AUGUSTA

Project wins national award for ‘imaginative learning’

Maine’s Imagination Intensive Communities project was one of nine projects in the United States to receive a Best Practice award from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills at a national summit in Washington, D.C.

The Maine project is a process developed by the Maine Alliance for Arts Education and the Maine Department of Education to identify, recognize, research and share information about communities where schools and community organizations work effectively together to provide imaginative learning opportunities for students.

The project was piloted in 2009-10 with funding from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Betterment Fund, the Maine Arts Commission and the Maine Department of Education.

The program that received recognition represent “shining examples” of best practices related to 21st-century learning, said Steven Paine, chairman of the Parntership for 21st Century Skills.

During the 2009-10 pilot year, six Maine communities were identified as Imagination Intensive Communities. They are Arundel, Blue Hill, Camden-Rockport, Deer Isle-Stonington, North Haven and York.

Information about each community and the strategies each uses to provide imaginative learning opportunities for students will be posted in November on the website of the Maine Alliance for Arts Education, www.maineartsed.org.

Also available will be application information for the 2010-11 search for Imagination Intensive Communities.

For information, contact Carol Trimble, executive director of the Maine Alliance for Arts Education, at ctrimble@maineartsed.org or Argy Nestor at the Maine Department of Education, at argy.nestor@maine.gov.

WESTBROOK

Maine native earns entry to Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame

Jazz drummer Artt Frank, who grew up in Westbrook and now lives in Arizona, will be inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame on Nov. 16. He will enter the hall with tenor sax player Sam Rivers, and will join jazz legends Chet Baker, Charlie Christian, Dave Brubeck and Oscar Pettiford.

“This is truly wonderful being bestowed upon me, especially in light of the fact that I’m not from Oklahoma,” Frank said via e-mail.

To learn more, visit www.arttfrank.com. He also is director of jazz at the Chet Baker Foundation.

BOOTHBAY HARBOR

ArtinMe. winners selected for first statewide art show

ArtinMe. exhibition judges Philip Isaacson and Dennis Gleason recently selected winners in the inaugural statewide art show, on view through Nov. 16 at the Boothbay Region Art Foundation, 16 Townsend Ave., Boothbay Harbor.

Gleason, of Gleason Fine Art in Boothbay Harbor and Portland, and Isaacson, art critic for the Maine Sunday Telegram, announced winners at the exhibition’s opening reception.

The Knickerbocker Award for Best of Show went to Patrick Plourde of New Gloucester for his sculpture “Rosa Rugosa.” The Sherman’s Award for second place went to Diana Young of Bangor for her acrylic painting “Dark Harbour.”

The Cheap Joe’s Award for third place went to Jane Dahmen of Newcastle for her acrylic painting “The Point.” First honorable mention and the Artist & Craftsman Supply Award went to Richard Allen of Sebago for his mixed-media painting “Searching for Mystery.”

The Boothbay Region Art Foundation gave two honorable mentions: one to Jean Kigel of Waldoboro for her watercolor “Battle Line” and the other to Susan Zimmerman of Georgetown for her oil painting “November Fields.”

For information, visit www.boothbayartists.org.

PORTLAND

Gallery owner gives kudos to artists in museum’s biennial

Peggy Golden, owner of Greenhut Galleries, sent notes of congratulations to gallery artists Thomas Connolly, Kathleen Galligan and Sarah Knock for their inclusion in the 2011 Portland Museum of Art Biennial.

GARDINER

Raye wins 2010 Moonbeam Childrens’ Book Award

Tilbury House Publishers has announced that “Bear-ly There,” written and illustrated by Rebekah Raye, has won a 2010 Moonbeam Children’s Book Award. The book received the Silver Medal in the category of Environmental Issues Book.

The winning titles were selected from more than 800 entries. The awards were chosen from books from 34 U.S. States, five Canadian provinces and two overseas countries.

The winners were announced Oct. 13. The Moonbeam ceremony will be Nov. 13 in Traverse City, Mich.

For information, visit www.tilburyhouse.com.