PORTLAND

Portland Stage names new managing director

Portland Stage Company has announced the hiring of Jon J. Wojciechowski Jr. as managing director. He begins on Monday.

Wojciechowski brings considerable professional experience in marketing and development with nonprofit organizations and with hospital and health care systems in Maine and New York. His most recent positions were with Goodall Hospital in Sanford and the People’s Regional Opportunity Program in Portland, where he was the senior vice president of resource development and marketing/communication.

He is a member of the American Marketing Association and the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Wojciechowski brings to Portland Stage a long interest and involvement in theater and hopes to link his passion for theater arts and his business experience in this position.

Current managing director Camy Barrantes will shift to general manager with a focus more specifically on finance and facilities.

Wojciechowski was raised in New York and attended the State University of New York at New Paltz and Ealing University in London, England, where he received a B.A. in marketing and communication with a minor in organizational management. From 1992 until 2005, he served hospital and health care organizations in New York State, working in public relations and fundraising. In 2005, Wojciechowski brought his expertise to Goodall Hospital; he moved to PROP in 2008.

MECA alumni awarded grants to support work

The Belvedere Fund for Professional Development at Maine College of Art was established in 2008 by the Maine Community Foundation following the death of Deborah Pulliam of Castine. The traditional crafts were a passion of Pulliam’s, and through her $75,000 gift to establish this fund, she continues her legacy of support for the next generation of craftspeople, with stewardship by the Maine Community Foundation.

Each year, MECA awards grants of up to $1,500 to alumni of the past 10 years from MECA’s BFA program whose work is based in the traditional crafts. The 2011 recipients are:

• Olan Boardman ’01, Cape Elizabeth: $1,400 to purchase equipment to create hand-printed decorative fabrics for home goods and upholstery.

• Benjamin Carpenter ’01, San Francisco: $1,500 to purchase a new welder for metalsmithing and fabrication business.

• Tanya Casteel ’06, Raleigh, N.C.: $1,000 for materials to create a professional craft show booth display.

• Kaitlin Duggan ’07, Islesford: $1,500 to purchase a computerized kiln for a growing ceramics business.

• Ted Lott ’05, Madison, Wis.: $1,252 to purchase a band saw and dust collector for his woodworking studio.

• Mali Mrozinski ’04, Oakland, Calif.: $500 to support her residency in the textile and fashion program at the Quimby Colony in Portland.

Portland author to discuss new book Wednesday

Portland author Amy Wood discusses her new book at noon Wednesday at the Portland Public Library. “Life Your Way,” (Modern Sage Press) is targeted to adults who are fed up with fighting a fight they can’t win. This book is about letting go of what’s not working anymore and paving the way to what we all seek: a centered composure amid the clatter of constant change.

“Life Your Way” shows readers how to restructure and refine existing strengths to better navigate and benefit from the onslaught of constant information.

Wood graduated from Loyola University in New Orleans in 1985 with a communications degree and enjoyed an advertising, marketing and publishing career in Chicago. Fascinated by corporate dynamics and human behavior, she enrolled in Chicago’s Adler School of Professional Psychology at age 30 to become a psychologist. She fell in love with Maine after completing her clinical internship at the University of Maine counseling center and launched her practice in Portland in 2000.

Portland High student wins regional poetry contest

Munye Mohamed, a student at Portland High School, won the Southern Regional Poetry Out Loud contest in Biddeford on Feb. 10. Munye recited three poems: “I carry your heart with me” by ee cummings, “Alone” by Edgar Allen Poe and “Who Understands Me But Me” by Jimmy Santiago Baca. He advances to the state contest on March 11 in Lewiston.

Good Theater receives grant for operating expenses

Good Theater recently received a $4,000 grant from the Sam L. Cohen Foundation to assist the company with general operating expenses during the 2010-11 season. This is the third time the Cohen Foundation has awarded money to Good Theater, a nonprofit organization in its ninth season of operation.

Good Theater is a professional company in residence at the St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress St. It was formed in 2002 by Stephen Underwood and Brian P. Allen. Since its inception, the company has presented 36 main stage productions and more than 20 special events.

Currently playing at Good Theater is the Maine premiere of “Moonlight and Magnolias” by Ron Hutchinson, directed by Allen and starring Underwood, Brent Askari, Tony Reilly and Lynne McGhee. This show plays through Feb. 27.

Next up at Good Theater is the Portland premiere of “Bedroom Farce” by Alan Ayckbourn March 10 to April 3, starring Cathy Counts, Deirdre Fulton, Janice Gardner, Meredith Lamothe, Bob McCormack, William McDonough III, Erik Moody and Mark Rubin. Allen again serves as director. Call 885-5883 or visit www.goodtheater.com.

Grants help expose kids to Kotzschmar Organ

Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ recently received two grants from local organizations that will help the nonprofit give a special performance and continue to provide music education to Maine students.

