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Programs for children

Starting Tuesday, Jan. 8, boys and girls in grades four and five are invited to act, sing and dance up a storm at the Maine Discovery Museum in Bangor.

“Arts ‘n’ Kids” is a free program for children interested in the performing arts who want to have fun and meet others who share their enthusiasm. The program teaches skills and techniques of professional musical theater, the importance of communicating and working collaboratively in a group. Because the class is a group endeavor, organizers ask that every effort be made to attend each class in the session.

Each session of Arts ‘n’ Kids will meet 3:30-4:45 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday for six weeks. The final class is an informal performance for parents and friends. A healthy snack is provided before each class.

Session C begins Jan. 8, and session D begins Feb. 26.

Other museum activities:

. Musical Kids starts at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan 8. The 45-minute-session, five-week program for pre-schoolers is based on the principles of Kindermusik. Children work on gross motor skills and language development using a combination of music and movement. There is space for only 15 children. The cost is $30 museum members, $35 others. Museum admission of $6.50 is not included.

. Sign & Sing, 10:30 a.m. starting Friday, Jan. 11, is a 45-minute-session, five-week program for babies and toddlers 6 months to 3 years based on the principles of Kindermusik. Through songs and play, parent and baby learn more than 50 American Sign Language signs that help speed language development. The cost is $30 museum members, $35 others. Museum admission not included.

. Sign & Sing (Advanced), starting Friday, Jan. 11, is a new program for those who participated in the October session. The cost is $30 museum members, $35 others. Museum admission not included. New participants also will accepted.

. Shark Bytes, with natural history educator Tony Sohns, is a new series of after-school classes, 4:30-6 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, Jan 8, 9 and 11, for children ages 10 to 14. Learn about lampreys, hagfish, stingrays and sharks. Make a shark tooth necklace, look at shark scales under a microscope, observe live specimens, dissect, measure and put your math skills to the test. The cost is $40 for members, $45 others.

Call the museum at 262-7200 for info or to pre-register.

Talent search

BANGOR – John Bapst Memorial High School senior Kristyn Murphy will represent east-central Maine in a talent search to find the state’s best high school solo artist. Murphy is one of 21 contestants competing for the title, and the only performer selected from this region of Maine. The competition will be held at the McAuley Performing Arts Center in Portland.

Organized by Portland-based Reindeer Records, the competition is both structured and intense. Half of the artists will compete on Jan. 6, and the balance, including Murphy, on Jan. 13. The finals will follow on Feb. 10. Several panels of judges will evaluate the contestants, including all aspects of their performances, from their promotional materials to their live shows. Executive Producer Louis Philippe explained: “It’s not just about an artist’s talent, it’s about their professional potential, aptitude, acumen, and ability to be stars.”

Murphy said, “It’s an honor to be able to represent the area and my school in this competition. I am really excited to perform and to meet the other contestants.”

Murphy, daughter of Marylee and John Murphy of Orrington, has been performing around Maine and the New England area since age 8 and recently completed a series of performances in the Bangor area.

She recorded her first CD at the age of 13 as a member of a quartet, and two years later recorded her first solo album, “To the Glory of God,” which has sold in England, Finland, Canada, Japan and the United States. At John Bapst, Murphy is a member of the chorale, concert choir and chamber ensemble. A former lead vocalist with the John Bapst Players, she will co-direct the school’s upcoming spring musical production of “The Wizard of Oz.”

Murphy encourages people who can travel to the Portland area to attend the Jan. 13 talent showcase. Individuals can view artist profile pages and listen to audio samples of the contestants by logging onto www.mainetoday.com and following the link to RO4UNO. An online poll is available for listeners to vote for their favorite singer. For more information about Murphy, visit her Web site, www.kristynmurphy.com.

Colleges

UM Women’s Center

ORONO – For more than 25 years, a myriad of organizations sprouted in Maine and the nation to encourage more girls to study science and math in school and make their careers in these traditionally male-dominated fields.

All too often, however, the groups wind up working toward the same goals independently, rarely collaborating on projects or sharing resources.

The University of Maine’s Women’s Resource Center hopes to change that by establishing a formal network of state organizations to create more opportunities for girls in science, technology, engineering and math. The new regional clearinghouse will allow groups and individuals to find one another and to tap into a national database of like-minded programs and better identify gaps in services.

“There’s a lot going on in Maine, and this will help strengthen all of the state’s girl-serving initiatives,” Sharon Barker, the Women’s Center director, said in announcing the university’s role.

The National Girls Collaborative Project, funded by the National Science Foundation, is the outgrowth of a pioneering program begun in 2002 by the Puget Sound Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology.

The successful program was copied two years later in California, Massachusetts and Wisconsin. It was offered nationwide last year with regional oversight and additional funding from the American Association of University Women.

The UM Women’s Center will receive more than $28,000 to coordinate the state inventory, establish an advisory board, set up conferences and forums and provide mini-grants to individual projects.

“We’ve had programs and conferences in the country for the last 20 or 30 years,” Barker said, “but there’s never been any formal evaluation of them so we could know if what we’re all doing is the most effective approach. This would provide the infrastructure to do that.”

In March, two leadership team members and an AAUW representative will travel to Seattle to learn how to get the program off the ground. Maine’s kick-off conference will be scheduled for next fall.