Photo / Courtesy, Bondeko
Klara Horchler of Bondeko Construction prepares to replace water-damaged sill over the front door of Mayo Street Arts during renovations.
Updated: August 29, 2024
Mayo Street Arts renovates headquarters in 19th-century former church
Photo / Courtesy, Bondeko
Genet Fontaine of Bondeko Construction replaces door trim with signs of water damage during renovations at Mayo Street Arts.
A former Danish Lutheran church at 10 Mayo St. in Portland has housed community nonprofit Mayo Street Arts since 2009.
But the aging building is in need of renovations that will allow the organization to expand its seasonal programs.
Mayo Street Arts was awarded a $110,000 grant from the home-improvement chain Lowe’s Hometowns program, a five-year, $100 million grant initiative aimed at restoring community spaces.
Mayo Street Arts was founded by Blainor McGough and Brian Arlet, artists interested in creating a space for music, art and theater. They built artist studios and began hosting music, art shows and a puppet workshop.
Today Mayo Street hosts hundreds of events each year.
1890 church
In 1890, the Danish Lutherans built the St. Ansgar’s Church at 10 Mayo St.
Over the past decade, renovations included a new roof, the choir loft and performance space, a new stage, an outdoor classroom and other facility improvements. Murals were commissioned for the interior and exterior.
City records show the building and grounds are assessed at $746,200. It was acquired by Mayo Street Arts in May 2013 for $250,000, according to Portland city records.
Climate control
The Lowe's Hometown grant will pay for the first of two phases of work, allowing the organization to reduce its carbon footprint and provide more control over the internal temperatures of the building. Projects include insulation and drainage system updates, siding, trim and foundation repairs, and HVAC renovations.
The building includes single-paned stained glass windows and a “quilt” of insulation efforts over the years, Ian Bannon, the nonprofit's executive director, told Mainebiz.
The grant will allow the exterior shell to be shored up and increase the amount of insulation by installing storm windows on the exterior of the stained glass windows. The attic will be reinsulated to help seal the envelope.
A mini split heat pump will be installed for the balcony and office space.
Maintenance is needed on the trim, which is allowing water to seep in. Some corrections will be made to the drainage system around the building.
The need for climate-control work becomes obvious in the summer, when the building “becomes swelteringly hot,” said Bannon.
Mayo Street Arts has been getting by with expensive solutions, such as standup air conditioning units.
But the organization is unable to hold its free youth programs in the middle of the summer due to the heat.
Improvements are expected to create a more temperate and healthy environment both for its youth programs and also to allow the organization to generate revenue through summer rentals of its hall.
Phase 1 is underway at a “fast and furious” pace, he said.
Companies hired for the project include Atlantic Heating Co., Martinez Painting and Bondeko Construction, all in Portland.
Bondeko, which hires and trains New Mainers, is doing the trim work and the custom-fit storm windows. Members of the company have a music group of the same name that started at Mayo Street Arts.
Mayo Street Arts is seeking funding for the second phase of work, which will include the main hall and studio.
All told, the project will be about $200,000, said Bannon.
Diverse neighborhood
Mayo Street Arts serves over 6,500 people with its performances, workshops and a visual arts gallery. It serves 2,500 students throughout the year, through three programs, all of them free and drop-in in order to eliminate barriers to accessibility. They include an after-school program, a summer youth program and a partnership with East End Community School to fundraise and facilitate artist residencies.
In addition to Bannon, the organization has three full-time and three part-time employees.
Mayo Street Arts is funded in part by a grant from the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Photo / Courtesy, Mayo Street Arts
Traditional artists living in southern Maine discuss their dreams and barriers to achieving them during a Traditional Arts Network gathering at Mayo Street Arts. With funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, Maine Arts Commission, and Onion Foundation, the gathering provides funding, networking and professional development opportunities for artists who have arrived in Maine bearing artistic and cultural heritage from their countries of origin.
East Bayside is the most densely populated, ethnically and culturally diverse square mile in Maine, according to the organization. The building serves as a theater, concert venue, art gallery and meeting space and offers affordable artist studios, rehearsal space and a teaching platform for visual and performing artists of multicultural backgrounds.
Programming offers a variety of forms with a particular focus on puppetry, folk music and dance.
There’s a yearly schedule of music, theater, puppetry, dance and visual arts. A regular international open mic draws multicultural performers from the neighborhood. IT has become a venue that draws immigrant artists and neighbors, said Bannon.
Photo / Courtesy, Mayo Street Arts
Students express creativity through painting during “Club MSA: Arts After School.” The program is offered free of charge to students living in Mayo Street Arts' Kennedy Park neighborhood in Portland.
Mayo Street Arts is a member of the International Union of Marionnettes and is regularly featured on the Jim Henson Foundation “Puppet Happenings” website.
In 2022, the arts organization launched Puppets in Portland, a biannual city-wide festival of international puppetry arts. The inaugural festival featured artists from Kenya, Czech Republic and the U.S., with events held at venues across Portland.
This year’s festival of international puppetry is scheduled for Sept. 13-22. Click here for more information.
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