PARIS – The Western Maine Cultural Alliance is constructing a new Web site. Originally launched as part of a cultural inventory process called Discovery Research, the old Web site, www.westernfoothills.com, contains searchable databases of individuals and groups engaged in cultural activity as well as annually recurring community events and many related links.

The new Web address will be www.westernmaineculture.org. In the process are new Web pages, one of which will feature artists of all types and styles with contact information, including web links. Kurt Vail is the Web master for the site.

“We want to level the playing field for artists in western Maine by giving them inexpensive access to the Web,” said WMCA Director Toni Seger. “Because we are a certified nonprofit, we can get links with sites like Maine Tourism, which will generate a good deal of traffic for us.”

Artists have been signing up for the Web page, which is limited in the number of spots available. “We limited it because we’re concerned about download times,” said Seger. “We want it to be user friendly.”

For more information about participating, contact Pat Chandler at 743-8033 or [email protected]. Chandler is a visual artist who was the curator for the Gallery at Maine Wildlife Park during the summer of 2005.

With content provided by folklorist, Jo Radner, a former president of the American Folklore Society, the new site will have a page devoted to folklore. There will also be a page focusing on a scenic byways eligibility application for Route 113 and Route 2 that is being spearheaded by the alliance.

The alliance has been promoting western Maine as a cultural destination for many years through video, print, Web and other means. Almost 3,000 copies of a cultural directory, printed in 2003, have been distributed to schools, libraries and chambers.

More than 5,000 copies of a western Maine cultural map have been distributed through numerous outlets from chambers to performance groups. The maps were the first examples of cultural promotion to be available about western Maine in tourism offices.