Shannon Haines easily could have ended up far from the arts community in Waterville. Though she grew up in the area, she went to college at Middlebury, in Vermont, and after college went on to work in Rhode Island as a Waste Management and Recycling Specialist. However, after a few years there, often driving back and forth between Rhode Island and Maine to visit family, she realized she would rather live where she grew up. She got a job in Augusta, but soon ended up in Waterville “because of the very same assets that I love today – the Maine International Film Festival and Railroad Square Cinema, Colby and the Colby Museum, and the Waterville Public Library.” Haines cares deeply about community development and Waterville’s arts and culture community. As she herself said, “That’s just what I have a passion for.”
She has extensive knowledge and faith in the arts in Waterville. She can list off Waterville’s arts achievements with ease and pride: a newly renovated, historic opera house, the largest art museum in the state, the largest and longest running film festival in the state, the only Art House Sundance theatre in the state. She is also interested in and excited about Waterville’s future, saying that “right now is a super exciting time for downtown revitalization.” She is eager to hear more conversations about Waterville’s current state—more dialogue between those who want progress and those who are hesitant about change. Haines is passionate and knowledgeable about Waterville and its arts and culture, and this passion was a huge motivator in bringing her back from Rhode Island to Waterville.
Each of her jobs in Waterville has related to community development or the arts in some way, beginning with her work at Waterville Main Street. She spent years as its director, “working to enhance the community…and…to make it a better place to live.” It wasn’t an easy job, with a lot to do and a lack of investors, but she worked hard to promote Waterville, boost its economy, and increase community engagement. Often in this job, she found herself thinking about arts and culture because, she says, “Arts and culture were always a focus for me.”
After working at Waterville Main Street, Haines became the executive director of the Maine Film Center. As she had found herself focused on the arts in her community-centered job, she now found herself focused on the community in this arts-centered job. She explained that she worked at the Maine Film Center “not because I’m a film expert, but because I saw its impact on the community.”
Fittingly, she eventually found a job that “combines arts and community development in… a big way.” Waterville Creates!, where Haines is now the CEO and president, does exactly that. The organization gives “community level access to the arts.” Haines runs events like Youth Art Month, which makes art accessible for everyone by providing a gallery for local children where they and their families can come see their artwork displayed. It is Haines’s hope that this exposure to the arts will inspire the kids’ families to “pursue their own creativity” by, for example, visiting an art museum or taking an art class. Not only is Haines clearly passionate about arts and culture and Waterville itself, but she is also trying to spread that passion to others.