Open house

AUGUSTA – Old Fort Western, the National Historic Landmark fort, store and house museum on the Kennebec River, will host a New Year’s open house from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 7.

Visitors will have an opportunity to mark the arrival of the new year with Thomas and Sarah Bowman, the couple then living in the south half of the main house; their housekeeper (name unknown); and several of their neighbors and business acquaintances, who will stop in during the afternoon to visit or conduct business.

Fort staff will play the parts of the people. Their conversations with each other and with visitors will shed light on the nature of life, public and private, along the Kennebec some 200 years ago. A $5 a person donation (children under 6 free) will be requested.

First Sunday programs are sometimes canceled due to poor weather or road conditions. Call 626-2385 or go to www.oldfortwestern.org on the day of the program to confirm program status.

Poultry training

AUGUSTA – University of Maine Cooperative Extension and the Maine Alternative Poultry Association will sponsor an afternoon of practical training for poultry producers from 12:30 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 10, at the Augusta Civic Center.

The training is part of the 2007 Maine Agricultural Trades Show (www.getrealmaine.com), scheduled for Jan. 9 to 11. The annual show will feature more than 100 exhibit booths as well as workshops and meetings.

Poultry specialist Jacqueline Jacob from the University of Minnesota Extension Service will lead the poultry workshop, which will begin with a half-hour business meeting led by association President Gary Balducci. Jacob will then present several sessions. UMaine Extension Educator Richard Brzozowski will present “Poultry Programming Plans for 2007.”

To join MAPA, contact Balducci at 882-5407.

French films

FORT KENT – The Fort Kent French Film Festival has been awarded a $1,800 Tournées Festival grant from the French American Cultural Exchange to support the 2007 film festival, according to Katharine Harrington, event director and University of Maine at Fort Kent assistant professor of French.

The 2007 French Film Festival is scheduled for Friday, April 27, through Tuesday, May 1 at the Century Theater. All films are shown with English subtitles.

The exchange is a nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing French-American relations through innovative international projects in the arts, education and cultural exchange.

Harrington’s dream of having a French film festival became a reality in 2006, in part through another $1,800 FACE grant and a supplementary grant from the University of Maine at Fort Kent Strategic Planning Special Initiatives Fund.

Grant meeting

PORTLAND – The LEF Foundation and the Maine Film Office will host an information session on Tuesday, Jan. 9, to explain how to apply for grants from the Moving Image Fund, dedicated to supporting New England independent video and filmmakers. The session will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Space Gallery, 538 Congress St.

Grants are offered in two categories: Preproduction, with a maximum $5,000 grant, and production, with a maximum $25,000 grant.

The program is targeted toward the production of work, with the larger goal of strengthening the voices of media artists and improving the overall environment for the production of new work. For more information, visit http://www.lef-foundation.org.

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