FARMINGTON — The Emery Community Arts Center on the campus of the University of Maine at Farmington was officially opened Wednesday, the result of 10 years of planning and an anonymous donor.

Named for Ted and Marquerite Emery, the donors intended for his $5 million gift to provide an art center for the community and college to come together in a space for performance and celebration of the arts, UMF President Theodora Kalikow told community members, students and faculty.

Ted Emery is a former math teacher in public schools and professor emeritus at UMF and his late wife was a music director in public schools and later a teacher at UMF. They were active in local arts, mainly music and singing, Emery said while greeting friends visiting the new center.

“This is fantastic,” he said. “It’s so much more than I thought it would be. Having an art center named after you is a big burden but it’s a good burden.”

His wife, who died in 1995, “would be as honored as I am,” he later told the audience gathered for the ribbon cutting.

A former student, Alan Etzel, who grew up in Farmington and lives in Finland, said Emery set the standard very high but made quite a difference in his students’ lives.

“This is a great tribute to him,” Etzel said.

For Jayne Decker, artistic director of the center, Wednesday’s rain may have sent the opening filled with art, music and performance inside but it didn’t dampen the spirit of celebration.

“When I first looked up inside the large performance area, I thought of ‘The Tempest,’ maybe this is where we’re suppose to be — inside,” she said. “Today we celebrate.”

As part of a community advisory group that helped develop the center, Art Perry views the results as a strong mixture of community and campus.

“Emery is bold and gutsy and challenging,” he said of the arts mingled together in this one event just as the community and campus have.

Featured speaker Glen Cummings, president and executive director of Good Will-Hinckley, remembered his days as a student at UMF and a theater participant, and how arts can make a difference for students as they define life and express what can’t be voiced scientifically.

While art donned the walls, performers from the college, high school and community graced the celebration with their music, poetry and theater performances.

A UMF student a cappella group, the Clefnotes, and a Mt. Blue High School group named Don’t Panic performed throughout the halls, as did Henry Braun and some Shakespeare characters.

Inner Rhythm, a community drumming group, started by Karyl Condit and Mardi Bogar in 2005, also performed. Others included Steve Pane on Emery’s new Yamaha piano, Gustavo Aguilar, Mike Allen and Laura Cowie, Beloit Poetry Readers and Harmony Grits. 

A community reception was held at the Homestead Bakery to close out the celebration.

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