Year-End Giving 2021
Give now!
Click the “Donate” button below to give instantly through Paypal
or make a check out to “Mayo Street Arts” and mail to:
Mayo Street Arts
10 Mayo Street
Portland, ME 04101
A Letter from MSA’s Executive Director
November 23, 2021
Dear Friends of MSA,
It has been a joy to welcome you back into Mayo Street Arts this fall! As each of us slowly emerges from social isolation to re-engage with our communities, we can’t help but be humbled and honored that so many of you value MSA enough to join us for your first foray back out into the world of live performance.
While planning our public activities, we maintain a constant focus on safeguarding the health of our artists and community members. We are proud to say that our COVID-19 policy requiring masks and proof of vaccination or negative test for audience members coupled with mandatory testing for all performers is among the strictest—and safest—around.
At the same time, we are committed to eradicating any barriers that prevent people from accessing our programs. We have refined our sliding scale admission policy by soliciting guidance from those individuals who have benefited from it, reducing the stigma and anxiety inherent in the process of requesting assistance.
In her newly created position, Community Outreach staff member Daniella Mawika has focused a good deal of her efforts on our East Bayside neighborhood. This outreach is anchored by a pair of burgeoning partnerships with East End Community School and Portland Adult Education, which have enabled us to begin serving our local youth year round and help non-English speaking parents with language acquisition, community building, and professional development.
Daniella is also finalizing plans for our inaugural Traditional Arts Network gathering in December, which will connect New Mainers seeking to preserve their artistic practices with both each other and resources for marketing, fundraising, and professional development support. In subsequent years, participating artists will be invited to serve in leadership roles on a steering committee, ensuring that we center their perspectives and needs as the network continues to grow.
Our crackerjack new staff hit the ground running to manifest a wide variety of wonderful programming since resuming public operations this summer, from weekly dance classes and masterclasses with visiting performers to free outdoor programming. We’ve sent artists off-site to work with neighborhood kids at The Root Cellar’s RC Summer Camp, produced thought-provoking theater in partnership with East Shore Arts and Tandem Coffee Roasters, co-hosted a work-in-progress showing with Indigo Arts Alliance, participated in a trans-Atlantic live-streamed puppet odyssey giving voice to the urgent needs of displaced young refugees across the world, aided the creation of innovative new works by local artists, and premiered those works on our intimate stage.
Whew! Despite this flurry of activity—and support from a great number of community partners—our earned income has not yet returned to its sustainable pre-pandemic levels.
Each of us calculates risk every day, now more than ever. For over a decade, MSA has been a major contributor to the cultural landscape of Portland. Don’t risk life without Mayo Street Arts!
To allow MSA to continue supporting artists on our stage and through our soon-to-be-reopened gallery, and to support the greatly anticipated return of our afterschool programming and RAD! (Reading! Art! Dance!) youth summer camp, we’ve set the ambitious goal of raising $50,000 by the end of the year.
Your support is critical to allowing us to plan amazing opportunities that are accessible to all of our neighbors, despite this extended time of uncertainty. Please donate today to help MSA continue to serve our unique family of artists and build community in East Bayside and beyond!
Thank you for your support,
Ian Bannon
Executive Director
Give now!
Click the “Donate” button below to give instantly through Paypal
or make a check out to “Mayo Street Arts” and mail to:
Mayo Street Arts
10 Mayo Street
Portland, ME 04101