Summer 2006 Issue

Letter From the Director:
A Message from Alden C. Wilson, Director

This is the time of year when the Maine Arts Commission begins planning in earnest to submit the next three-year partnership agreement application to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) due in October 2007.

In recent years, Maine has ranked at the top of the states for programming innovations, including work with the Discovery Research program, the creative economy (for which Maine won a national award) and more recently with support for individual artists. A high ranking by NEA not only signifies that our peers think well of us; it is also a key factor in receiving additional discretionary funding from the NEA.

While planning is an ongoing function at the Maine Arts Commission, the agency intensifies its effort during the year prior to submission of the three-year funding plan. Here are some of the considerations now in process or about to begin.
The Community Arts program, which has featured Discovery Research, a vehicle to assess and inventory community cultural resources and services, has been evaluated with the assistance of consultant Craig Dreeszen, PhD. Results have found a lessened interest in Discovery Research, in part because much of the state has been “covered” through the inventory process. However, community arts sites report that there is a need for assistance to build the capacity of their organization(s). A revised program will be launched later this summer to address the most current needs. Concerning local arts agency staffing, financial stability and marketing are among other concerns identified by local groups.

Similarly, Dreeszen is helping to evaluate last year’s arts in education professional development program and will once again take a hard look at the Partners in Arts & Learning (PAL) program. While PAL, as it is fondly known, has truly served the entire state, the NEA has never been convinced of its effectiveness. Now is the time to either revise the program or re-think it anew to make the strongest case for NEA funding.

The recent investment by the Creative Capital Foundation is a major step forward in assessing Maine’s ability to better support the state’s individual artists. As many of you know, Creative Capital, based in New York City, funds artists of national stature and is interested in partnering with a state to develop a deeper reach into that state’s artist community.

Maine has been fortunate to be one of two finalist states currently under study by Creative Capital, which in turn has received the generous support of a $100,000 grant from the Doris Duke Foundation to carry out the assessment. This process is invaluable to the Maine Arts Commission’s evaluation of artists’ programs.

In the coming months, the agency will also formally assess its development efforts. While the Maine Arts Commission and individual grantees in Maine do well with funding from the NEA (Maine receives three times the national average), we can always do better. As part of our planning process, we will continue to assess the best means for the Maine Arts Commission to support and expand private-public partnership funding for the arts and projects that advance the state’s creative economy.

The Maine Arts Commission also supports programs in the traditional arts, public information, accessibility, public art, partnerships with statewide arts service organizations, funding for artist-based programs in communities and a vastly expanded technology program, all of which will receive a thorough review.

Through public meetings and a web-based evaluation, anyone who is interested may comment on the work of the Maine Arts Commission. Look for these opportunities beginning in the fall of this year. In the interim, I welcome your comments and suggestions and look forward to responding to you personally.

Sincerely,
Alden C. Wilson
Director