If you have ideas for a Creative Conversation, or would like to get involved, we’d love to hear from you! Email jhutchins@portlandarts.org.

Portland, Maine—The Creative Portland Corporation and the Portland Arts and Cultural Alliance (PACA) announce the appointment of Jennifer Hutchins as full-time executive director, serving both organizations as of December 1, 2010. The hire follows several years of planning by Portland businesses, cultural institutions, artists and city officials to invest in the development and promotion of the city’s creative economy.

“This announcement caps a very successful year for both organizations,” said Andy Graham, Creative Portland board president and owner of Portland Color. “By combining our resources, we want to promote and expand Portland’s creative community and attract talented, motivated people who want to live, work, and set up shop in this exciting, beautiful coastal city.”

Hutchins is currently the director of communications and external affairs for the USM Muskie School and is a co-author of the seminal study, “Maine’s Creative Economy: Measurement and Analysis,” conducted by the Muskie School for Governor John Baldacci’s inaugural Blaine House Summit on the Creative Economy in 2004. Previously, she has been marketing director of Portland Stage Company and an Artsave representative for People For the American Way in Washington D.C.

Since its start in 2008, Creative Portland—made up of representatives of Portland businesses, arts organizations, and independent artists—has raised private financial support from over 20 individuals, corporations, and foundations, won a “Bright Idea” award from Harvard’s Kennedy School for its Creative Economy Tax Increment Financing, and launched two websites — LiveWorkPortland.org and CreativePortland.me — designed to lure highly-skilled people and creative businesses to the city.

Now a subsidiary of Creative Portland, PACA organizes Portland’s nationally-recognized First Friday Art Walk and this year inaugurated summertime trolleys shuttling attendees to art spaces throughout the city. PACA has organized and supported many programs during its 25-year history, including Creative Conversations in collaboration with SPACE Gallery, and research initiatives with the Maine Arts Commission and Americans for the Arts.

“Hiring Jennifer really takes us to the next level,” said Alice Kornhauser, PACA board president and director of marketing and communications at the Portland Symphony Orchestra. “Volunteer support from artists, businesses, community members and organizations continues to be critically important, but a full-time executive director will allow us to focus our combined efforts in a whole new way.”

Creative Portland is a non-profit established by the City of Portland in 2008 to capitalize upon and grow Portland’s creative economy. More information is available at www.liveworkportland.com. In 1997, PACA was designated Portland’s local arts agency by City Council resolution. Its mission is to strengthen Portland by strengthening the arts. More information is available at www.portlandarts.org.

Questions about listings or advertising in the guide?

Contact | Tom Urban, Advertising Account Manager

207.772.3373 ext. 112 |turban@themainemag.com

The Business of Fashion:
What Every Designer and Practitioner Needs to Know

The Intellectual Property Section of the Maine State Bar Association & The Maine Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
Presents:
 
The Business of Fashion:
What Every Designer and Practitioner Needs to Know
Wednesday, September 8, 1:30 – 3:00 pm
Location: Wischamper Center, University of Southern Maine (Portland Campus)

Speaker:  Barbara Kolsun

Ms. Kolsun is a prominent Fashion Lawyer, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Stuart Weitzman, LLC, and Author of Fashion Law. Mrs. Kolsun will speak to the day-to-day concerns and needs of small and growing fashion labels and companies, what fashion law includes (protection strategies, counterfeiting, import/export and distribution, licensing, employment issues, and more) CA’s Proposition 65, the current status of design piracy protection in the United States and abroad, and other issues relating to the legal aspects of the design, manufacturing, and retail of getting products to consumers.
 
This event is free of charge – but due to the limited seating, please contact Chelsea Fournier at chelsea@fgd-law.com to reserve your seat.

Maine Arts Commission Survey-Help us to Help You

In an effort to evaluate our programs and services, and to gather critical information about the cultural sector in Maine, the Maine Arts Commission is administering a short survey to our constituents. Your input will allow the agency to provide services and programs that best suit your needs. You need not be intimately familiar with the Maine Arts Commission to provide helpful information.
 
