RUMFORD – Becky Welsh believes she is a Mainer who was accidentally born in the Midwest.
She has a passion for the arts and an excitement that permeates everything she does. She attributes much of her passion to the state and to the River Valley area.
“I came to Maine in 1981 on a whim, and I fell in love with it. The landscape really speaks to me,” she said last week as she sat in her slightly disorganized writing room with two of her pets, Petey the Maine coon cat and Tracker the beagle. “I can breathe here.”
Welsh was born in Cleveland.
Since arriving in Maine, and particularly since she moved to Rumford from Portland in 1998, her love of the fine and performing arts as it relates to the River Valley area has continued to blossom.
In January, she achieved a goal she had had for many years. She received a master’s in fine arts degree in creative writing from the University of Southern Maine, somewhat of a switch from her previous college education in political science, but something that fits perfectly.
In Rumford, she spearheaded a survey of as many artists in the area as she could find under a state grant program known as Discovery Research. From that, she has put together a booklet listing the people and talents of nearly 200 artists and artisans. Soon, that listing will be on a Web site that can be updated as necessary.
She is an active member of the fledgling River Valley Arts Council that aims to bring all arts-related groups under one organizational umbrella.
“Rumford can become an arts center. There’s lots of creativity here and the arts community is finding its own shape,” she said.
Welsh now leads writing groups and assists writers in keeping on task with their writing goals. She oftentimes takes part in readings in bookstores and cafes around the state and out of state.
Her next big gig is at the Cornelias Street Caf in Greenwich Village, New York City, with a group of “rock stars of the writing world,” as she called it, on May 18.
Welsh came to Rumford after she married Rumford Hospital Chief Executive Officer John Welsh.
“It wasn’t too hard to get me out of Portland, but he’ll never get me out of Rumford,” she said.
“Rumford is so special, a very special community. They are wonderful people, and the area is small enough to get to know people. I love the natural setting and I’ve been able to do something here that has made a difference.”
In addition to being a steering committee member of the River Valley Arts Council, she also heads up the Rumford Community Concert Association and is working to transform the Pennacook Art Center into an artists co-op. She is also involved with the Maine Arts Commission and is a director of the Maine Arts Sponsors Association, among other organizations.
Prior to moving to Rumford, she worked for the Portland Concert Association, the Maine Festival and New Year’s Portland.
When she’s not writing literary and personal essays, memoirs and other nonfiction, she uses her camera to capture color, perspective and geometric shapes, something she defined as a metaphor for her own journey in life.
The arts, she believes, can be a transforming experience for everyone.
“After a performance, you know you have changed people. It’s an amazing kick,” she said.
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