Grant awarded to Mahoosuc Arts

BETHEL — A $1,000 Maine Arts and Humanities Grant has been awarded to the Mahoosuc Arts Council for the presentation of an original film and score on Maine’s logging history by Sumner McKane. The performance will take place in the Bingham Auditorium, 45 Church Street on the Gould Academy campus, January 29 at 7 p.m.

This grant program is jointly administered by the Maine Arts Commission and the Maine Humanities Council. These funds are helping to support the production which illuminates the lives and times of Maine’s hardy lumbermen and river drivers on film, while the score is performed live by McKane and his bandmate Joshua Robbins.

"Not only is this film significant on an historical basis, the artistry of McKane’s musical composition coupled with his use of poignant and striking still images, captivating sound bites and rare archival film footage is tremendous,” said Aranka Matolcsy, director of the arts council which presented this film at Telstar in November last year.

As a child, McKane was fascinated by stories he heard in school about the rough and dangerous lives of Maine lumberjacks. For "In the Blood," he compiled archival film and still photographs of the logging industry from the turn of the 20th century into a documentary both entertaining and educational. The film illustrates and investigates these individuals and takes viewers into their rugged world. The experience is a striking virtual journey into the 19th-century Maine woods.

For more information, contact the Mahoosuc Arts Council through the website, www.mahoosucarts.org; email info@mahoosucarts.org or call Director Aranka Matolcsy at 890-6386.