BOWDOINHAM — Bowdoinham Dance Series will present a lively contradance at Town Hall, 13 School St., Saturday, Jan. 19, with tunes by Ellen Gawler and the Pineland Fiddlers with Maggie Robinson calling. All dances are taught and beginners are welcome. No partner is necessary. Please bring clean, soft-soled shoes to preserve the dance floor. A […]

BATH — Spindleworks returns to the Midcoast Center for Higher Education this winter to brighten the campus at 9 Park St. from Jan. 11 to Feb. 28. Works will include Bath artists Donald Freeman, Dana Albright, Kevin Babine and Michelle Rice. Work may be viewed Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9:45 p.m., and […]

POWNAL — Bradbury Mountain Arts is presenting the second concert in its Keep Me Warm Concert and Art Series, raising funds for heating fuel assistance, on Saturday, Jan. 12, at Mallet Hall, 429 Hallowell Road. The art gallery opening from 5 to 7 p.m. features the work of Lois Strickland, Lin White and Jeff Raymond. […]

BATH — McChesney Art Studio, 72 Front St., No. 16, Bath, will hold drop-in Clothed Figure Model open studios on Tuesdays from 2 to 4 p.m. The cost is $10. Materials are not provided, and participants should bring easel and stool, if available. The studio will also offer drawing instruction beginning Thursday, Jan. 17, for […]

BOOTHBAY — On Saturday at 1:30 p.m. the Boothbay Railway Village will host its first in a series of speaker programs for this year. Admission is free to all for a discussion titled “The History of Side Paddle Wheel Steam Boats in Maine.” The museum has produced these historic talks covering a variety of topics […]

NEW YORK Where once the post-holiday schedule was a blizzard of chilly reruns, January is aburst with premieres and finales. Already, the much-adored British miniseries “Downton Abbey” has made its much-awaited season return Sundays on PBS. On IFC on Fridays, the hilarious “Portlandia” is back for its third season of sketch comedy poking fun at […]

ALLENTOWN, Pa. The new movie “Promised Land” digs into the fierce national debate over fracking, the technique that’s generated a boom in U.S. natural gas production while also stoking controversy over its possible impact on the environment and human health. Written by and starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski, the film comes at an opportune […]

ROCKLAND — The Farnsworth Art Museum opened an exhibition in the museum’s Crosman gallery titled “Decorating the Everyday: Popular Art from the Farnsworth,” on Dec. 29, that will run through Sept. 22. This exhibition features furniture, paintings and textiles reflecting mainly 19th- and early 20th-century regional life in Maine and New England. This exhibition celebrates […]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — With its purchase of left-leaning Current TV, the Pan-Arab news channel Al-Jazeera has fulfilled a long-held quest to reach tens of millions of U.S. homes. But its new audience immediately got a little smaller. The nation’s second-largest TV operator, Time Warner Cable Inc., dropped Current after the deal was confirmed Wednesday, […]