The Maine Community Foundation’s Edward H. Daveis Benevolent Fund has awarded FOKO a grant for a Nov. 6 concert in collaboration with the Choral Art Society, a Portland-based nonprofit dedicated to advancing excellence in choral singing. The performance will include major choruses from well-known oratorios.

The concert, featuring Portland’s municipal organist Ray Cornils, is part of a yearlong Centennial Celebration of the Kotzschmar Organ, which begins in September.

The Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust has awarded FOKO a grant for efforts in providing quality music education. One of FOKO’s many education programs is Keepers of the Kotzsch, in which students are appointed guardians of the organ and are responsible for participating in events throughout the year. Breakwater School students are this year’s keepers.

Kotzschmar 4 Kids provides fourth- to sixth-graders with an understanding of and appreciation for the pipe organ through a curriculum of language arts, mathematics, music (using a small portable organ), science and social studies. The program culminates with a Meet the King of Instruments Youth Concert at Merrill Auditorium.

BOOTHBAY HARBOR

Maine artists highlighted in two national magazines

Portland painter Scott Kelley, represented by Gleason Fine Art, has two watercolor paintings of great blue herons in the November/December issue of Veranda magazine, which featured Carolyne Roehm’s new book “A Passion for Interiors.” In “A Passion for Interiors,” Kelley’s work is included in the section on Roehm’s Colorado ski home. Kelley’s herons are a favorite of Roehm’s.

Another gallery artist, Abbey Ryan, has a full-page article in the February issue of O, Oprah Winfrey’s magazine. Titled “Women Who Make Beautiful Things,” the article features several oil paintings and Ryan’s story of success as a young painter.

KENNEBUNK

Artist offers cartoon classes for children and adults

Kennebunk artist Steve Hrehovcik uses the movies as a way to teach a new series of cartoon courses at River Tree Art during the winter/spring season. There are two cartooning courses, one for children ages 5 to 12 and another for adults. Both seven-week courses start March 2 and continue through April 13. The fee for the course is $95 for children and $135 for adults.

River Tree Arts is located at 35 Western Ave. (Route 9), Kennebunk.

Classes cover all the fundamentals of cartooning. They include facial expressions, characters in motion, clothing, setting scenes and exaggerated poses, as well as the elements of storytelling.

To learn more about the cartooning courses and other classes, visit www.rivertreearts.org or call 967-9120.

DAMARISCOTTA

River Arts leading trip to Museum of Fine Arts

River Arts of Damariscotta will lead an excursion to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston on March 12. The bus departs from Damariscotta at 7 a.m.

Passengers have the day to spend as they wish, departing from the museum lot at 5 p.m. The cost of the bus trip is $55 for River Arts members and $65 for non-members. (Please note that admission to the MFA or Gardner Museum is not included.) To sign up for the excursion, call 563-1507 or e-mail: info@riverartsme.org to reserve a place. Seating is limited to 28. Reservations will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis.

ROCKLAND

Paul Caponigro to get 2011 Maine in America Award

The Farnsworth Art Museum has announced that Paul Caponigro will receive the 2011 Maine in America Award. The award is presented by the Farnsworth’s Presidents Council to honor an individual or group who has made an outstanding contribution to Maine’s role in American art.

This year’s presentation will occur during the Farnsworth Art Museum’s Summer Gala June 25. Previous winners of the Maine in America Award were John Wilmerding (2006), Andrew Wyeth (2007), Will Barnet (2008), Robert Indiana (2009) and Alex Katz (2010).

Caponigro is among the foremost landscape photographers of our time. His first one-man exhibition was in 1958 at the George Eastman House, an important photography museum. In 1960, Caponigro became a consultant for Polaroid Corp. in the photo-research department. During this period, he also began teaching photography part-time at Boston University.

Caponigro has lectured, taught and shown his works in museums, galleries and universities throughout the world. His photographs are found in major museum collections in the U.S. and abroad.

Caponigro was first introduced to Maine as a boy, when he summered in the Gardiner area with his family. He was immediately taken by its natural beauty.

His first photographs in Maine date from the very beginning of his career in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He has had a long relationship with the Maine Media Workshops, where he has taught regularly. After living in New Mexico and California for more than 20 years, in 1993 Caponigro returned to Maine to live in Cushing year round.

Tickets to the 2011 Farnsworth Art Museum Gala cost $250 per person. Call 596-6457, ext. 143

BRUNSWICK

Theater seeking kids for roles in ‘Annie’ and ‘The Wiz’

Maine State Music Theatre is looking for bright, energetic children to perform in two shows this season, “Annie” and “The Wiz.”

For “Annie,” the theater is looking for girls to play Annie and her fellow orphans. Candidates must be between ages 6 and 15 and be able to act, sing and dance.

For “The Wiz,” the theater is searching for African-American children. Candidates must be between 6 and 15 years old and be able to act, sing and dance.

Auditions will be March 12 by appointment. Contact Kathi Kacinski to schedule an audition. She can be reached at jobs@msmt.org or 725-8760, Ext. 11.

 

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