This month on Live Culture we end the year on a positive note with a tour and discussion with Hugh French, Director and Kristin McKinlay, Director of Exhibitions and StudioWorks Residency Coordinator for The Tides Institute and Museum of Art in Eastport Maine. This is a success story of a small institution revitalizing its community through art, using a variety of inventive and forward-thinking methods. Join me on an audio tour with Hugh and Kristin through their newly renovated StudiosWorks residency space, and the very-much-under-construction renovation of the old Masonic Building downtown, which will give them expanded exhibition space, collection storage, a museum shop and restaurant.

The Tides is dedicated to bridging borders and exploring boundaries. While many small arts institutions are struggling to survive in today's market-driven climate, TIMA offers a model for creating collective goods for artists and local residents, while preserving historic buildings and using green innovations with their construction projects. Located directly on the U.S./Canada border between New England and the Atlantic Provinces, the Tides Institute & Museum of Art weaves together a range of regional and international interests, resources, and initiatives to build critical mass, synergy and connectedness. Founded in 2002 in Eastport Maine, the Tides Institute & Museum of Art offers initiatives and programs to foster new innovative and cross-sector works; through its wide ranging collections, education and preservation e?orts; and through its partnerships and endeavors to strengthen the region’s economic prosperity, vitality and wider connections.

TIMA's StudioWorks Artist-in-Residence Program is now in its seventh year. Facilities include an 1887 downtown StudioWorks space, an 1819 North Church Project Space plus two historic buildings for artist housing. By the end of 2019, 57 artists from 17 different states and three foreign countries will have participated in the program.

TIMA's collections are extensive and wide ranging – from historical to contemporary, from the 18th century to today. The collections have a particular focus on art, broadly conceived, but also have strong interests with architecture and history. The focuses of the collections are on the U.S./Canada northeast coast with connections to the broader world.

TIMA has received two awards from the national ArtPlace initiative based in New York City that is a partnership of 16 of the largest private foundations in the U.S.. In the first nine years of ArtPlace's existence, TIMA remains the only institution in Maine to have received ArtPlace funding.
More about TIMA and the StudioWorks Residency Program can be found here: https://www.tidesinstitute.org/