BIDDEFORD — A nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the arts as a civic priority in Biddeford has been designated as a $45,000 grant recipient from the National Endowment for the Arts.
NEA Acting Chairman Mary Anne Carter said that a grant of $45,000 to Engine of Biddeford for the architectural design of a 20,000-square-feet historic building on Main Street creating a center for art, design, and innovation is part of 57 national awards totaling $4.1 million supporting projects through NEA’s Arts Endowment’s Our Town program.
Carter said that Engine will continue working with a Boston firm NADAAA (nadaaa.com), named in the grant application and which was previously chosen via a public process as the architect of record for the Engine project.
Working with the Data Innovation Project from the Muskie School of Public Service and NADAAA, as well as the City of Biddeford’s My Neighborhood Network facilitators and ambassadors, Engine will develop an engagement plan for the local community to gather input on the design of the various spaces in the Marble Block and establish metrics for evaluating the success of the project, she said.
According to Carter, Marty Pottenger, founder/director of Art At Work, a national initiative piloted with the city of Portland’s departments, unions and elected officials to improve municipal government through strategic arts projects, will be included in the grant. He will provide strategic direction for this project to help ensure its integration into the fabric of the Biddeford community.
“These awards made to organizations across the United States are a testament to the artistic richness and diversity in our country,” Carter said. “Organizations such as Engine are giving people in their community the opportunity to learn, create, and be inspired.”
Engine co-founder and Executive Director Tammy Ackerman, said the grant will be put to good use.
“Engine is excited to receive its second National Endowment for the Arts grant this year,” Ackerman said. “The Our Town grant to design the Marble Block, with community input, will seriously start Engine on the path of occupying the historic structure. This grant should kickstart excitement within the community to see this project come to fruition.”
Ackerman said that Engine envisions the Marble Block as a hub for the community to gather and learn, and as a base to engage with the populations in the adjacent neighborhoods through art and design.
Ideas for the Marble Block include an exhibition space, a retail shop for selling Maine handcraft, an education space, an incubator/accelerator with university support, a darkroom, studios, a public green roof, and a café featuring local foods, she said.
In 2010, Engine was founded with the belief that artistic expression and creative vibrancy are the gateway to cultural, social, and economic revitalization, and the organization is committed to designing, launching, and promoting community-based arts programming, Ackerman said.
While researching viable storefronts in 2011, Engine developed a relationship with Bob and Mary Kate Reny, whose family trust owned a vacant 20,000-square-foot white marble-faced building on lower Main Street in Biddeford.
The Renys then sold the vacant building, now known as the Marble Block, to Engine for $1 in 2011, in an effort to support Engine’s mission to create a space for the arts on Main Street. Once the restoration of the Marble Block is completed, Engine plans to move there.
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