Dear Members,
2017 has proven to be a pivotal year for our association, ushering in a new executive committee after a long and dedicated service from our tireless former chair Dick Kane.
We recognized early on that in order to get our bearings and to be most effective as leaders, we needed to take a step back and evaluate how our association can best serve all of you, our members, and the greater film industry in Maine.
We decided this spring to undertake a strategic planning process that would provide us with clear direction and achievable goals toward this end. Many of you participated in our process by completing our survey or attending a listening session to gather your feedback and suggestions. Thank you for helping us determine our course for the coming years.
From this process, we have established a three-year strategic plan with goals to help expand our organization, better serve our members, and strengthen the film industry in our state:
- First and foremost, we have adopted a clear mission: The Maine Film Association (MFA) advances the art, craft, and business of filmmaking in Maine. Our vision is to make Maine a great place to live and work as a filmmaker.
- The Maine Film & Video Association is now the Maine Film Association. We have a new logo, and a fresh look for this next chapter of our organization!
- We will provide more professional development and skill-building opportunities for filmmakers, including three upcoming workshops this fall. (We hope you can join us at the first of the workshop series on October 14!)
- The MFA will be working to foster more and stronger connections across the filmmaking industry in Maine. We plan to host networking events, provide online networking tools via social media, and launch our new Maine Filmmaker Directory to showcase our members later this year—keep an eye out for a prompt to create your profile!
- We will work harder than ever to promote the film industry in Maine and attract more film production to our state by showcasing MFA members’ work, optimizing organizational and business partnerships, and advocating for the industry in the legislature and state agencies. We’ve already added new business membership options for members to get more visibility through MFA channels.
- Finally, in order to accomplish all of this work, we have hired our very first staff person. Liz Hall, the new MFA coordinator, helped us as a nonprofit consultant to formulate our strategic plan. Liz is very excited to be part of the MFA crew, to help the MFA grow as an organization, and to learn a lot more about the film industry in Maine.
Thank you for being a member and for supporting the MFA. Our members are the backbone of this association, and together we can work to make Maine a fantastic place to live and work as a filmmaker. We appreciate your ongoing support as a member as we enter this new chapter of our organization. We’ll be keeping you up-to-date on all kinds of developments over the coming months– stay tuned!
Sincerely,
Tom Handel & Alban Maino
Co-Chairs, Maine Film Association
Tom Handel, Co-Chair
Executive Director, Community Television Network
Portland
Tom is the executive director for the Community Television Network, soon to be Portland Media Center. His 21+ years of experience in public access television as a producer and board member in Lincoln County positioned him to be a valuable asset to CTN when he joined the team in December 1996.
Alban Maino, Co-Chair
Producer, Memory-Lane.tv & Dreamland Technology
Cape Elizabeth
Alban is the owner of Dreamland Technology, a production company based in Portland, ME, specializing in interactive media productions. He is also the founder of Memory-Lane.tv, a therapeutic, non-pharmaceutical approach to caring for people living with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, through interactive multi-sensory stimulation.