WESTBROOK – The dormant Westbrook Arts and Culture Committee, first formed in the late 2000s, has been reignited, as members look to bolster an arts scene and creative economy that help revitalize communities.

“That’s kind of how the creative scene works,” said Caren-Marie Michel, a Westbrook artist who was recently elected president of the committee. “When the artists come, everybody else comes.”

Michel said this week that the group is hoping to gain more momentum by working to establish a database of people working in the “creative community” in Westbrook, whether they are artists, business owners, or both.

“Any type of creative business, artists, performers, and design businesses,” she said. “We don’t have that database anywhere, and we think it’s important.”

They’ve also come up with a hashtag – #bestinthebrook.

Michel, a landscape painter, is also a founding member of the Saccarappa Art Collective on Main Street. The gallery has been the focal point of the Westbrook arts scene since its inception in 2012. She was also a member of the Arts and Culture Committee during its first iteration, when for a short time the group organized an art walk in the city.

While it fizzled out, Michel said, the first committee had some accomplishments, including securing a grant from the Maine Arts Commission, establishing a business plan for the Westbrook Performing Arts Center, and purchasing and designing the downtown banners that read “Artists Live Here,” and “Artists Work Here.”

“It’s a new group of people, with a new energy,” she said about the new committee.

The group also has big plans ahead – most notably a downtown mural project that will bring in professional artists to create a series of murals in the city.

Andy Curran, the director of the Saccarappa Art Collective and vice president of the Arts and Culture Committee, said that while the mural project is in the very early stages, the idea is for it to be a “sponsored” project, with local businesses sponsoring the creation of each mural.

Curran said the murals would be created in one designated spot, and once completed, could be moved to the sponsoring business’s location of choice.

“The goal would be to, over time, expand the city’s public art, and people would come to town to see the murals,” he said. “It would be a noticeable trait and artistic quality for Westbrook.”

However, Curran said, putting together the database of artists is the most immediate goal.

“There are a lot of people working in a wide range of media in this town, and many of them are going unnoticed or under the radar, and many have needs that aren’t necessarily being fulfilled,” he said.

Curran believes that with the added focus on boosting the city’s vibrancy through the newly formed Westbrook Downtown Coalition, a refocusing on the arts is equally important.

“The arts are alive in Westbrook, and it’s important that people hear about it,” he said, adding that a major goal of the committee is not just to let people know what’s happening here, but that the city has places to host artists.

Bill Baker, Westbrook’s assistant city administrator for business and community relations, said Monday that when the committee was originally formed, it was “clear” that Westbrook was seeing an influx of artists seeking space in the city, or were already utilizing spaces such as the Dana Warp Mill as studios.

But, he said, the committee needed to be revived so the city could “build on what was going on here, and attract even more creative talent.”

Baker said the city, when creating a new website last year, created a section of the site highlighting artists and businesses in the community.

“We believe this committee is gaining momentum and that our creative community is a positive element of our downtown that attracts a very desirable demographic and sends a positive message about the health of the downtown,” he said.

Jennifer Hutchins, the executive director of Creative Portland, a nonprofit arts agency, said Tuesday that while all communities are different, Westbrook could replicate successes seen in cities such as Biddeford.

“There are things happening in downtown Westbrook that people are noticing in Portland,” she said.

Hutchins sat in during the Westbrook committee’s last meeting, and shared with its members how Creative Portland has grown since 2008. That year, the group had a budget of $30,000 and 12 board members. Now the group boasts two employees, 20 board members, and a $220,000 budget.

Hutchins said the organization was founded by the city of Portland, and that members of the City Council appoint half of its board members.

“It’s very much a private-public partnership,” she said, adding that city support was important in the group’s development.

Hutchins said Creative Portland benefitted from a goal to hire a full-time director to run the program. Similarly, the Westbrook Downtown Coalition is interviewing applicants for a part-time coordinator position. She added that Portland adopted establishing a “creative economy” as a primary objective.

Michel said this week that when the arts committee was first established, it had city backing, and was started by then-Mayor Bruce Chuluda. She said Lynda Adams, the Westbrook city clerk, is representing the city on the committee, which shows the importance of the group’s efforts.

“Having a cultural plan and a downtown master plan is important so communities have a roadmap to follow,” says Tammy Ackerman, the co-founder and executive director of Engine, the arts programming nonprofit in Biddeford.

Biddeford has seen the benefits of downtown revitalization in recent years, with a highly successful downtown program, Heart of Biddeford, and a robust arts community, a possible blueprint for Westbrook’s path.

Ackerman agrees that having city leadership and economic development agencies as partners is “definitely helpful,” but says cities need to “find out what the community wants and what they will support.”

“Respect the history of the community and reinterpret that heritage in new creative ways,” she said.

Copy the Story Link