick Community Service Award. During Tracy’s time as executive director of the Maine Crafts Association (2008 -2011), three Centers for Maine Craft were created and an Associate’s Degree program in Traditional and Contemporary Craft in Maine’s Community College system began. Tracy is an adjunct professor of Anthropology at the University of Southern Maine. She is involved in her community through the Center Theatre, East Sangerville Grange, Piscataquis County Economic Development Council, and as a Trustee for Foxcroft Academy. Tracy performs regularly with various regional theaters and the Doughty Hill Band.