RUMFORD – A five-member team from the Maine College of Art is looking to form a creative partnership and outreach program. Rumford officials and the River Valley Arts Initiative hope the Portland college will pick them.
Town officials and initiative committee members Monday morning took the group on a tour of historic architecture, a popular art gallery, enthusiastic people and lots of space that could be used for visiting artists and students.
Elizabeth Jabar, a professor of printmaking, said she tries to get her students to work outside of the school, to go into other areas.
“We want to get students out there in the real world, and we want to expand our educational opportunities,” she said.
Town Manager Steve Eldridge ushered them through the recently redone Municipal Auditorium and spoke about the plans for a photography exhibit and performing arts space in the hall, and the courtroom’s massive painting of Moses and the Ten Commandments created by Harry Cochran. He walked them down the main street, pointing out the beaux-arts circa 1906 Hotel Harris and the 1890s Odd Fellows Block and Cates Block. He led them into the town’s art gallery, where poetry readings, book signings and more than 80 artists have put their works on display, then onto the River Valley Technology Center.
It was here that technology center director Rosie Bradley showed them the space available on the fourth floor for potential artists’ studios and display space.
She and Eldridge said many grant opportunities are available to renovate the wide open space, an arrangement many artists prefer to work.
“There’s a lot to draw from,” she said. “This is a historic building, and there are historic preservation grants, the creative economy grants and Community Development Block Grants.”
Lindsay Hancock, Maine College of Art’s public relations and special events coordinator, and grant writer, said the space and the town’s enthusiasm encouraged great potential.
“There are incredible promises and energy,” she said.
Eldridge said the college’s visit was the first step toward establishing a partnership that could eventually include art offerings for River Valley people.
In the short run, he expects some kind of workshop offering or short-term project to be led by the college in the spring.
Jennifer Christiansen, community outreach coordinator, said the college would continue its discussions with the town.
“It’s a wonderful space. It’s a matter of the matches that can be made,” she said.
Trying to bring Maine College of Art to the River Valley is one component of plans to provide a broad range of educational opportunities to area people, Eldridge said.
Also in the offing are tentative plans by Central Maine Community College to offer several courses in the area next fall, and a move by the University of Maine System, Rumford/Mexico Center in Mexico, to expand and move into about 10,000 square feet of NewPage’s former administrative building.
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