Amy Hausmann, the new executive director of the Maine Arts Commission, in her office in Augusta. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

In the 19th century, renowned landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church built a majestic home called Olana on a hilltop in New York’s Hudson River Valley. But he also owned a little camp on Lake Millinocket and often painted in Maine. A scene he depicted of Mount Katahdin hangs in the Portland Museum of Art.

In 2019, Amy Hausmann became the director of Olana, now a state historic site. Like Church, she made her career in New York. Also like him, she has long felt a draw to Maine. She spent summers in Ocean Park as a child and holidays with her parents in Richmond as an adult. This summer, Hausmann left Olana but followed Church’s footsteps to her adopted home.

“I always kept my eye on the Maine Arts Commission,” Hausmann said in an interview. “And so when I saw this job open up, I knew I wanted to throw my hat in the ring.”

Hausmann started her post as executive director of the Maine Arts Commission in August with 30 years of experience at the intersection of art and government agencies. She arrives at a pivotal moment for the commission, which ranks among the lowest in the nation in state funding. The commission, at times, has struggled against the constraints of budget and bureaucracy to stay relevant, and observers said they hope Hausmann will expand its reach.

“I would love to see the arts commission at the table in a more robust way because it puts the arts at the table,” said Shoni Currier, executive director of the Bates Dance Festival.

Bob Keyes, chairman of the Maine Arts Commission and a former arts reporter for the Portland Press Herald, said Hausmann inspired him from her first interview.

“I felt like we could aim a little bit higher and benefit not only from her experience but from her big-idea thinking,” Keyes said. “We could maybe try to do some things we hadn’t done.”

‘I HAD A VOICE’

When Hausmann was in fourth grade in a New Jersey public school, a poet visited her classroom weekly as a teaching artist. She prompted the students to write poems about paintings, their families and their earliest memories.

The class made a little booklet of their work. Hausmann still has it.

“She showed me that I had a voice,” Hausmann said. “She taught me that I could look at something, and I could see many different layers of what I was looking at. She taught me that I was a creative person, and I never forgot that.”

She studied art and art history at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and worked at a nonprofit gallery for a short period before she became a public servant.

In New York City, she worked for both the New York Transit Museum and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts & Design. One major focus of her career was bringing visual and performing arts programs to the city’s subway and rail stations. She oversaw the selection of more than 150 new permanent contemporary art commissions totaling $22 million and directed programs such as Poetry in Motion, which placed poems in subway cars.

In 2019, she moved to the Hudson Valley and became the director of Olana. In 2021, the site had the highest visitation in its 54-year history, an increase of 74% over 2019. Hausmann launched Poetry in the Parks in collaboration with the Poetry Society of America, integrating contemporary poems in New York state parks and history sites.

Hausmann said she had built her career in both art and government because she believes art should be integrated into everyday life.

“I deeply believe that art and culture is for everyone, and I deeply believe in making sure art and culture is accessible for everyone,” she said.

Artist Jean Shin, who is based in the Hudson Valley and Brooklyn, has known Hausmann for years and has worked with her on three different public commissions over the years.

“It’s wonderful to have an administrator in leadership who really understands what artists need and how to streamline that,” Shin said. “There are so many snags in the process that could go wrong, and to have someone who is a keen eye and is able to advocate when processes don’t work, to be in a more artist-friendly path, I think it’s incredibly important to have a true champion of the arts in public space.”

79 CENTS PER CAPITA

The Maine Arts Commission has been in triage mode in recent years.

At the end of 2020, former executive director Julie Richard left for a job in Arizona. The commission made the unusual decision to forego a job search for her replacement because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to quickly distribute emergency funds for arts organizations. Instead, board chairman David Greenham took over as interim executive director in March 2021. He oversaw the development of a five-year strategic plan and then stepped down in September 2023.

“It was a realization that I needed to stay for five years, or I needed to step out of the way and let somebody else come in and run it from this point on,” Greenham said at the time.

The Maine Arts Commission runs on a roughly $2 million budget from two primary sources. A little more than half comes from the Maine Legislature, and the rest comes from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies found that Maine ranked 38th in the nation for per capita state arts spending in fiscal year 2024. That $1 million or so from the state broke down to about 79 cents for each resident, the lowest in New England. In comparison, Massachusetts ranked 11th and allocated $4.46 per capita to its state arts agency.

The Maine Arts Commission has eight full-time and one part-time employee. Hausmann’s salary is about $125,400. Operating expenses in fiscal year 2023 totaled $455,800. Other spending is generally divided between programs and grants.

