Waterville
Maine
Waterville Creates Arts Spotlight from April 15-21, 2024
Arts and Entertainment
April 18, 2024
From: Waterville Opera HouseF E A T U R E D
COMMUNITY ART BUILD: THE STORY OF HOW HUMANITY SAVED THE EARTH
Paul J. Schupf Art Center
93 Main Street, Waterville
April 21
12–3pm
Free
Come celebrate Earth Day!
Join the Mid-Maine Citizen Climate Lobby and artist Lucky Platt to create a painting about love for our home planet to celebrate Earth Day. All are welcome to come paint and celebrate Earth!
Afterwards, visit the Maine Film Center for a great film about seed diversity on planet Earth! Click here for more information
Artwork by Jean Ann Pollard.
A R T S
TOGETHER
Multiple Locations
April 5–April 29
Hours: Wednesday–Monday, 11am–7pm
Together features three art exhibitions and four events during the month of April to highlight diverse aspects of community life in and around Waterville.
For months, social engagement artist Peter Bruun immersed himself in the Waterville area, holding dozens of conversations, and facilitating multiple art-making workshops. With its culmination in April, Together shares models of healthy community, advances ongoing community-building initiatives, and fortifies existing relationships in Waterville and beyond.
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and realized in partnership with the Colby College Museum of Art and its Lunder Institute for American Art.
YOUTH ARTS ACCESS FUND: WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Established in March 2022, the Youth Arts Access Fund (YAAF) provides youth aged 18 and under with free access to Waterville Creates events and programs—all of them!
For just $1,000/month or $5,000/6 months, your business can be recognized as a YAAF sponsor of the month and provide critical support for this beloved program.
The Colby Center for the Arts and Humanities is this month's YAAF sponsor. Inspiring discussions and challenging conversations around Colby College's campus, The Colby Center for Arts and Humanities raise and amplify the intellectual might and passion of the Colby student body, empowering students to chart their own course inspired by the transformative experience of work, play, and collaboration in the arts and the humanities.
F I L M
NO ONE TOLD ME
Maine Film Center
93 Main Street, Waterville
April 20
12pm
Free
Join Maine Film Center and Kennebec Valley Community Action Program (KVCAP) for a free screening of No One Told Me, a new documentary by filmmaker Zulilah Merry, alongside a resource panel for prenatal and postpartum supports.
No One Told Me provides a raw and honest look at the postpartum period, a unique time in a woman's life that is rarely captured in documentary film. The purely observational footage of incredibly intimate moments shows the highs and lows encountered by parents Elise and Marc as they adapt to life with a baby. Focusing on the new mother, the film shares the physical, hormonal, and psychological changes she faces during the first 10 weeks of motherhood. It is a story filled with tender, tense, raw, and intimate moments, making one feel as though they are present in the room with the new parents.
Please join us for a Q+A following the screening with Zulilah Merry, the director of No One Told Me. KVCAP and other partners will share resources on prenatal and postpartum supports for families including planning for a baby, breastfeeding support, and connecting with and caring for a new baby and yourself.
INDIGO GIRLS: IT'S ONLY LIFE AFTER ALL
Maine Film Center
93 Main Street, Waterville
April 20
7pm
From $9
Eligible for the Youth Arts Access Fund
With forty years of making music as the iconic folk-rock band Indigo Girls, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have made their mark as musicians, songwriters, and dedicated activists. They have represented radical self-acceptance to many, leading multiple generations of fans to say, “the Indigo Girls saved my life.” Still, Amy and Emily battled misogyny, homophobia, and a harsh cultural climate chastising them for not fitting into a female pop star mold. With joy, humor, and heart-warming earnestness, Sundance award-winning director Alexandria Bombach brings us into a contemporary conversation with Amy and Emily—alongside decades of the band’s home movies and intimate present-day verité.
“No matter what your preconceived notions about the Indigo Girls are, Bombach’s excellent exploration of their lives and career in It’s Only Life After All breaks these down and shows the hilarious, thoughtful, and impactful band that should be even bigger than they already are... It’s Only Life After All should be a joy for Indigo Girls fans, and after watching this documentary, it’ll be hard to not call yourself a fan if you aren't already.”—Collider.
ONE MAN DIES A MILLION TIMES AND THE SEEDS THAT MAY SAVE HIM
Maine Film Center
93 Main Street, Waterville
April 21
3pm
From $9, free for Waterville Creates Members
Eligible for the Youth Arts Access Fund
The final entry in a three-part Science on Screen® series!
This event is free for Waterville Creates Members.
In the midst of the Siege of Leningrad, two botanists–Alyssa and Maksim–work tirelessly to protect a seed bank and its invaluable contents: seeds of edible plants from around the globe that are essential to the development of modern agriculture. With the future of Russia’s food supply on the line, the pair defend the nation’s stockpile from swarms of hungry rodents, enemies of the state, their nation’s own starving population, and even each other. As Leningrad is cut off from the rest of the world, Alyssa and Maksim slowly discover the strength to carry on in the love they find in one another.
