Maine Arts Commission

Latest Articles

Topping the charts

Sibilance
The metalsmiths in DEAD SEASON have hit the HEATSEEKERS (NORTHEAST) BILLBOARD chart with their latest album, The Negative NUMBers . It's debuting this week at positive number 2.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | June 15, 2011

We heart these people

Meet Portland's most influential
We all know Portland is a busy, exciting place to live. It takes a lot of people's amazing energy to keep it going, though. Who's doing the moving and the shaking?
By JEFF INGLIS | February 10, 2010

Hope and energy

Looking ahead to Maine's art scene in 2010
As we launch into the next decade with a collapsing economy and apocalyptic themes bleeding into every facet of culture, it's particularly hard to be optimistic about the arts, as yes, they are often the first to go.
By ANNIE LARMON | December 30, 2009

It takes a village

... and a compilation album/photobook to raise a self-sustaining indie scene
Treble Treble , a new 15-page photobook and 10-artist compilation album curated by local musician and budding photographer Joshua Loring, is the first concerted effort to market Portland's indie music scene.
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | November 24, 2009

The death of 'Do This,' and more

Sibilance
Photographer/songwriter/BOXY member JOSHUA LORING and SPACE GALLERY were awarded a grant by the MAINE ARTS COMMISSION to document the underground rock scene.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | November 18, 2009

A mill grows in Biddeford

Six artists wax hyper-real at the North Dam Mill
'We're responding every step of the way to our environment. And to each other.'
By ANNIE LARMON | September 30, 2009

Everybody poops

Greta Bank talks priorities and realities
Recently selected as one of 17 regional artists to exhibit at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park's Biennial in January 2010 (alongside fellow Mainer Randy Regier), and awarded a grant from the Maine Arts Commission in support of her interactive sculpture "The Cashmere Iron Maiden," Greta Bank is struggling to find studio time on top of being a mother of two.
By ANNIE LARMON | July 29, 2009

State of the arts

Emerging trends and promising futures for Portland artists
In Portland, and around Southern Maine, developing trends hold promise for our changing, but still cantankerously distinct, artistic character to act as a new kind of cultural reflection.
By IAN PAIGE | April 01, 2009

All in the timing

Acorn's Maine Playwrights Festival springs eternal
Acorn's Maine Playwrights Festival springs eternal
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | April 01, 2009

Like Christmas in the spring

Economic stimulus
State officials say that Maine stands to receive approximately $900 million via that American Recovery and Reinvestment Act we've heard so much about.
By DEIRDRE FULTON AND KATRINA BOTELHO | March 18, 2009

Interview: Randy Regier

Living the dream
Randy Regier, 44, received his MFA from the Maine College of Art and is now an instructor there and at Bowdoin College. He is the recipient of a Maine Arts Commission 2009 Fellowship and is currently exhibiting two installations.
By IAN PAIGE | February 11, 2009

Musicians: What you need to know

Portland Music Foundation
It's true that we don't live in a city where there are tons of big labels looking to give local musicians their shot at the big time.
By DEIRDRE FULTON + KATRINA BOTELHO | January 14, 2009

Sony’s loss is Portland’s gain

Music money
Three local music entities are reaping the benefits of a major national lawsuit against big-name music institutions.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | October 02, 2008

Committee of onions and failure

Politics and other mistakes
To help me decide on a topic for this week’s column, I assembled a blue-ribbon commission.
By AL DIAMON | January 02, 2008

Hey, where’s our office?

A proposal for the state to make a commitment to Maine music
Everyone knows that it’s the innovators who survive.
By SAM PFEIFLE | January 02, 2008

Cultural corridors

A talk with Nat May + Jessica Tomlinson
Last week, SPACE Gallery hosted a forum as part of an ongoing series called “Creative Conversations.”
By IAN PAIGE | October 25, 2006

Where have all the artists gone?

Portland’s creative exodus gives Southern Maine’s mill towns a new lease on life
Nancy Kureth is lost in the Biddeford mills again.
By SARA DONNELLY | August 09, 2006

Painting the walls

Graffiti activist speaks on youth + art + community
A Phoenix interview with artist and S.U.B.O.N.E. alter ego Tim Clorius
By IAN PAIGE | July 06, 2006

Armory arts center

South Portland's vacant landmark could be reborn as a cultural icon
A 25,000-square-foot building sits on just shy of three acres at the foot of the south end of the Casco Bay Bridge. Vacant since 1996, the former South Portland armory remains in limbo. Its owner, the moribund Museum of Glass and Ceramics, declared bankruptcy last year, before ever moving in.
By JEFF INGLIS | January 17, 2006