That year, the Maine Arts Commission spent $710,000 on public art and arts education programs. Those include Percent for Art (art in public buildings), Art in the Capitol (exhibitions of contemporary Maine artists in the Capitol buildings), Poetry Out Loud (an annual showcase for high schoolers) and the state poet laureate.

In 2023, the agency also gave away $723,900 in grants for both individual artists and nonprofits. The maximum amount for individual awards to artists is $5,000, and arts organizations can receive up to $7,500. Private funders in Maine often have more money to spend; for example, the Onion Foundation, a charitable foundation that supports arts and environmental causes, grants roughly $1.75 million each year to arts organizations. But the dollars are needed, and the demand is there. Last year, the Maine Arts Commission received 312 applications and made 127 awards.

Daniel Sipe, one of the founders of Lights Out Gallery in Norway, said he was excited to see the Maine Arts Commission in July award 29 micro grants of up to $1,000 in Aroostook County, where he grew up. He wants to work with the staff to develop a similar program in western Maine.

“Rural Maine is a really amazing place where a lot of artists are working, but the work isn’t shared as widely,” Sipe said. “However, recently, the Maine Arts Commission has spent more time and resources trying to promote what is happening in the far reaches like Aroostook County and western Maine.”

Others also said they hope for growth in the grant programs. More money is a priority, of course. But they also said the applications could be less cumbersome; the funds, more targeted.

At the Maine State Music Theatre in Brunswick, Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark said grants from the commission help cover the cost of important programs, including sensory-friendly performances for young audiences. But, he said, the state doesn’t differentiate between applicants by size or budget, and he would like to see a more tailored approach.

“An organization has a $100,000 budget, and they get a $10,000 grant, and we have a $10 million budget, and we get a $10,000 grant,” he said. “The impact of that grant is significantly less.”

The Cultural Alliance of Maine formed in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the desire for culture institutions to have more say in recovery funding and policy. Executive Director Mollie Cashwell said the Maine Arts Commission is doing good work but generally needs more resources.

“They’re giving out as much as they are given to work with,” Cashwell said. “A lot of the services that they’re doing and opportunities that they’re creating and the visibility that they’re raising, like the poet laureate, I think there’s really meaningful initiatives being developed. When you’re limited by what you have to work with, that is what it is. I think some people would like to see more presence and would like to see that Maine Arts Commission logo on more projects.”

‘UPWARDS FROM HERE’

The commission received more than 90 applications for the executive director job. Nat May, arts program officer at the Onion Foundation, was involved in the first round of interviews and said he was excited about the experience Hausmann brings to the role.

“My hope for the commission is that it is a strong agency, a resource for artists and arts organizations and arts workers, that it is pointed and specific about what it wants to be doing at any specific time and that it is able to be adaptive to the needs of working in the Maine arts sector,” May said.

Donna McNeil served as the executive director of the Maine Arts Commission from 2003 to 2013. During that time, she used to hand legislators a stick of gum and tell them that they couldn’t buy it with the pennies per capita that they gave to the Maine Arts Commission. McNeil has since returned to the commission as a board member and is also the executive director of the Ellis Beauregard Foundation. She said she believes Hausmann will be a strong advocate for the commission in Augusta and in Washington, D.C.

“She’s got everything and more that a position like that needs,” McNeil said. “It’s upwards from here. The relevance of those state and federal dollars hitting the ground in Maine will be palpable.”

Arts leaders said they look forward to getting to know Hausmann and helping her get to know what they do in the field. Jordia Benjamin, executive director at Indigo Arts Alliance in Portland, said younger organizations such as hers especially need the support and dialogue that the commission can offer.

“That’s my hope of active dialogue that does not always have to be led by the organization, that the commission is leading those,” Benjamin said. “They are coming in and checking in on the standing of the arts to have a good finger on the pulse.”

Shannon Haines, president and CEO of Waterville Creates, also said she hopes the commission will help organizations share more knowledge with each other. For example, she would be eager to attend a workshop on how to administer a public art program in her city.

“I think we could use moral and educational support,” she said. “What are best practices? How are other communities doing this successfully? How is it being funded?”

Hausmann sees the role of the Maine Arts Commission in the same way. She pointed to the strategic plan that was ready and waiting for her as she started her new job. Weeks before her first day, she could already tick off its four pillars – service, connecting, funding and advancing. She said she wants the agency to be a resource for artists, for arts organizations, for people who just want to know what’s happening in the arts in Maine. She has started her tenure by traveling around the state; just this week, she attended an arts summit in Portland and then made a trip to Hancock County.

“I want everyone to know what the Maine Arts Commission does,” she said.

This story was updated on Sept. 30 to correct the name of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.