Celebrating Public Art in Maine:
30 Years of the Percent for Art Program

The Public Art Event Series

As the Maine Arts Commission’s Percent for Art program enters its 30th year, the agency is celebrating the program’s transformative power by sponsoring a series of public art events that take place throughout the state in 2009.

The Public Art Event Series is designed to foster discussions about public art in Maine. National and international experts and public artists will spark conversation by challenging preconceived notions about what public art is today as they share their artistic methods and practices.

Through a juried selection process, five Maine arts organizations were funded by the Maine Arts Commission to present dynamic speakers who will make significant contributions to our notions of public art. The local arts organizations are: Tides Institute and Museum of Art in Eastport, Portland Arts and Cultural Alliance, Waterville Arts Council, SPACE Gallery in Portland and Maine College of Art.

Please Join in the Celebration!

The calendar below highlights the six events sponsored by Maine Arts Commission as well as a host of other public art events happening throughout Maine in 2009. For more information about any of these events, simply click on the links, or you can watch a brief, fully captioned, video highlighting the lecture series on Maine.gov. If your organization has an event similar to these and you would like to have it listed, you can email the details to alison.ferris@maine.gov.

Image: From Drown Your Boat (2009) © Swoon, Installation at New Image Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 

What is the Percent for Art program?

Following federal policy, in 1979 Maine began incorporating artwork into every new or renovated state-funded building. Sculptures, murals, paintings and other structural and freestanding elements have been selected by local committees throughout the state. Public art now graces schools, governmental buildings, libraries, ferry terminals and college campuses to enliven spaces and reflect the community’s relationship to the purpose of the facility. Along with municipal and federal public spaces, Maine boasts nearly 450 pieces of public artwork, from Kittery to Fort Kent.

Percent for Art is also about a community investing in its own imagination. Beyond traditional memorials, the Percent for Art commissions are defined by citizen participation and can integrate into the life of a building in new and bold ways. At its best, public art enhances the environment, creates a sense of place, and expresses a community's values and identity. Public art can transform and heal a site; it can remind us of our past, and point to a future.