March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Grant to help identify artists> $10,000 earmarked for County project

HOULTON — A $10,000 grant from the Maine Arts Commission will allow a local group to identify and catalog artists and cultural offerings in the southern Aroostook County region.

The grant money will be used by the Southern Aroostook Arts Council to compile and print a listing of crafters, musicians, artists and museums which then will serve as a resource for schools and others who want to know more about the area’s artistic heritage.

“We know there’s a lot out there, but we don’t know what it is,” Audrey Zimmerman, one of the project coordinators, told about a dozen people who met last week to begin the inventory process.

Kathleen Mundell of the Maine Arts Commission, told the group that the search process achieves two goals: It not only helps people identify artists and resources in the region, it encourages people to look carefully at local traditions and talk with people who otherwise might not see themselves as artists.

She said those people could include guides, wood carvers, quilters, storytellers, local historians, even people who make specialty food items — “people who are really knowledgeable about the local culture,” she said.

The Central Aroostook County Cultural Directory, which was published in 1995, includes an introduction by a local historian, followed by different sections that identify individual artists and groups, agricultural and community organizations, and cultural resources.

The publication includes more than 200 listings, along with brief descriptions, addresses, telephone numbers and Web sites.

Last week’s meeting in Houlton provided the opportunity for people to list some of their own talents, as well as provide the names of other people who should be contacted for possible inclusion in the southern Aroostook publication.

Other meetings have been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27, at Union Hall in Danforth, and 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 4, at Katahdin High School in Sherman Station. A meeting also will be held in Island Falls, but a time and date have not been set.

Cultural arts inventory surveys also will be mailed out to the community in conjunction with Houlton Regional Hospital’s quarterly newsletter.

Mundell said the end result of the effort — which will take 12 to 18 months — will be a tool that is useful not only to the local communities, but also as a tourism tool.

A similar effort in Hancock County led to the development of a project called “What’s Cooking in Downeast Maine,” a tour package that includes cultural sites, artists’ studios and restaurants serving local foods and products.

“Culture is a growing interest among tourists,” said Mundell. “They’re looking for a cultural destination and this kind of work will really cultivate that.”


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