Selected Grants from 2006

 

FARMINGTON

Girls Talk & Teen Voices Mentor Partnership

Students in the Girls Talk program in Kingfield participate in a “literature in the round” activity in conjunction with the book So B. It by Sarah Weeks.
photo: kirsten swan

$3,834: “Girls Talk” and “Teen Voices” are mentorship programs that link University of Maine at Farmington students and community members with girls in grades 5-8 in MSAD #58 (Strong, Kingfield, Phillips, and Stratton). Each month, girls and mentors read a book relevant to the lives of developing adolescents, then come together at the schools for dinner, book discussions, and related guest speakers or activities. Since the mentorship programs began, participation has steadily increased, and other school districts have developed their own programs. New initiatives include purchasing enough copies of a single title to do a common reading across schools; expanding genres to include literary fairy tales, poetry, and science fiction; and bringing a published author to the programs. For more information, please contact the UMF Center for Student Involvement, (207) 778-7347.

NEW ENGLAND REGION

The Late Indian War

$3,000: The Late Indian War is a documentary film project that explores, from a Native American perspective, the continuing social and spiritual impact of English colonization on Eastern Native American nations. The events surrounding King Philip’s War (1675-76) will be examined for connections to the reduction in Native population and influence-in particular, the status of women. Research will be conducted in Maine on Ferdinando Gorges’ failed Sagadahoc Colony and the thwarted diplomatic efforts of Father Druillettes of the Kennebec Mission on behalf of the Abenaki. The resulting documentary will present the Native perspective on a period that has elicited significant recent attention in films and literature. To learn more about this project, please contact Director Ann Tweedy, tweedspot@aol.com.

 

Top: Gun with Beads: Wampum fashioned into belts and jewelry had far more significance than the rough currency for which the Europeans used it. The dark and light purple and white colorings all had traditional significance. European demand and use for wampum created an imbalance between Native nations: those with access to the shells and those without.
photo: elizabeth perry

 

Bottom: Contemplating Change: Alice Lopez and Michael N. Granger photographed at a frozen Iron River in Dartmouth, MA. They wear traditional winter clothing. This photograph depicts two Wampanoag leaders contemplating the changes in their traditions, lifestyle, government, and settlement that will manifest with European colonization.
photo: ann tweedy

SOUTH PORTLAND

Picturing Portland: A Century of Change

Two children watch as a woman fishes through a pier in Portland, circa 1900.
photo: portland harbor museum, angell collection

$5,000: The Portland Harbor Museum’s 2007 exhibit is entitled Picturing Portland: A Century of Change. This exhibit will employ the concept of “rephotography” (pairing old photographs with current ones) to explore the many aspects of Portland Harbor that have changed or remained the same. Many of the old photographs will come from the museum’s Angell Collection of glass plate negatives from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The contemporary images will be taken by members of the Bakery Photographic Collective. The exhibit runs from April through November 2007. An accompanying series of lectures, events, and activities will include photography workshops and a scavenger hunt for children. For event listings and museum information, please visit www.portlandharbormuseum.org or call (207) 799-6337.

SWAN’S ISLAND

Burnt Coat Harbor Light Station

Front of keeper’s house and lighthouse at Burnt Coat Harbor Light Station in 2001.
photo: donna wiegle

$5,000: As the town of Swan’s Island restores the historic Burnt Coat Harbor Light Station (built in 1872), residents hope to simultaneously restore an understanding of how the buildings were used. With the help of a 2006 planning grant from the Council, island resident Donna Wiegle began conducting oral history interviews with the surviving children of 1930s lighthouse keeper Roscoe Chandler. The oral histories will be combined with photos and explanatory text and presented at multiple venues on the island, including the Swan’s Island School, the March 5 town meeting, the July 20 summer resident’s meeting, the Swan’s Island Library summer lecture series, and the Sweet Chariot Music Festival in August. A related exhibit will be on display at the Maine Lighthouse Museum in Rockland from January 15 through August 1, and a permanent outdoor exhibit will be established on Hockamock Head, adjacent to the lighthouse station. To learn more about this project, please visit www.swansisland.org and click on “Lighthouse.”