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Among those who remember Emily Bean as a beloved member of the Bangor community and an active supporter of the organizations that served it, we at the Maine Alliance for Arts Education want to add our voice. In Emily’s support for our plan, in response to the Columbine High School tragedy in 1999, to bring students together through group creation and performance of theater and dance Emily’s passions for the arts and for serving the socially marginalized found common cause.
Emily’s powerful advocacy for “Building Community Through the Arts” not only helped us to initiate the program in English classes at Bangor, Brewer and Hampden high schools in 2000, but has helped to maintain it there and spread it statewide. We were so pleased to be able to honor Emily at the State House in Augusta in 2013, and 10 years later to be working with her still! Emily was a treasure for us all — and we around the state join the residents of Bangor in cherishing her memory.
Dana Legawiec
Executive director
Susan Potters
Former executive director
Maine Alliance for Arts Education
Augusta