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UMVA was founded in 1975 as a tax-exempt not-for-profit corporation. Founding members include Carlo Pittore, Stephen Petroff, Mark Petroff, Natasha Mayers, Abby Shahn, Kathy Bradford, Maury Colton, David Brooks, Pat Owen and others. Current committee members include Andrew Coffin, Kathleen Galligan, Caren-Marie Michel, Richard Kane, Dorie Klein, Natasha Mayers, Robert Shetterly, Dana Strout, and Deb Vendetti.
UMVA is an all-volunteer organization run by the generosity and commitment of its artist members who believe that the presence of the UMVA is both of practical and psychological benefit and importance. We are dependent upon membership fees and donations to cover operating expenses. What we are able to provide for the community is a result of the energy put into the UMVA. UMVA sponsors regular monthly meetings with slide presentations and dialogue among and between artists and the general public on pertinent and topical concerns which help to clarify the language of art; publishes a monthly members' newsletter of announcements, meetings, and relevant information; advertises UMVA activities statewide using the newsletter, local newspapers, local and community radio stations (WERU), and the Internet; administrates a flat file; obtains discounts for UMVA members; sponsors the Maine Masters Project, an ongoing film series featuring some of Maine's most distinguished artists; and sponsors and curates exhibitions, lectures, panel symposia, films, socials, and other programs to educate and to sustain artists in their artistic quests and pursuits. Our mission is to uphold the dignity of artists and to support a vital contemporary Maine art community. UMVA insists on the ideal of art as a spiritual and aesthetic communication beyond commerce. UMVA initiated and saw enacted into state law the Maine Percent for Art Program and the Artist's Estate Tax Law, and continues to lobby major venues to drop entry and jury fees from their exhibition requirements. UMVA also requires that the many organizations holding art auctions as fund raisers offer artists the choice to take a percentage of the sale of their work. This has led to better quality work at auctions with more money raised and artists feeling better about donating work to charitable causes. The organization serves as the statewide advocate for Maine artists promoting social, economic, legal and aesthetic concerns. Our vision is to grow and change with the times, to increase our membership and audience and to advance Maine's art community in quality and quantity. UMVA artists value what can be achieved through collective efforts. As artists we recognize that our connection with the world forms the core of all art-making processes. We welcome the opportunity to share our knowledge with each other in this spirit of cooperation.
artists
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