Puppets are see in a puppet show hosted by ArtsFarmington. Submitted photo

FARMINGTON – ArtsFarmington recently received an unexpected grant from the Maine Community Foundation that the organization has chosen to use by creating the Arts Inspire Youth program. The program ensures that all children under the age of 18, as well as students at the University of Maine at Farmington [UMF], will receive free admission to all ArtsFarmington programs and events.

ArtsFarmington Treasurer Malcom Porter said in a phone interview with The Franklin Journal that the program was inspired by the Waterville Creates program, Youth Arts Access Fund [YAAF].

This new grant, along with other grants and donations from The Onion Foundation, Franklin Savings Bank, and The Buttonwood Trio, made this program possible. “It gave us the opportunity to replicate [the YAAF program],” said Porter. He said that this program is special because, “It’s ours. This is the first time we are able to offer this program.”

Porter said that ArtsFarmington has had some programs in the past that offered free admission to children and UMF students, however, now all of their programs will be free for them to attend. “Our goal is to provide affordable, high quality arts programming to the Farmington area,” said Porter. He explained that typically if a family wants to attend an event, it could easily add up to $80 or $100 with children, but this new program provides the opportunity for children to experience the arts without their families spending a fortune.

In order to access the new Arts Inspire Youth program, event tickets can be found on their website: https://www.artsfarmington.org/ or where tickets are sold at the event, the day of. Online access to tickets is recommended as seats are usually limited.

ArtsFarmington will bring Robinson Ballet of Bangor to Farmington for a performance of the full classic ballet, “The Nutcracker,” danced to the recorded music of Tchaikovsky. The performance will be at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 15, in the Björn Auditorium of Mt. Blue High School, 129 Seamon Road. Doors will open at 2:30 p.m. Submitted photo

Porter also shared that ArtsFarmington already offers a “pay-what-you-can” rate for everyone. This opportunity creates more accessibility to the arts for anyone in the community. “We turn nobody away,” Porter said.

ArtsFarmington is still in the early stages of the Arts Inspire Youth program. Porter said that in the near future, they hope to create more kid-specific programs like performances or perhaps a week-long summer program. Recently they had a puppeteer visit Cape Cod Hill School in New Sharon, and they brought actors from the Theater at Monmouth to the Emery Community Arts Center at UMF to perform Romeo and Juliet.

Their upcoming “block-buster” event is The Nutcracker, which will be performed by the Robinson Ballet company of Bangor at Mt. Blue High School on Dec. 15 at 3 p.m.

For more information on the Arts Inspire Youth program or ArtsFarmington, go to ArtsFarmington website or Facebook page.