Milestones Since 2014

Activities:

Narraguagus High School, where the 2015 student musical TimeWise was created, produced--and enjoyed by the community! Show logo design was created by cast member Desirée Grant

 

• SCAI's HOME BASE:  Renovated/repaired our Center & its Studio; restored the property’s landscaping. 

• SCAI's COMMUNITY:  see Community Service, below.

• YOUTH THEATER:
  • 2014-15: Created and directed a spring 2015 musical with an original script—Time-Wise: A Musical Journey—at Narraguagus High, the school's first theater production in 3 years. The performances were a great success, laying the groundwork for an ongoing drama program...

• ...Which in 2018-19 saw the Drama Club—at what is now the Jr/Sr High School—creating and workshopping an original production with music, The Lobsterman & His Wife: A Downeast Fairy Tale, based on a Grimm's story.  The spring show played at the school, for residents at Narraguagus Bay Health Care in Milbridge, and in the University of Maine at Machias' "Thou Art Fair."  The script was chosen by The Grand performing arts center in Ellsworth for its 2019 Fringe Festival.
  • In 2021-22, it is being turned into a virtual production, with the help of a mini-grant from our regional partner Healthy Acadia.

• The 2019-20 NJSHS Drama Club once agan created its own original show with music: All's Fair in Love, Lizards--and the Lab!   Due to COVID-19 quarantine measures, which as of mid-March 2020 closed all schools, the planned performances were unable to take place. 

• MUSIC:
  • 2014:  Began offering private voice lessons, in person at our Center and via Skype and Zoom

• 2015: Established an ongoing series of "TLC's - Tiny Little Concerts" in the Studio at our Center 

• 2016:
  • Hosted/publicized a 2-day residency in June by the DaPonte String Quartet—twice acclaimed as "Maine's Best Musical Group" in Downeast Magazine—which included school and library programs and a concert, in Milbridge, Harrington, and Steuben
  • Began offering choir singers' & conductors' workshops, and launched a casual women’s singing group, “The Fishwives”

• 2017 saw SCAI's Danielle Woerner
  • offering recital/chamber music  concerts at collaborating regional venues: Schoodic Arts for All (Winter Harbor), and the Eastport Arts Center. 
  • beginning a new voice-teaching relationship with Ellsworth Community Music Institute (ECMI)

• 2018 through spring 2020:
  • Danielle offered private voice lessons at MDI High School
  • At ECMI, she also began directing a Youth Chorale, which by December 2019 had performed three successful cooperative concert programs with the adult Bagaduce Chorale, based in Blue Hill;
  • the Youth Chorale also gave its own performance at ECMI in May 2019.

• Spring 2020 to the present: Due to COVID-19 quarantine requirements, we moved all operations online.
  • This included the founding of the SCAI initiatve "Sing into Joy - Singing as a Path to Wellness."
  • We're creating virtual theater productions with youth, online workshops, and a subscription voice lesson program, SongBytes.

• Please contact Danielle Woerner for more information about online learning activities including voice, acting, writing, songwriting. 

• WRITING:
  • 2014-16: Founded "Fish Point Writers" year-round sharing & critiquing group. A new group will be hosted in 2020.

• 2017: inaugurated a fall "Milbridge Lit-Fest," a celebration of writers, good writing and delicious reading.  Workshops/presentations were timed to coincide with National Novel Writers Month (NaNoWriMo), with support activities and retreats for writers completing a 50K-word novel in the 30 days of November.
  • We plan to resume the festival in 2020 in an expanded form, under the more broadly inclusive name of the DownEast BookFest. 

• 2017- 2020: Award-winning community news reporting, feature writing and photography
  • for the Machias Valley News Observer, Jan.-Dec. 2017
  • for the Coastal Chronicle, June 2018 - February 2020

• 2021: Danielle's chapbook, I Never Promised You a Cherry Orchard: Japanese Short-Form Poetry, Served with a Twist, was published by Sunrise Song Press. Available on Amazon, and here from the author's online shop (signature or dedication on request), along with her "Haiga Greetings: Art Cards with a Whisper of Haiku" and  CDs. 

• CREATIVITY and ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT:
  • 2014-15:  Facilitated an “Artist’s Way” group in cooperation with the Women’s Health Resource Library (WHRL) in Milbridge

• 2016: Began private tutoring for home-schooled and remedial students, in music, writing, songwriting and more. 

• The 2021-22 virtual production of "The Lobsterman & His Wife" has given its teen and pre-teen cast members a boost in confidence aloingside their singing and theater skills. 

Professional Development:

• Completed a course in Basic Volunteer Management offered by the Maine Commission for Community Service and United Way

• Attended seminars in tourism, economic & community development, small-business development, and creating a bike-friendly environment, offered by Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), Sunrise County Economic Council (SCEC), Making Headway in Your Community,  Axiom Technologies, BikeMaine, and GrowSmart Maine.

• In 2020-2022, regular learning and small-business networking in cohorts sponsored by CEI's Women's Business Center, SCEC, and SCORE Portland. We're grateful for this expert free help, enabling our business to remain resilient in these difficult, changeable times.

Community Service:

• Provide, on an ongoing basis, free live music for organizations including Tidal Arts, Pleasant River Garden Club, Gateway:Milbridge, houses of worship, merchants' association events, and DETOP (Down East Table of Plenty)

• Served on the Board of Directors of the Milbridge Area Merchants Association (2014-16), and continue to help with its major annual events including Milbridge Days and Christmas on Main Street

• Played a key role in founding Gateway: Milbridge, a downtown preservation & revitalization endeavor with an emphasis on the arts, and served as an officer on its Board of Directors (2015-17).  Gateway's first project is to bring back the Milbridge Theatre as a film & live performance venue for the area.  We continue to encourage & applaud Gateway's efforts. 

Recognition: Excellent coverage in the region's print media, including a major feature in The Bangor Daily News, a front-page article in The Machias Valley News Observer, and regular notices and photos in the Ellsworth American , Quoddy Tides, Coastal Courier and CountyWide newspapers.