The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded 10 Maine arts groups a total of nearly $1 million.

Students singing at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts

The total appropriation announced Thursday was $981,800, with $756,800 of that going to the Maine Arts Commission to support its programs and activities.

Creative Portland received $25,000 to support public art installations at four new city bus shelters, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts received $10,000 for workshops for LGBTQ students from Maine, and the Ogunquit Playhouse got $10,000 to develop musicals through its New Works Program.

Other grants include: $50,000 to Art At Work in Portland to support its original programming related to Maine history, $45,000 to Engine, Inc. in Biddeford to support architectural designs for the historic Marble Block building’s conversion into a cultural center, $25,000 to the Camden International Film Festival, $20,000 to Portland Ovations, $15,000 to the Telling Room in Portland and $20,000 to Cultural Resources Inc. in Rockport.

Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine, D-1st District, and vice chair of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee and co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Arts Caucus, announced the grants Thursday afternoon.

“Rural communities across the country benefit from arts grants like those awarded today in my district,” Pingree said in a news release. “A nearly $1 million investment in these 10 creative organizations will go a long way to spur economic growth, draw tourists to our state, and ensure artists want to live and create in Maine.”