Six Foxcroft Academy students from the class of 2011, participating last spring in an outdoor concert at the academy. Back row (left to right): Brian Cambers, John Levenseller, Alex Long; front row: Vanessa Cousins, Clifford Neece, Nick Strout. Four of these students are currently pursuing an education in music and/or drama. Photo by Emily Ellis
The arts are an important element of a vibrant community. Theater, galleries, craft fairs, poetry readings -- all these activities and more add to the life of a village, a town, a city. They help create community.
Through its donors and grant programs, the Maine Community Foundation supports a broad range of arts programming across the state, from First Friday concerts in Kingfield to a Native American summer market at Sabbathday Lake in New Gloucester. The county funds have always been arts boosters. The Piscataquis County Fund, for example, has made several grants in recent years to Foxcroft Academy, which has allowed the school to enhance and expand its musical and theater offerings, both for its students and for audiences in the greater Dover-Foxcroft region. All that jazz -- and then some.
Other Ways the Community Foundation is Helping to Build Thriving Communities
- Through its donor-initiated Farms, Food, and Philanthropy program, the community foundation is working to make more funds available for local, sustainable agriculture and to contribute to the groundswell of awareness about the role that local food production plays in providing a sense of place, fostering economic opportunity, improving health and well-being, and building community.
- The community foundation is working to enhance the state's quality of place by investing in historic preservation, especially in downtown centers where many historic buildings serve as hubs for economic, cultural, and social activity. The foundation's grant programs, scholarships, and partnerships with other organizations are crucial to these efforts.
- In addition to supporting Maine Farmland Trust's Buy/Protect/Sell program, the community foundation also provides support for the trust’s FarmLink program, which connects aspiring farmers to existing farmers, thereby “keeping Maine’s farmland in farming.” Other community foundation grants support agriculture-based activities, from farm-to-school programs to community gardens.
To learn more about how the Maine Community Foundation is building thriving communities and how you can support this work, contact Ellen Pope by e-mail or by phone, toll-free, at 877-700-6800.