Arts and Culture

Maine arts and cultural organizations and their audiences spent more than $150 million in the 2015 fiscal year — and supported the equivalent of almost 4,200 jobs, according to a new study from the national group Americans for the Arts.

In Waterville, one of five Maine communities highlighted in the report, total spending by the nonprofit arts and culture industry was almost $6.3 million.

BELFAST, Maine - The University of Maine is hosting an art exhibit called "The Art of Climate Science'' featuring works by faculty, staff and students at its Climate Change Institute.
 

AUGUSTA, Maine - Art students in Maine are planning to liven up the downtown area of their capital city with a series of murals, with support from community organizations.

The Kennebec Journal reports that Augusta officials hope the diverse slate of artwork will bring vibrancy to a downtown area in order to help stimulate economic development through arts and culture.

Experts were invited to Augusta in 2013 to critique what was needed to spur economic and community development. They noted that downtown lacked public art.

PORTLAND, Maine - A Maine poet says she hasn't read much about dementia in poetry but she's changing that with a heartfelt poem dedicated to her husband.
 
Lee Sharkey's "Letter to Al,'' tells of her experience with her husband's memory loss. The Portland Press Herald reports that it's a finalist in an international poetry contest.

LEWISTON, Maine - Best-selling author Tess Gerritsen is springing onto the big screen with a low-budget horror film based on a Maine island.

"Island Zero'' will be screened Saturday at the Emerge Film Festival.

The Sun Journal reports that the movie is about what happens to residents of a Maine island when the ferry stops coming. Much of the filming took place in March 2016 in Camden, Rockport and Islesboro with a mostly Maine crew.

BRUNSWICK, Maine - A Bowdoin College professor's book about her abusive father who had sex reassignment surgery at 76 nearly won her a second Pulitzer Prize.
 
Susan Faludi's "In the Darkroom'' was one of three nominees in the autobiography category that was won by Hisham Matar, author of "The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between.'' The prize was announced Monday.
 
Faludi teaches in the Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies program at Bowdoin College.
 

After a review that included a public meeting, the Portland Water District Board of Trustees has decided that a wall near the East End Wastewater Treatment Facility will continue to be available for public art.

There were calls to end the practice in September, when a depiction of Gov. Paul LePage as a KKK grand wizard, and later with Mickey Mouse ears, appeared on the wall.

Water District spokeswoman Michelle Clements says more than 50 people attended the public meeting.