Blog: New at CMTM

On February 3, 2020, the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine announced at a press conference the public launch of its $14 million Imagine Capital Campaign to fund construction of the Museum & Theatre’s new state-of-the-art 30,000 square foot facility at Thompson’s Point. Doubling its size and projected to host nearly a quarter of a million visitors per year, the Museum & Theatre will offer performing and visual arts, STEM, and cultural education for children, youth, and their families. All new exhibits will be fully inclusive to children and caregivers of all abilities. Campaign leadership announced that this largest capital campaign in the Museum & Theatre’s 97-year history has already raised, to date, $12.5 million dollars in gifts and pledges from individuals, corporations, and foundations, and from the proceeds of the sale of its 142 Free Street building. Throughout 2020, community members will be invited to participate in completing the Museum & Theatre’s campaign. 

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Chief Knowledge Officer and Deputy Director Al Race of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University will speak about the role of play in children’s growth and development-especially in the face of adversity- with our 2020 Auction Gala attendees on May 15, 2020.

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Elephant & Piggie performances have been extended to ten more dates through Saturday 2/22 due to popular demand that sold out all of our January shows! Come watch this children’s play filled with fun and laughter about the importance of friendships! Grab your tickets while they last!

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Portland Bach Experience and Thompson’s Point announce the inaugural Portland Nutcracker Experience on Saturday, December 28, 2019 at Brick South, Thompson’s Point in Portland, featuring a live orchestra and prima ballerinas from Portland Bach Experience (PBE), and child actors and educators from the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine (Museum & Theatre). At a time when families are gathered together for the holiday, this interactive event provides a rare, family-friendly opportunity to bring your loved ones, your tutus and dancing shoes, and your creativity together for this immersive experience for all ages where families can dance in the Nutcracker alongside ballerinas.

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When the main stage production of The Velveteen Rabbit opens on Friday, December 6, actor Darby Defilippis of Portland will be playing the Skin Horse in his 20th show since 2016 with the Children’s Theatre & Museum of Maine. His first show was also, the The Velveteen Rabbit, but this time around he’s accompanied on stage by his brother, River, who plays Alex, a little boy ill with scarlet fever. Fourteen youth actors in the production - spanning from 8 to 14 years in age - come from five southern Maine towns.

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Executing its strategic plan to serve twice as many children and families and to expand programming to a more diverse community by moving to a new facility at Thompson’s Point, the Children’s Museum & Theatre closed on the sale of its 142 Free Street building to the Portland Museum of Art (PMA) on October 15, 2019. Thompson’s Point is the newly-developing public-transportation friendly destination and hub of creative activity on the Fore River. Proceeds from the sale of 142 Free Street are contributing to the Museum & Theatre’s construction of the new building and its exhibits; a capital campaign for the balance needed will be announced in the coming months.

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Exhibits Associate Andy Rosen is curating a show called FolkLand at the Portland Public Library that opens on First Friday October 4, from 5-7pm. The FolkLand show is described as “crafting a new kind of folklore” where the featured artists “tell a story about the natural world now, threatened by change, still rife with mystery and wonder. Their works ask us to revisit and reclaim our relationship with the world around us.”

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The Museum on the Go program at the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine provides informal, experiential learning stations in settings with large numbers of children and parents or caretakers (often 100 or more people). Museum on the Go provides open-ended programming from a six-foot table, accommodates large groups, and allows for varied stay times. The Life of Istar, the Humpback Whale program is an exception as it requires considerably more space to accommodate the 40-foot inflatable whale.

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