Great things are happening in Lewiston-Auburn, not only to improve our economy, but also to impact our quality of life. Thanks to a lot of hard work combined with private and public investment, we are experiencing a downtown revitalization and are turning to the Androscoggin riverfront to give our cities a fresh look and a new vibrancy.

Lewiston’s Southern Gateway has been given a facelift in the past year with a new Oxford Networks office building, an Andover College campus and a VIP Auto Parts Center.

We now celebrate our riverfront with four new parks, a Riverwalk pedestrian loop and four major summer festivals. The Hilton Garden Inn in Auburn is the centerpiece of our recent waterfront investment at Great Falls, and the just-announced Island Point development in Lewiston promises to renovate our historic Cowan Mill and, potentially, the Libbey Mill.

The latest buzz these days in business circles and in our Gov. Baldacci’s office surrounds the “Creative Economy,” the realization that much of Maine’s recent economic growth can be attributed to growth in the creative sector – areas of activity that rely on the generation of new ideas and relate to our cultural, artistic and information economies.

Steps are being taken to support this newly recognized dimension of our economy, and the Maine Legislature should support these initiatives being brought forward by Gov. Baldacci.

Both the governor’s bond proposal, which contains $5 million for the creative economy, and Senate President Beth Edmond’s Creative Economy Bond stand to benefit Lewiston-Auburn.

Funds from these bonds could be used to fund downtown revitalization, support cultural tourism and expand Maine’s creative economy. At least three important local cultural institutions would be in position to take advantage of these growth opportunities that could potentially transform L-A into a prime destination point for cultural tourism in Maine. These local organizations include the Franco-American Heritage Center at St. Mary’s, Museum L-A and the Public Theatre.

The Franco-American Heritage Center is in the midst of efforts to create a first-class performance hall along with a heritage museum and learning center for the preservation of Franco-American culture in the landmark St. Mary’s Church. The Public Theatre is poised to take its already successful professional theater to a whole new level through the planned renovation of its facility. Museum LA is working on a collaborative approach to providing a multi-stop museum center in the Bates Mill. Partners in this innovative idea include the Androscoggin Historical Society, Bates College Museum of Art, the LA Sports Hall of Fame and others. All of these efforts could benefit immensely by the infusion of funds offered through a creative economy bond.

These three institutions, together with the emerging Marsden Hartley Cultural Center at the Lewiston Public Library, will make a huge difference in the revitalization of our downtown. The Hartley Center is designed to nurture the educational aspirations and achievement of both children and families, develop avenues for bridging cultural differences and enriching cultural understanding and preserve core historic records that help us tell and savor our history. The new spaces currently under construction at the library include study rooms, conference rooms, historic records archive, a computer lab and performance hall.

The extensive range of programming being planned for the Hartley Center includes participatory and interactive performing arts, inter-generational and intercultural programming and offerings specifically for teenagers. The expanded slate is expected to further develop the library’s role as a major community center and to increase the after-hours foot traffic on Lisbon Street.

An infusion of funding into Maine’s creative economy and cultural agencies will improve our quality of life, help attract innovative individuals and businesses, and help retain Maine’s best and brightest who upon graduation have been exiting our state in huge numbers. Lewiston-Auburn is poised to make excellent use of the opportunities that will be provided by Gov. Baldacci’s bond proposal and that of Sen. Edmonds.

Rick Speer is the director of the Lewiston Public Library.