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 Primordia, Mark Nutt Oil on Stretched Canvas, 30" x 40" x 2.5", 2008  Paper Mines, a double CD set by Bird Microphone and Cursillistas, was released in a limited edition of 47 copies. Packaged in a stitched canvas gatefold sleeve, with full-color transfer art (by Alyce Ornella) on the cover and Gocco print, ink, paint and pastel coloring on the inside gatefold.  Shakespeare in Stonington Joan Jubett and Melody Bates in Opera House Arts' Shakespeare in Stonington 2007 production of Taming of the Shrew. –Photo: Linda Nelson  Opening and dedication of the Cobscook Community Learning Center's Don Furth Bandstand and Amphitheater in October 2008. –Photo: Kara McCrimmon  Cobscook pottery studio. Kevin Thompson (right), resident potter. –Photo: Kara McCrimmon PDF of this Article (622k) |
Make no mistake, the newest grant to be added to the Maine Arts Commission's
available sources of funding is a purebred "marketing" grant that supports
both individual artists and nonprofit
organizations. It is possibly the only grant of its kind for artists in the nation at the moment.
As a bit of background, this grant materialized
from the agency's efforts across the state within the last four years. After visiting 40-plus communities and providing workshops for over 1,400 Maine artists, the agency paid attention to feedback forms and to workshop attendance figures. The most visited workshops involved marketing, grants and technology. Therefore, an easy step of mixing grants and these two elements was undertaken, providing the Good Idea Visibility Grant and Good Idea New Media Grant to the field.
The first deadline for these grants was December 12, 2008. The application process
was limited; recent applicants to the regular Good Idea Grant were not allowed to apply within the same fiscal year, making a lesser number of applications more manageable, or so it was thought.
It is pleasantly nice to be wrong, and some 46 applicants submitted grant applications for the Visibility Grant, with nine of these applicants being new to the agency's granting process. Two of the nine new applicants were funded along with eight other applicants.
This goes a long way in dispelling any thoughts that new applicants would find the process difficult.
An expert panel that is highly experienced
in the field of marketing was assembled
to review the inaugural grant process, and to add pressure, the entire
process was moved to a paper-free process to avoid wastage of our precious natural resources and taxpayer money.
The panel and new process worked seamlessly. The grant review took 6 hours, and the resulting 10 grants recommended
for funding were perfect examples of what this grant was created
to support.
Successful applicants Matthew Lajoie, Alicia Anstead, Cobscook Community Learning Center and Mark Nutt are great examples of how Maine's artists and organizations are marketing themselves.
In recent years Matthew Lajoie's independent record label–L'animaux Tryst Field Recordings–has worked with Maine musicians and artists to release musical documents in limited-
edition, handmade art packages. His philosophy is that the artist's hands should be in the album as much as his or her voice, and thus many of the albums have been lushly packaged in hand-sewn sleeves, homemade recycled patchwork
quilts and mixed-media collages or in individually hand-painted cases created by the musicians themselves.
The label focuses almost exclusively on underground Maine musicians, and most of these artists count releases on L'animaux Tryst as their debut or sole albums that have been made available to the world. Nearly 50% of Lajoie's customers
are from outside the United States. These customers rave about the handmade and homemade aesthetic of the albums, which they understand as a pure document from the artist's hands from start to finish, a window for these strangers into contemporary Maine culture.
Though the label has had modest success, grant money was sought to assist marketing efforts.
The grant received from the Maine Arts Commission will pay for an ongoing banner ad at the top of each page of the Foxy Digitalis review website, where a large number of new customers
have learned of the label. In addition, the grant will purchase a print ad in May's edition of The Wire magazine to coincide with the release of two new records.
The grant will also cover the production of an official printed "label catalogue" that would be included with each order (so that customers who order one record become aware of others) and would accompany copies sold at local retailers Strange Maine, Time-Lag Records and Bull Moose Music.
Noted Maine journalist Alicia Anstead sought funding for Shakespeare and the Journalist in the 21st Century. In her own words, this is an arts and media project that reinforces a role for professional arts journalism while increasing the visibility of the arts and artists involved in a production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Stonington Opera House. At the heart of this proposal is the belief that "old" media is no longer the only viable resource for disseminating arts coverage and information in the community.
With the cataclysmic downsizing of Maine's newspaper industry and, consequently, of critical and insightful arts coverage that mediates between arts/artists and community, the role of the arts journalist is in flux. Oscar Wilde saw the "critic as artist," and the components of this project–an online
network, live community "reads," postperformance talk backs and a published monograph–are intended to employ the skills of the journalist to broaden community awareness, increase meaningful participation and deepen understanding
of the arts and artists.
Located in Trescott, the Cobscook Community Learning Center (CCLC) has been offering arts programming since 2001 and organizes
a range of formal and informal educational activities for people of all ages. This programming thus far has included traditional and fine arts, such as pottery, fiber arts, painting, stained glass, creative writing, stone masonry, blacksmithing, Native American beading and quilt work.
The CCLC sought grant support for the production of a video to increase participation in the arts at the center, both in terms of program participants and artists as instructors or facilitators;
it will also increase marketing to funders who have a particular interest in arts.
For the production of the video, the CCLC turned to an established
independent producer, Geno Geng, of Downeast TV in East Machias.
Already highly successful at creating, sustaining and promoting
arts opportunities within its region, the CCLC now seeks innovative strategies for promoting themselves statewide, throughout New England and further afield.
With an already established presence on YouTube (a video hosting site), and more recently on Facebook (an online social
networking site), the creation of a high-quality video will augment CCLC's online presence and feature prominently on the its website, www.thecclc.org, and at their other online
venues. It will also be distributed on DVD to chambers of commerce, other arts organizations, funders (both current
and prospective), artists, schools and anyone who might benefit from receiving information about arts at the CCLC. It will also be aired on Downeast TV, which is watched by people
throughout their region.
Visual artist Mark Nutt expanded on the video creation idea with his application, making it part of an overall promotional outreach tool that includes a professional-quality video (DVD), a CD of select paintings, a letter of introduction, a resume and business cards.
His idea is to use the video as a promotional tool to reach prospective galleries, museums and patrons. It addresses requests already received from architects and potential clients inquiring about his work–revealing who he is as an individual and artist and illustrating how he paints while highlighting
his motivation.
The video will include interviews with individuals impacted by his work–other artists, professors, gallery owners and viewers alike, much like a documentary.
You can read more about the other successful applications, or apply yourself, on the pages of the Maine Arts Commission's
website, www.MaineArts.com.
 Verge, Mark Nutt, Oil, Acrylic, Cut Flooring Nails on Masonite Panel, 26"x49"x4", 2007 |
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