Healthy businesses, great schools, public health and safety — all these things make a community strong. But it’s the arts and humanities that give it flavor and make it thrive.
A number of area arts organizations have partnered to offer the second annual Downtown Bangor Public Humanities Day, organized by the University of Maine Humanities Initiative. The event, which is open to the public, takes place all day throughout the downtown area on Saturday, May 17.
“This helps to better connect the rich resources at UMaine with the vibrant cultural scene in downtown Bangor and other regional organizations,” said Liam Riordan, the University of Maine history professor responsible for organizing the event. “Saturday’s full day of events in multiple downtown venues offers a terrific range of activities that are all free. People can pick and choose what they want to attend, and all of this is made possible by the concentrated space of Bangor’s pedestrian-friendly downtown.”
The day starts with an open house for National History Day, set for 10:30 a.m. to noon in the lecture hall at the Bangor Public Library. Area high school and middle school students will lead discussions about their history projects, free pizza will be offered at noon, and later that day at 3 p.m. in the story room the students will again lead history discussions.
At 11 a.m. at the Briar Patch, a children’s bookstore on Central Street, author and illustrator Jimmy Gownley will read from and sign copies of his book “The Dumbest Idea Ever,” and at 12:30 p.m. the University of Maine Museum of Art will host lecturer and UMaine professor Andy Mauery. Mauery will talk about the work of artist Jay Kelly, whose work is currently on display at the museum, and UMMA director George Kinghorn will offer tours of the current exhibits.
Down the street at the Maine Discovery Museum on Main Street, the TEMPO Youth String Ensemble, the Eastern Maine pops orchestra for young musicians, will perform at 1:30. The young musicians, hailing from all over Penobscot, Hancock and Washington counties, will perform classical and pop favorites, and will later lead an instrument workshop.
At 4 p.m., the Union Street Brick Church, in partnership with River City Cinema and KahBang Arts, will host Northeast Historic Film, which will screen a never-before-seen-in-public selection of short films shot in 1929 by Bangor resident Charles E. Gilbert. NHF co-founder Karan Sheldon and UMaine professor Justin Wolff will introduce the films, which document a circus parade and a firefighter’s parade in downtown Bangor, and lumberjacks working in a camp just up the river from Bangor, all in the months just before the start of the Great Depression.
The day will end with a mini-Pecha Kucha presentation, set for 6 p.m. at the Union Street Brick Church, and featuring area creative people and UMaine faculty members giving five-minute presentations on the theme “What are the humanities?” There’s a $5 suggested donation, and the event is sponsored by Pecha Kucha Bangor and the Downtown Bangor Arts Collaborative.
For more information on the Downtown Bangor Public Humanities Day, contact Liam Riordan at riordan@umit.maine.edu.
