ARRT! (The Artists’ Rapid Response Team!) works with progressive groups and organizations throughout Maine, providing images that can help to distill and clarify their important messages about issues that matter to people in Maine and the world beyond our borders.
People throughout Maine have been very active this spring making their voices heard. Below are some images and information about how ARRT! helped to put a spotlight on their messages.
ARRT! banner for the Maine Recovery Advocacy Project, in process.
Advocates from the Maine Recovery Advocacy Project joined ARRTists. They are working to get harm reduction health centers (overdose prevention sites) authorized, as well as detox beds, funding for recovery community centers, and Naloxone training for young people in Maine’s schools. We worked fast so they could bring the completed banner to the State House to enhance their message to the legislature.
Completed ARRT! banner for the Maine Recovery Advocacy Project.
ARRT! banner for Protect Ancient Forests.
ARRT! banner for the Biddeford Community Gardens project.
ARRT! banner for the Maine Food Convergence.
The Maine Food Convergence is part of the the Maine Network of Community Food Councils (MNCFC), founded in 2011. Their stated vision is:
for our state to have resilient, vibrant and self-reliant local and regional food systems, so that all Maine communities will have enduring food sovereignty and our citizens will have access to healthy, local food.
ARRT! started a banner for them to take to their conference where the words were added in chalk by attendees, and then ARRT! painted them at the next session.
ARRT! banner for the Golden Rule, the Veterans for Peace sailboat.
ARRTists completed the Golden Rule, the Veterans for Peace sailboat banner which sails into Portland and Bath in June as part of an ambitious tour to show, in their words,“that nuclear abolition is possible, and that bravery and tenacity can overcome militarism.”
ARRT! banner for peace by Cynthia Howard.
ARRTist, Jean Noon with her pop up book, reinforcing the idea that reading helps build empathy.
Also in June, ARRT! joined in on brainstorming with some of the veteran Whitefield Independence Day artists, on their proposed theme about book banning. Stay tuned for pictures and news of this event in our next issue.
ARRT! banner supporting the ERA for the Maine Women’s Lobby.
ERAMaine is working on a Constitutional Amendment to the State Constitution for an Equal Rights Amendment. They state:
We’re organized and mobilized to make equal rights the law of the land.
ARRT! banner on Earth Day in use by Maine Youth Action.
ARRT! for Earth Day.
ARRT! for Earth Day.
ARRT! for Earth Day.
ARRT! for Earth Day.
ARRT! for Earth Day.
ARRT! placard for the Earth Day Climate Strike in Portland.
As part of an art build for the Earth Day Climate Strike in Portland this April, ARRTists joined with activists from the Maine Youth for Climate Justice and the Sunrise Movement.
ARRT! banner for the Maine Library Association.
Maine Association of School Libraries, OUT Maine, and the Maine Library Association banded together with ARRT! to tackle issues of intellectual freedom in Maine schools.
Below are pictures of ARRT! images recently seen in use and ARRTists and community members making art together.
ARRT! Be Kind banners spotted at the Portland Jetport this spring.
ARRTists at work at the Merrymeeting Hall, Bowdoinham.
ARRT! banner for the Maine Recovery Advocacy Project in action.
ARRT! banner in support of union workers in the news.
ARRT! banner in support of union workers in the State House.
ARRTists at work at the Merrymeeting Hall, Bowdoinham.
ARRT! placard supporting Tribal Sovereignty.
ARRT! banner in use at a vigil for LD 199, a bill to remove exclusions in MaineCare for immigrants, at the State House.
ARRTists at work at the Merrymeeting Hall, Bowdoinham.
We are having our first ever ARRT! Retreat and look forward to exploring new ways to raise the voices of active citizens and collaborate!
The Artists’ Rapid Response Team (ARRT!) is a project of the Union of Maine Visual Artists. ARRT! is grateful for the support of the UMVA and a donor-advised fund of the Maine Community Foundation. UMVA members and others are always welcome to join in, and ARRT! is always on the lookout for organizations in need of our services. Check out our website.
Image at top: ARRTists at work at the Merrymeeting Hall, Bowdoinham.