Maine: International Arts and Culture Resources

Since the 2010 launch of the Maine-New Brunswick Cultural Initiative, the Maine Arts Commission (MAC) has worked to foster its goals of increasing cross-border business, cultural tourism and cultural exchange. Notably, MAC has supported the initiative’s Cultural Exchange Task Force, which consists of arts professionals from both sides of the U.S.-Canada border and has undertaken artist residences, exhibitions, performance tours and convenings. Additionally, MAC’s international arts webpage features a number of resources that facilitate relationships between artists, arts organizations, arts audiences and other cultural stakeholders based in the United States and Canada. Specifically, the page offers details on traveling to Maine, the location of U.S. customs offices and how to cross the U.S.-Canada border. It also addresses U.S. visa requirements for foreign artists working in the country, the steps in contracting performing artists from abroad and the process of withholding federal taxes applicable to their artist fees. Finally, MAC produced the 2016 Maine International Conference on the Arts, which included many Canadian delegates and focused on the intersections of creativity, industry, art and innovation. Find out more from MAC Director of Media Arts and Performing Arts Kerstin Gilg.