A new resident of Aroostook County has been instrumental in the founding of the Aroostook Visual Arts Coalition. And Linda Crane hopes her effort results in something that is beautiful, exciting and educational.

Moving last February to The County from Chicago, the visual arts designer and owner of Linda Crane Productions learned something about the area she and her husband, free-lance writer and business partner Norman Davis, did not know.

“One of the things I discovered, up here, is that there is really no organization around” that provides “access to anything for artists, who are working in a vacuum,” she said.

That realization prompted Crane to do something she had done before: establish an arts coalition.

“Chicago, for many years, was a second city for the arts,” she said of that city’s comparison with New York City as this country’s arts center. “I’d been involved in setting up a coalition in Chicago and the south suburbs where we lived.”

Taking a cue from her past, Crane talked with “a couple of people who were interested” in the idea of forming an arts coalition, and they held their first meeting last November.

The core group now consists of 10 or 12 people, Crane said, “and we’re still in the recruiting process. We’ve had good response so far, and we’re even getting response from people out of The County and in New Brunswick.”

Aroostook Visual Arts Coalition meets the first Monday of each month at various locations.

Its next meeting is 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 7, in the Owl’s Nest of the Student Center at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

“All visual artists in Aroostook County who are interested in building community, and want to meet with other artists, are invited to attend,” Crane said.

“We expect to do a monthly or bimonthly event for the membership. It might be a workshop, a presentation by one of the members or an excursion. We’re reaching out and it seems to be growing.”

“We’re interested in people who are committed to their art,” she said of artists who work with “photography, digital art, painting or sculpture.”

Crane also said the organization already has “a commitment to take over the Caribou Arts Fair,” for the city and, “over time, we expect to be developing open studios and gallery tracks” for displaying work of local artists. The organization’s members attended a meeting of the Maine Arts Commission in December at UMPI, and were warmly received by its representatives.

“We were told one of the problems they’ve had in delivering service and foundation grants to this area is that there were no organizations through which to reach out to people interested in the arts,” Crane said. “As [organized] visual artists, we can help.”

This is an exciting time for the arts in The County, and all visual artists are encouraged to participate in the work of this new organization.

If you cannot attend Monday’s meeting, feel free to call Crane at 496-3650 to learn how you can be part of the visual arts coalition.

Jan Cox, director of the Brewer Hometown Band, wrote me recently that the band members want to acknowledge what she describes as “wonderful gifts” received from those who attended two special concerts.

Cox wrote that during its Halloween and Christmas concerts, “we took up collections for local charities instead of for the band.”

The October audience donated $240, which was presented to the local chapter of the American Red Cross.

At the Christmas concert, “we took in $318 for The Salvation Army,” Cox wrote.

“We were very pleased, as were the two groups that received the funds.

“We were very emphatic that the money be used right in our area because of the many dollars going to the 9/11 crisis,” she added of donations made to those affected by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.

“We would like our wonderful attendees to be recognized for their good deeds.”

The Holden Fire and Rescue Department, and those it serves, recently received a grant from the Prudential Insurance Co. of America.

Prudential representative Jan Currier of Bangor presented the department $1,000 to help defray the cost of acquiring a portable cardiac defibrillator.

The money was awarded through The Prudential Helping Hearts Program, a grant-making initiative which helps speed the acquisition of these units by volunteer rescue squads and fire departments.

By administering jolts of electricity to reset a heart’s natural rhythm, the defibrillator is considered to be one of the most important lifesaving inventions of the 20th century, according to Prudential.

The American Heart Association reports that approximately 250,000 Americans suffer sudden cardiac failure and die before reaching a hospital, but studies have shown that on-site defibrillators can more than double a victim’s chance of survival.

Through a program begun in 1994, Prudential’s Helping Hearts Program has assisted nearly 2,400 squads nationwide acquire these lifesaving devices.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.