Two years before they got married, Julie Richard and her husband, Ed Buonvecchio, came to Maine for vacation. Their travels brought them to Camden, where the couple purchased a set of Maine-made wedding rings.

They put those rings to good use when they wed in 1994. Ever since, the couple has appreciated Maine’s creative community.

In September, Richard began her duties as director of the Maine Arts Commission. She and her husband came east from their home in Arizona, where Richard worked as CEO of the West Valley Arts Council in Phoenix.

Before her eight years in Phoenix, she directed the Metropolitan Arts Council in Greenville, S.C., and the Tulsa Opera in Oklahoma, and worked as development director at the Syracuse Opera in New York, which she later directed.

For many years, Richard and Buonvecchio came to Maine to visit family. A relative lived here, and Maine was an attractive destination for holiday gatherings and other family celebrations. Like a lot of visitors to the state, they made regular trips to L.L. Bean in the middle of the night to take advantage of the store’s always-open policy.

Along the way, Richard gained an acute appreciation for Maine art. When she learned of the job opportunity with the Maine Arts Commission, she applied immediately.

“The biggest reason is that I already knew that Maine is rich in arts and culture,” she said.

After directing regional and local arts agencies and arts organizations, moving up to a state agency was a logical professional step.

In her first six weeks, Richard has met as many people as possible. She’s attended events across the state, and introduced herself to a lot of people.

She has a few specific goals — developing a legislative strategy and putting together the framework for a statewide cultural planning process are two. But her immediate task is simply to listen and learn.

Richard knows that the Maine Arts Commission is not a well-understood agency. She has heard that from artists who are frustrated with the grant-making process. She understands that the agency has been doing things a certain way for many years, and that maybe it is time for a change.

Richard promises nothing except this: She will bring a fresh perspective and an open mind. Because she has no ties to the agency or any deeply seated relationships with the state arts community, she is in a better situation than many to judge the effectiveness of the agency and its impact in Maine.

In truth, the Maine Arts Commission has limited muscle. It operates with a budget of about $1.5 million, and administers about $900,000 in grants each year, most of them relatively small. They are important grants, to be sure, and vital to many local arts agencies.

About half its money comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, the remainder from state coffers.

Richard wants the agency to be a strong advocate for the arts, and intends to talk to legislators in Augusta and the state’s congressional delegation about the importance of the arts in Maine, culturally and economically. Among the initiatives the agency has handled well, she said, is educating people about the importance and the role of the creative economy in Maine.

She will continue that conversation.

But what she really wants the arts community to know is that she is one of them. She married an artist — her husband is an illustrator and graphic designer, and enjoys working in wood and other media.

Richard herself was an artist once upon a time. She grew up in Madison, Wis., and began dancing when she was 3. She began playing the piano at age 7 and the trumpet at age 9, and has been singing for as long as she can remember.

“My mother took me to every art show and art fair she possibly could,” Richard said.

She sang in the school chorus and played in the school band. She went to college at the University of Wisconsin and marched with the marching band at Camp Randall Stadium for Big 10 football games.

“I was the first female flugelhorn player in the University of Wisconsin marching band,” she said, proudly.

But that is where her claim to fame as a performing artist ended.

Richard accepted that she was not going to make a career with her musical talents, so she concentrated on building other skills. She earned her degree in arts administration from Wisconsin, and later studied leadership at Harvard University.

She did an internship with the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, fell in love with opera, and began her career in arts administration.

Her work has taken her around the country, from the Midwest to the South and the Southwest, and now to Maine.

Above all else, Richard sees herself as an arts advocate, and proudly so. During her stint at the West Valley Arts Council, she helped create an arts education partnership for professional development, opened galleries, created grant programs and expanded public art programs.

At the Metropolitan Arts Council in South Carolina, she increased financial support for artists and secured a $2.1 million grant for arts education partnerships.

She intends to do more of the same in Maine.

Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or:

bkeyes@pressherald.com

Twitter: pphbkeyes

 

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