Before the screening, join guest speaker Will Bonsall as he examines the question: why is seed diversity important? At the helm of the Scatterseed project, Will Bonsall has safeguarded an extensive array of seed varieties, numbering in the thousands. With each seed variety potentially holding resilience to rising temperatures, intensified rainfall, and other environmental shifts, the preservation of this diversity becomes incredibly important.
Part of Science on Screen®, an initiative of the COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE, with major support from the ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION.
P E R F O R M I N G A R T S
AN EVENING WITH TOM RUSH AND MATT NAKOA
Waterville Opera House
1 Common Street, Waterville
August 15
8pm
Now on sale to the public
$29–$39
Eligible for the Youth Arts Access Fund
Tom Rush is a gifted musician and performer whose shows offer a musical celebration, a journey into the tradition and spectrum of what music has been, can be, and will become. His distinctive guitar style, wry humor, and warm, expressive voice have made him both a legend and a lure to audiences around the world. His shows are filled with the rib-aching laughter of terrific storytelling, the sweet melancholy of ballads, and the passion of gritty blues.
C O M M U N I T Y
WATERVILLE MOVES
Paul J. Schupf Art Center
93 Main St, Waterville
April 20
Parent + Child: 9:30–10:15am
All Ages: 10:30–11:30am
Free
Waterville Moves is a bi-weekly series that invites you to move your body, share stories, and create connections through guided movements and dance making. Each class is 45 minutes to an hour long, and can be taken as a series or a single workshop. Classes are free and open to all: no experience with dance needed.
Classes are every other Saturday through May 2024.
U P C O M I N G
SLICE: SPRING 2024
Multiple Locations
Tuesday, April 23 + Thursday, May 2
3–5pm
Free, registration required
SLICE (Students Learning Innovative Creative Endeavors) is a series that explores cool career paths in the arts! This program encourages students ages 13-18 to explore Waterville’s unique, high-quality arts and cultural programs. Each afternoon will be packed with information, inspiration, and pizza. Please note the location where each session will take place.
This is a free program but registration is required. Sponsored by the Colby Center for Arts & Humanities.
CONNECTING COMMUNITY WITH ART!
Date: Tuesday, April 23 at 3-5pm
Location: Paul J. Schupf Art Center, 93 Main Street, Waterville
MINI FANTASY TERRARIUMS + FIGURES
Date: Thursday, May 2 at 3-5pm
Location: Waterville Public Library, 73 Elm Street, Waterville
HEAD OVER HEELS
Waterville Opera House
1 Common Street, Waterville
April 26, 27 + May 3,4 at 7:30pm
April 28 + May 5 at 2pm
$29–$39
Eligible for the Youth Arts Access Fund
Songs by The Go-Go’s
Based on The Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney
Conceived and Original Book by Jeff Whitty
Adapted by James Magruder
Sponsored by Surette Real Estate, New Dimensions FCU, and Maine Savings FCU
Bright and boppy, wild and colorful, this hilarious musical breaks down barriers and celebrates individuality with every chance it gets. Follow a diverse cast of characters on an outrageous odyssey of love, lust, sequins, and all-female power-pop anthems.
ASL interpreted performance on Sunday, April 28 at 2pm. Seats marked "L" (orchestra right) have an excellent sightline to the interpreter(s).
2024 Season Pass: If you loved our last show, it’s not too late to get our Season Pass Discount! Ticket holders from Drinking Habits will receive a 20% discount when they purchase tickets to the remaining 2024 stage shows in the same order! (Head Over Heels, Miss Holmes Returns, The SpongeBob Musical)
TOGETHER: NICHES, NOOKS, + NEEDS: CELEBRATING OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL
Paul J. Schupf Art Center
93 Main Street, Waterville
April 27
1–4pm
Free
Come celebrate with us! This culminating event for the Together project opens with a reception including music from Elm City Music and family activities from the Children’s Discovery Museum of Central Maine, followed by a 1:30pm program featuring collaborative dancemaker Matthew Cumbie and Together partners from Educare Central Maine, Green Block + Studios, High Hopes Clubhouse, Mid-Maine Regional Adult Community Education, South End Teen Center, Thomas College, Waterville Area Arts Society, Waterville Area Soup Kitchen, and the Waterville Comprehensive Treatment Center to celebrate education, work, and life opportunity for all in the Waterville area.
DEATH WINGS STORY SHARE
Studio 1902
93 Main Street, Waterville
April 28
3–4:30pm
Free
Waterville Creates hosts a public reading and storytelling event at the completion of the Death Wings Project, a series of three workshops held from January–March 2024 that redefine our relationships to death, grief, loss, and challenging life transitions.
Professional actors will read excerpts from a script developed by instructor Bess Welden and workshop participants will present their wings and share reflections about them. This is an informal presentation for 50–60 people, including up to 24 wing-makers and their families. Refreshments will be served.
M E M B E R S H I P
Our membership program provides benefits across all divisions, including the Waterville Opera House, Maine Film Center, and Ticonic Gallery + Studios, as well as special gifts from founding partners the Waterville Public Library and the Colby College Museum of Art. Your support will help sustain outstanding, accessible arts programming for all members of the community.