Open Book logo Notes from an Open Book
Recent Grants
Editor: Diane Magras, Director of Development Open Book, Index

$1,500 to Mountain Counties Heritage, Inc., Farmington
This project will help Maine mountain communities engage visitors in experiencing local history and cultural traditions.

$1,000 to the Classical Association of New England Summer Institute 2005, Orford, NH, for Golden Ages
This project will bring together people interested in ancient cultures with New England's most outstanding scholars, for a six-day collegial program of lectures and mini-courses on the campus of Dartmouth College. This year's program will investigate and challenge the idea of antiquity as a golden age and the uses of that image through the succeeding millennia.

$1,000 to the Freeport Historical Society, Freeport, for 30th Anniversary Celebration
Freeport Historical Society is celebrating thirty years as Stewards of Pettengill Farm. The celebration will include an exhibit, two workshops, Pettingill Farm open house, and a high quality exhibit catalog, which will include an essay written by Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr.

$500 to the Maine Acadian Heritage Council, Madawaska, for Cultural Stewardship Workshop for Museums and Cultural Groups
This project consists of cultural stewardship workshop on museum interpretation, cultural tourism, docent training, and communications for museums and cultural groups on the St. John Valley International Cultural Route.

$500 to Maine Folklife Center, Orono, for The Writing on the Wall: Twentieth century Culture in a Maine Paper Mill
Funds will support planning for a public programming project based on photographs of the Eastern Fine Paper Company in Brewer, Maine, and oral histories with the mill's former workers.

$500 to Maine Preservation, Portland, Educational and Organizational Planning Process
Funds will support a planning retreat to focus on Maine Preservations goals over the next five years.

$500 to Maritime Maine, Gorham, for Primary and Secondary School Teacher Continuing Education Project Planning Grant
This project creates an accredited continuing education program on Maine's maritime history for Maine primary and secondary school educators. There will be two venues: the first will feature a landside lecture and the second, an on-the-water component aboard the Bowdoin or another traditional, large sailing vessel.

$500 to the Northern Maine Fair Association, Presque Isle, for Historical Pavilion, Northern Maine Fair
This grant supports s multi-day exhibit in the large Forum Building at the Northern Maine Fair, in which many historical societies and family collections from Northern Maine are combined into a great exhibition of regional history.

$1,000 to the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council, Dover-Foxcroft, for Bert Call Traveling Photography Exhibit
A project to develop a traveling exhibit showcasing the Northwoods photography of Albert Call (1866-1965).

$1,000 to the Portland Harbor Museum, South Portland, for 2005 Summer Lecture Series
Features speakers addressing the subject matter of its 2005 exhibit, Old Salts and New Directions: Portland Harbor and the People who Make it Work.

$1,000 to the Round Top Center for the Arts, Damariscotta, for 2005 Lecture Series
An annual eventf devoted to Humanities topics that is a four-week series with various topics and speakers.

$500 to the Center for African Heritage, Portland, for Celebrating the Life of Malcolm X
This grant supported a film, a reception, a performance by Michael Keck and students, and a roundtable discussion on the film, the performance, and the influence of Malcolm X on our culture and understanding of racial issues today.

$500 to The Intensive English Institute, Orono, for The Sciacca Project
This project will place UMO trained teachers of English-as-a-second-language in the classrooms of two high schools in Sciacca, Sicily, on an on-going basis.

$500 to Woolwich Historical Society, Woolwich, for Civil War Letter Preservation
The Woolwich Historical Society, working with the Maine Memory Network, is preserving and presenting the civil war letters of the Bailey brothers of Woolwich.

$465 to Architalx, Portland, for Architalx Community Discussion 2005
This grant supports a secondary annual discussion bringing the design, building, education, development, and public policy communities together to consider how issues of sustainable design affect Maine.

$300 to Loving Learning, Madison, for the Nutrition Kid Pack Program.
This program will distribute one free children's book per month to 1st graders in a package including two healthy meals and a snack. Parents are encouraged to read the books to their children.


These grants were provided this year through a partnership between the Maine Humanities Council and the Maine Arts Commission to support projects that branch between the arts and humanities.

Arts & Humanities Grants

$1,500 to the Fiddlehead Center for the Arts, New Gloucester, for Second Annual Arts and Cultural Festival
Funds will bring mime artists Karen Montanaro and the Odd Company to the Fiddlehead Center's Second Annual International Art & Cultural Festival.

$1,500 to the Franco-American Heritage Center, Lewiston, for Heritage Mural Project
Funds will be used in the planning stages of a project whose goal is to create a heritage mural for the FAHC Performance Hall.

$1,500 to History Dome and Art Park, Inc., Alexander, for Pictorial and Oral Histories from the Town of Alexander
This project aims to develop a friendlier community by bringing together "people from far away" and the locals with the display of photos and the interview histories and photos will be compiled into a report.

