Creative Classrooms: Celebrating Side x Side's Arts Integration in Public Schools

Side x Side will host an exhibit about their work, history and current projects downstairs in the library’s Camden National Bank Community Gallery from April 11–June 6, 2025. Side x Side is a Portland, Maine–based nonprofit organization that empowers youth through the arts by working side by side with teachers, artists, and students to strengthen academic achievement, cultivate creativity, and build community. An opening reception will be held on Friday, May 2, 4:30–6pm which will include a display of papier-mâché salmon sculptures created by third graders at Rowe Elementary School. Integrated with a Wabanaki studies unit called 'Take Me to the River,' this arts-integrated Side x Side program included an in-depth exploration of local rivers and waterways and highlighted the importance of flora and fauna in indigenous communities. Students learned about the Presumpscot River in their own backyard, and the profound impact of dams on migratory species of fish, the ecological makeup of the surrounding area, and the people who live there. Focusing on Atlantic salmon, students learned and drew about their reproductive life cycle, and then used papier-mâché and paint to create salmon sculptures.