February 10, 2011

Maine: Maine-New Brunswick Cultural Initiative

The state of Maine recently entered into an international agreement with its neighboring Canadian province of New Brunswick. Maine’s governor and New Brunswick’s premier signed a formal memorandum of understanding to establish a Maine-New Brunswick Cultural Initiative that will:

• encourage cultural business and tourism opportunities,
• enhance cultural information exchange,
• streamline the border-crossing process for artists,
• collaborate on cross-border cultural projects, and
• apply lessons learned from previous collaborations.

Work on this initiative began with a task force that included Maine Arts Commission (MAC) Executive Director Donna McNeil. The task force recently completed an initial assessment of cross-border cultural exchange between Maine and New Brunswick. The assessment highlighted ways to capitalize on existing collaborations and noted the significant potential jobs growth and economic impact of increasing cultural cooperation. In the coming months, the task force will develop specific steps to be implemented leading up to the Acadian World Congress in 2014. For additional information, contact MAC Media and Performing Arts Associate Kerstin Gilg.