$1,500 to Kennebec Land Trust, Winthrop, for Landscape Painting and Conservation
This grant supports a community lecture series entitled "The Kennebec Land Trust Lyceum," modeled after the New England lyceum movement. Projects include a lecture series, art instruction or "plein-air painting," field trips with area artists and an art show.

$1,500 to Museum of African Tribal Art, Portland, for Diversity is Strength Masquerade
This grant supported a large-scale, citywide parade and pageant involving masks and large puppets created collaboratively by local artists, members of community groups and the Museum of African culture. A major focus was on ways in which the coming together of diverse groups and traditions strengthens communities.

$1,500 to North Haven Arts and Enrichment, North Haven, for From Shakespeare to Our Original Musical, Islands: 11 years of Drama on North Haven
This grant will support the creation of an exhibit within Waterman's Community Center featuring photographs, posters, video and audio recordings, and narratives that celebrate the performing arts.

$1,500 to St. Croix Economic Alliance DBA Downeast Heritage Center, Calais, for Downeast Hidden Arts
This grant supports workshops/ demonstrations that include paddle making, basket weaving, historic papermaking, herbal remedies, bird carving, and a Passamaquoddy theater presentation to focus on different cultural features.

$1,500 to South Portland School District, South Portland, for The Concept of Liberty in American Life
This project will analyze the meaning of liberty for new immigrants to this country as well as for long-term residents. Middle school students who are academically at-risk will create a webpage that describes the meaning of liberty and lead a public forum at the South Portland Public Library.

$1,500 to Waterville Main Street, Waterville, for Community Arts Initiative
This project will conduct a weeklong community-based arts education pilot program inspired by Maine artists and conducted in cooperation with Colby College Museum of Art.

$1,500 to York School Department, York, for A Performance by Mona Golabek
A performance by Mona Golabek incorporating piano and narrative to relate her mother's life as a Jewish child transported to England during WWII on the Kinder-transport.

$1,495 to Portland Public Library/ Reiche Branch, Portland, for Instituting Art
Instituting Art will be a joint venture between the Portland Public Library and the Maine College of Art that will explore the nature of modern society's relationship to both books and art. Artists, librarians, and critics from around the world will take part in lectures, exhibits, panel discussions and the creation of new works.

$1,300 to Nathan Clifford School, Portland, for Nathan Clifford School's 3rd Grade Portland Project
The 3rd graders will study Portland's landmarks and history; students and teachers will create and perform theater pieces in a culminating community sharing of their year long study. They will perform the students' true stories of coming to Portland and exploring Portland's unique story.

$1,290 to Milbridge Public Library, Beloit, for We'll Bridge Milbridge: Connecting Through Creative Expression and Cross-Cultural Celebration
This project will lead a bilingual bookmaking workshop with Hispanic children involved with Mano en Mano Hispanic Resource Center in Milbridge. The books will be based on children's family stories and then compiled into a Reader's Theater performance.

$500 to Hermon High School, Hermon, for Building Community Through the Arts
Kelly Noble's English class will culminate its study of George Orwell's 1984 in a two-week residency with visiting dance educator Louis Gervais. Themes and key moments in the Orwell work will be related to the student's own experiences and then incorporated into dance.

$500 to Independent Transportation Network™, Westbrook, for I Remember Portland
I Remember Portland will celebrate community history and the transference of memory from one generation to another and emphasize the value of service.

$500 to Nokomis Regional High School, Newport, for Building Community Through the Arts
Jason O'Reilly's World Cultures class will explore the attitudes of 19th century Romanticism toward the Scientific Revolution through a reading of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and then create an original theater piece.

$500 to Penobscot Valley High School, Howland, for Building Community Through the Arts
Erick Kelley's Art History class will explore the periods of impressionism and post-impressionism through a two-week drama residency with visiting drama educator, Amanda Huotari. Huotari will help the class create an original theater piece that draws on the students' understanding of the relationship between art and cultural issues in Munch's "The Scream."

$500 to Piscataquis Community High School, Guilford, for Building Community Through the Arts
Jeanne Griffin's freshman World Cultures class will study the rise of the Roman Empire through a two-week drama residency. Visiting drama educator Cathy Plourde with work with students to create an original theater piece exploring themes such as leadership, domination, conflict, and class structure.

$500 to Stearns High School, Millinocket, for Building Community Through the Arts
A freshman class will be conducting this project in conjunction with J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. The class will explore the novel's themes in light of their own experiences.

$500 to Schenck High School, East Millinocket, for Building Community Through the Arts
Cathy Dickey's sophomore English class will explore the themes of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird through a two-week drama residency with visiting drama educator, Amanda Huotari by creating an original theater piece.

$300 to Whitneyville Library, Machias, for Whitneyville Library Artist and Musician Workshop for Children
This project involves an artist and a musician in hands-on projects for children based at the Whitneyville Library.

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