LEWISTON – For the arts, money is always scarce. The work often goes unnoticed. And groups that promote theater, painting, dance and music too often fold.

“There are some answers,” insists Andrew Harris, executive director of L/A Arts. They ought to be shared.

On Thursday, about 140 delegates from arts groups across Maine plan to gather at the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston to explore those solutions.

The conference, which is scheduled to continue Friday, is slated to feature officials from the National Endowment of the Arts, the Maine Arts Commission and Arts Wisconsin.

It is titled the “Crossroads for Community Arts Conference.”

In part, the conference will be a plea to art groups to stop competing and work together, Harris said. “I don’t think there’s any place for competition.”

The summit concept came from a collaboration between the Maine Arts Commission and the Brunswick-based Five Rivers Arts Alliance.

The groups were looking at the current climate – with shrinking grants and donations to artistic causes – and figured they might find some answers together.

“Funding is tight,” said Harriet Mosher, executive director of the Five Rivers Arts Alliance. “There are always higher expectations.”

Groups like Mosher’s are always fighting to improve publicity, to educate the public on what they’re doing to help the community, she said.

Their end goal: getting people to understand that the arts boost their quality of life. “Organizations need to make a stronger case to the public,” Mosher said.

The conference is slated to feature Anne Katz, the executive director of Arts Wisconsin as its keynote speaker. Former Maine TV reporter Felicia Knight – now the communications director for the National Endowment for the Arts – plans to talk about marketing and publicity. Patrice Walker Power, the NEA’s director of local arts agencies, plans to talk about fundraising.