We estimate that it will take you no more than 15 minutes to complete the survey. Simply click on the link to begin. Take this survey:  http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2yxtie6gbmesxpn/a01qmgdtfyt91/greeting

Film: Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child 

Thursday, September 9, Doors at 7:00 PM, Starts at 7:30 PM, Ends at 9:30 PM, $7 / $5 for SPACE Members, All Ages
 
Location: Space Gallery, 538 Congress Street
 
Centered on a rare interview that director and friend Tamra Davis shot with Basquiat over twenty years ago, this definitive documentary chronicles the meteoric rise and fall of the young artist. In the crime-ridden NYC of the 1970s, he covers the city with the graffiti tag SAMO. In 1981 he puts paint on canvas for the first time, and by 1983 he is an artist with “rock star status.” He achieves critical and commercial success, though he is constantly confronted by racism from his peers. In 1985 he and Andy Warhol become close friends and painting collaborators, but they part ways and Warhol dies suddenly in 1987. Basquiat’s heroin addiction worsens, and he dies of an overdose in 1988 at the age of 27. The artist was 25 years old at the height of his career, and today his canvases sell for more than a million dollars. With compassion and psychological insight, Tamra Davis details the mysteries that surround this charismatic young man, an artist of enormous talent whose fortunes mirrored the rollercoaster quality of the downtown scene he seemed to embody.

Featuring interviews with Julian Schnabel, Larry Gagosian, Bruno Bischofberger, Tony Shafrazi, Fab 5 Freddy, Jeffrey Deitch, Glenn O’Brien, Maripol, Kai Eric, Nicholas Taylor, Fred Hoffmann, Michael Holman, Diego Cortez, Annina Nosei, Suzanne Mallouk, Rene Ricard, Kenny Scharf, among many others.

FMI:  www.space538.org

SPACE Gallery BLOCK PARTY!

a community event involving blocks, breaking barriers, and a Brazilian band
Saturday, September 11, Starts at 6:00 PM, Ends at 9:00 PM, Free, All Ages
BLOCK PARTY! is an unprecedented event for SPACE Gallery, in collaboration with Portland Ovations, The Portland Museum of Art, Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine,Pickwick Independent Press, Portland Symphony Orchestra, and numerous neighbors on Congress Street. The shops, galleries and venues from One Longfellow Square down to Port City Music Hall will transform their “front yards” with the help of local artists. Stop by in front of the PMA to check out Andrea Zittel’sGroup Formerly Known as Smockshop installation and launch event. Make way for the steamroller making giant woodblock prints by some of your favorite Portland artists with Pickwick Press at the controls! Take the kids down the street for hands-on activities and performances provided by the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine, plus giant grid games and a host of surprises as we once again close off a portion of Congress Street to celebrate the vitality of Portland’s Arts District. And what block party is complete without dancing? At 7pm we’ll be treated to a special outdoor performance by Sao Paulo, Brazil’s Garotas Suecas who are making waves bringing the best tropicalia and soul to the northern hemisphere.
For detailed event info check out the SPACE website:  www.space538.org.

Mighty Big Yard Sale for Artists

Art supplies, art equipment, studio furnishings, etc. . .
MIGHTY CHEAP

When and Where: 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18th from 10 – 2pm
54 COVE STREET, PORTLAND

TO SHOP:
Come visit us at The Cove Street Art Center at 54 Cove Street, home of running with scissors studios & find amazing bargains!

TO SELL YOUR STUFF:
Bring your “no longer needed” art supply & studio related stuff & a table and set up at 8:00 am on 9/18 in our parking lot & make some money! No vendor charge!

RSVP to scissorsart@gwi.net

RAIN DATE SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19

During August 6th’s First Friday Art Walk, we will be hosting a drop-in clinic at our office in the Constellation Gallery at 511 Congress Street from 5:30-7 PM.

Interested artists and arts organizations will be able to spend 15 minutes speaking with a Maine VLA volunteer about a law-related issue of concern to them. Depending on the issue, the Maine VLA volunteer may point the artist or arts organization in the right direction to find an answer on their own, or assist in arranging for a volunteer lawyer to get involved. Appointments will be made on a first come, first serve basis, starting at 5 PM.

