October 17, 2005
Next: Youth movement | Maggi Blue, co-director, Midcoast Magnet, Rockland
By Michaela Cavallaro
About eighteen months ago, Maggi Blue was close to moving back to the Midwest. A graphic designer, she was having trouble finding work and friends in Cushing, and she just wasn't sure that living in Maine was going to work out.
Around the same time, Blue began meeting with executives at Village Soup, the Camden-based newspaper publisher, and her father, Alan Hinsey, to talk about how the midcoast region could capitalize on the creative economy talk swirling around the state. "A lot came out of articles he had written for Village Soup," says Blue. "My sister and I were the reason for the articles ˆ he wanted to keep his daughters here."
What began as a personal conversation has become a much larger force in Maine's efforts to promote the creative economy and minimize so-called "brain drain," the phenomenon in which young, highly educated Mainers leave the state for job and social opportunities elsewhere. Today, Blue is co-director of Midcoast Magnet, an ambitious effort to make the region the creative capital of Maine.
While, like other anti-brain drain groups across the state, Midcoast Magnet holds social events and mixers, its emphasis is on creating ˆ and acting on ˆ an agenda that ranges from improving cell phone and high-speed Internet access to increasing the amount of affordable housing in the area and encouraging the development of a higher education campus. Blue and her cohorts have proven that the creative economy and youth retention are more than just airy social engineering notions; instead, the work of Midcoast Magnet shows that when buttressed by research and analysis, and spurred by grassroots action, these concepts have the potential to inform serious positive change in Maine.
For example, before Midcoast Magnet even had a name or a logo, the group began developing an online survey about the midcoast's strengths and weaknesses. While the results largely confirmed organizers' hunches ˆ the survey found that the region's strengths include scenery, the small-town feel and low crime rates, while weaknesses include job opportunities, affordable housing and access to higher education ˆ the ability to quantify them, even unscientifically, was valuable, according to Blue. "We were able to start with an action plan," she says. "It wasn't just, 'We're all cool and we're all creative.'"
As a result, Gov. John Baldacci in April approved a $25,000 grant to Midcoast Magnet; in order to receive the funds, the group must match the money through its own fundraising. Blue says the group plans to send its first appeal letter this month, following the release of "The Journey Begins: Report to the Community Fall 2005." The report summarizes the survey findings and lays out 18 "Big Ideas," ranging from creation of an online clearinghouse for available talent, job opportunities, arts and entertainment events and real estate development opportunities to encouraging the development of "third places," which the report describes as "places that are not home and are not workˆ that allow people to be inspired, relaxed, spontaneous and to cross-pollinate in ways that may affect their professional lives."
Blue, 29, hopes the fundraising will allow her and co-director Noah Keteyian, who runs a Rockland textile design firm with his wife, to begin drawing a salary for their work. In the meantime, Blue's Rockland graphic design firm, Magpie Creative, has steadily gained clients; in addition, through Midcoast Magnet she's made contacts with other designers, programmers and copywriters, to whom she can subcontract work when necessary.
"Before Midcoast Magnet, I didn't think there was anybody else here like me," says Blue, who bought a house in Warren with her husband a little over a year ago. "Through Midcoast Magnet I found that there are people like me ˆ you just have to find them."
Around the same time, Blue began meeting with executives at Village Soup, the Camden-based newspaper publisher, and her father, Alan Hinsey, to talk about how the midcoast region could capitalize on the creative economy talk swirling around the state. "A lot came out of articles he had written for Village Soup," says Blue. "My sister and I were the reason for the articles ˆ he wanted to keep his daughters here."
What began as a personal conversation has become a much larger force in Maine's efforts to promote the creative economy and minimize so-called "brain drain," the phenomenon in which young, highly educated Mainers leave the state for job and social opportunities elsewhere. Today, Blue is co-director of Midcoast Magnet, an ambitious effort to make the region the creative capital of Maine.
While, like other anti-brain drain groups across the state, Midcoast Magnet holds social events and mixers, its emphasis is on creating ˆ and acting on ˆ an agenda that ranges from improving cell phone and high-speed Internet access to increasing the amount of affordable housing in the area and encouraging the development of a higher education campus. Blue and her cohorts have proven that the creative economy and youth retention are more than just airy social engineering notions; instead, the work of Midcoast Magnet shows that when buttressed by research and analysis, and spurred by grassroots action, these concepts have the potential to inform serious positive change in Maine.
For example, before Midcoast Magnet even had a name or a logo, the group began developing an online survey about the midcoast's strengths and weaknesses. While the results largely confirmed organizers' hunches ˆ the survey found that the region's strengths include scenery, the small-town feel and low crime rates, while weaknesses include job opportunities, affordable housing and access to higher education ˆ the ability to quantify them, even unscientifically, was valuable, according to Blue. "We were able to start with an action plan," she says. "It wasn't just, 'We're all cool and we're all creative.'"
As a result, Gov. John Baldacci in April approved a $25,000 grant to Midcoast Magnet; in order to receive the funds, the group must match the money through its own fundraising. Blue says the group plans to send its first appeal letter this month, following the release of "The Journey Begins: Report to the Community Fall 2005." The report summarizes the survey findings and lays out 18 "Big Ideas," ranging from creation of an online clearinghouse for available talent, job opportunities, arts and entertainment events and real estate development opportunities to encouraging the development of "third places," which the report describes as "places that are not home and are not workˆ that allow people to be inspired, relaxed, spontaneous and to cross-pollinate in ways that may affect their professional lives."
Blue, 29, hopes the fundraising will allow her and co-director Noah Keteyian, who runs a Rockland textile design firm with his wife, to begin drawing a salary for their work. In the meantime, Blue's Rockland graphic design firm, Magpie Creative, has steadily gained clients; in addition, through Midcoast Magnet she's made contacts with other designers, programmers and copywriters, to whom she can subcontract work when necessary.
"Before Midcoast Magnet, I didn't think there was anybody else here like me," says Blue, who bought a house in Warren with her husband a little over a year ago. "Through Midcoast Magnet I found that there are people like me ˆ you just have to find them."
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