{"id":7119,"date":"2022-04-11T09:48:14","date_gmt":"2022-04-11T13:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=7119"},"modified":"2025-08-24T10:35:44","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T14:35:44","slug":"art-for-the-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2022\/04\/11\/art-for-the-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Art for the Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Members of the Presque Isle community are likely familiar with some of Aroostook Partners in the Arts\u2019 work. From the monthly \u201cFirst Friday Art Walks\u201d around town to the Polar Express event held every Christmas, they work in many forms. They are a nonprofit founded in 1996 with a goal of bringing art to the Aroostook County community. They do so not only through hosting a variety of events, but also by giving out art kits to children and grants to area schools.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Art kits for foster children.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are many members on the board who keep the association running smoothly. They all have their own reasons for joining. \u201cI benefited from the association\u2019s work when I was a teacher and I wanted to give back,\u201d Judy Kenney, a current member of the board, said. She is the longest serving member on the board and has seen many changes over the years. A few years ago, retired people ran most of the association. Now, a number of board members, including the current president, also have careers. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to see younger people coming on board.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Current board president, Jenn Crandall, had similar motivations for joining the association. After feeling as if she had a stable career, she wanted to volunteer and give back to her community. At first, she wasn\u2019t sure how she wanted to. But a friend on the board brought her attention to Partners in the Arts. She attributed her interest in the nonprofit’s mission to her own art education: a minor in art. \u201cThe arts are needed for a well-rounded individual and a well-rounded society.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Major changes to the operations of the board and their mission came as a result of COVID-19. Much of their work involves fundraising efforts for a school grant program. Many of their standard fundraisers were not possible with COVID-19 protocols in place. Their popular Brews and Brushes Art Battle, February Chocolate Fes and Art Auctions had to be put on pause. It limited not only where events could be held, but also when. \u201cFundraising is more complicated. You need five times more space and two times more staff for sanitizing for indoor events, which makes those difficult,\u201d Jenn Crandall said. Not being able to host events inside made hosting events in the winter impossible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There was one positive to the pandemic: it forced more creative thinking for possible fundraisers. \u201cLast year we held our annual art auction entirely online and it was our most successful one to date.\u201d Seeing this degree of success, the board opted to hold this year\u2019s auction fully online again, even with the current loosened restrictions. Hosting online also made events accessible to more people in the Aroostook County community. It allowed people who lived farther away from Presque Isle to participate, all from the comfort of their own homes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Even with the changes to their fundraising format, support has remained the same. All approved grant requests have been funded at least partially. No one has been turned away due to a lack of funding. This is thanks to the continued support from local artists and the community at large. \u201cArtists have been very willing to donate their time or their talent when we ask. We\u2019re also fortunate enough to have a community that supports the arts,\u201d Judy Kenney said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Members of the Presque Isle community are likely familiar with some of Aroostook Partners in the Arts\u2019 work. From the monthly \u201cFirst Friday Art Walks\u201d around town to the Polar Express event held every Christmas, they work in many forms. They are a nonprofit founded in 1996 with a goal of bringing art to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8166,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7119\/revisions\/8166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}