Maine VLA does not provide legal advice, and is not a law firm. We help connect artists and arts organizations with information and resources, which in some cases includes assisting in arranging for the artists or arts organizations to obtain legal advice, at a later date, from a volunteer lawyer.

The Lightbulb Sessions is about inspiring and being inspired by “those flashes of light when you get a really cool idea” and the hard work it takes to see those ideas come to fruition. For this event, PACA welcomes several arts community “movers and shakers” to discuss recently developed projects that have made Portland a more exciting, interesting, and creative place to be. A series of short presentations will be followed by an informal workshop to ask questions, help develop ideas, learn how to get involved… and hopefully leave participants with a light bulb of their own. Presenters for this inaugural program include Annie Larmon and Petra Simmons (Crit Club), Spencer Albee and Mark Curdo (Clash of the Titans), Lisa Pixley (Pickwick Independent Press), Michelle Souliere (The Green Hand Bookstore), Ahna Galatea (Dirty Dishes Burlesque) and others.

All PACA’s Creative Conversations take place at SPACE Gallery, 538 Congress Street in Portland, Maine www.space538.org. Doors open at 6:30 PM, and programs run from 7 to 9 PM. The events are free and open to the public. Visit www.portlandarts.org or call Cathy Valenza at (207) 772.6828 for more information.

1. Longfellow Square (start)
2. Congress Square
3. Monument Square Washington Avenue @ Congress St.
4. India Street @ Middle Street
5. Exchange Street @ Middle Street
6. Longfellow Square (return)

The free trolley service is financed by the Portland Arts & Cultural Alliance, with generous donor support. If you or
your organization would like to sponsor the trolley please contact PACA at info@portlandarts.org or at 772-6828.
Special thanks to Portland Discovery Land & Sea Tours, owners and operators of the Portland trolleys.

The Arts in our Communities program will highlight several arts projects currently engaging diverse communities in Portland. Panelists will discuss programs in Public Art, individual initiatives, and Art At Work, a national venture to improve municipal government through strategic art-making projects with city employees and elected politicians. The program will be moderated by Marty Pottenger, PACA board member and Director of Art At Work with the City of Portland, www.artatworkproject.us. The public is invited to join program participants Elizabeth Jabar (Associate Professor and Chair of the Printmaking Department, Maine College of Art), Daniel Minter (Portland-based visual artist), Donna Gaspar Jarvis (Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs & Diversity Programs, University of New England), Tessy Seward (Co-founder, ROiL theatre group; Maine Inside Out) and Jennie Hahn (Artistic Director, Open Waters Theatre Arts) for an informal Conversation about The Arts in our Communities.

Creative Conversati is hosted by SPACE Gallery, 538 Congress Street; doors open at 6:30 and the program starts at 7 pm.

PACA kicks off an all new series of Creative Conversations on March 17 with “YOUR TURN!”.

All Creative Conversations take place at SPACE Gallery, 538 Congress Street, Portland, www.space538.org.
Doors open at 6:30, program from 7 to 9 pm.

YOUR TURN! is a Creative Conversations comment box, moderated by Jessica Tomlinson.  This an open-forum discussion with members of PACA, the newly minted Creative Portland Corporation, City of Portland representatives, local press and the music and gallery communities. Come to this informal roundtable for answers to your questions or to voice your concerns about the future of the Arts in Portland. There are a few different avenues you can take to contribute to the conversation: during the discussion; submit an email anytime up until the day of the event with your question or comment to info@portlandarts.org, include the subject line “Your Turn”; or fill out a comment card anonymously and drop it in the comment box provided at the beginning of the night. Come be a part of setting the Arts agenda for years to come.

Future Creative Conversations:

April 13 – The Arts in our Communities.  This program will highlight several projects that are currently engaging diverse communities in Portland through the arts.  Panelists will discuss programs in Public Art, individual initiatives, and Art at Work, a national venture to improve municipal government through strategic art-making projects with city employees and elected politicians.  This program will be moderated by Marty Pottenger, PACA board member and Arts & Equity Director for the city of Portland, www.artatworkproject.us.

May 19 – Cool Ideas!  This evening, PACA invites several arts leaders in the community to discuss recently developed projects that have made Portland a more exciting, interesting, and creative place to be.