2004 Grant Recipient List


	Figures of Speech Theatre, an internationally-renowned theatre company based in Freeport, received an Organizational Development Grant from the Maine Arts Commission to support production of a digital marketing package. Photo courtesy of Figures of Speech Theatre.

Review the complete list of 2004 grant recipients

Under the Art Service Partnership Agreements, qualified arts organizations in Maine enter into one-year, funded partnerships with the Maine Arts Commission, increasing both the agency and the organizations' capacity to strengthen cultural resources for the benefit of Maine communities.

In their final report, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art concluded they were "once again honored to serve as a Maine Arts Commission Art Service Partner. The goals of our two organizations have a great deal of common ground and we look forward to continuing to be a major positive actor in advancing the visual arts and Maine's Creative Economy."

The Artists in Maine Communities program assists arts organizations, schools and other community groups to develop collaborative projects that employ Maine artists to benefit Maine communities, schools and families.

Winter Harbor Theater Company received funds to give theater instruction to incarcerated youth as a pilot program for long-term adoption by other organizations. Artistic Director Caitlin Shetterly said, "In eight weeks we witnessed some powerful transformations in our students. They took risks. They let down their guard for brief moments. They accepted themselves and their peers." One student evaluation seems to sum up the project's value, "It relieved a lot of stress for me because I knew that if I messed up there, there would be someone there to help me up."

The Organizational Development program assists Maine's arts organizations with strategic development initiatives. Services and funding are available for assessment, planning and implementation of programs.

Women in Harmony, a 50-member women's chorus based in Portland, received funds to defray costs of a planning retreat. Erica Quin- Easter, board chair said, "The project was enormous. The open space session provided an opportunity for members to bring forth ideas and issues in a supportive and collaborative way. Out of the open space sessions have come several recurring themes and plans for future action."


	Judy Hagar (right) and Lucie Ouellette (center) performed with their teacher, Rachel LeBlanc (left), at the National Folk Festival in Bangor this summer. LeBlanc's work teaching tradition Franco-American songs is supported by the Maine Art Commission's Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program.

Traditional Arts Apprenticeships assist Maine's communities to preserve valuable artistic and cultural traditions. The program provides an opportunity for master traditional artists to pass on their skills to qualified apprentices.

"Training oxen and making yokes, especially head yokes, is a maritime tradition. Much of New England has been settled by travelers behind a team of oxen. However, the art of making yokes and working a pair of steers is a dying tradition. As I know it, I am the only man left in the United States who is building head yokes. Over the period of eight weeks, I had a bright young man who at the age of 15 has built one yoke of his own as well as help fit three more head yokes."

- Bud Kluchnik is the first master yoke-maker to participate in the apprenticeship program.

Good Idea Grants support the professional growth of Maine artists. The parameters of the grants are purposefully broad. They include any "good idea" that furthers an individual artist's creative endeavors. The grants are intended to assist artists who are juried members of MaineArtistAccess in overcoming a wide range of obstacles in their professional lives.

Poet and educator Dawn Potter is a long-time member of the Maine Arts Commission's juried directory who received a good idea grant to offset some of the costs to study in Rome.

"Kissing in Rome"

Yet another boy and girl

clutched hip to hip

mid-traffic under jumbled domes
and wires, clattered bells,

cheery Germans stumping over

heaps of shit and stones.

A queue of little nuns

interrupts a savage tram.

Clouds roar through heaven, that staring eye;

and Phaeton burns: a candle,

a sun. Lift your mouth to his dear mouth:

tomorrow asks nothing,

only now, only now...

At his feet, even pigeons

spill wonders like gods.