Building update! Wood-n’t you like to know...
Have you seen what’s going on at our headquarters in Norway? There are some big changes happening...
We’ve come a long way, but we still need your help!
There’s been a lot going on the factory floor for Lights Out. With support from the Maine Community Foundation, we have started taking steps to make our coworking space a reality. Connecting with local carpenters along with support from businesses, we making notable headway in our venture.
Insulation Station
In an amazing partnership with TimberHP, Lights Out received a whopping 26 palettes worth of TimberBatt, recycled woodfiber batting. At that hefty unloading of wood fiber, we knew that as skilled and talented as our crew is, there’s a reason we aren’t a contracting company. Local musician and skilled carpenter and maker James Rice has been working at Lights Out since the darkest, coldest parts of winter to strip down and install wood batting into the future coworking space. Black dust seeped through all of the cracks in the building as James and Derek ground beams, scorched by fire decades ago. While we worked in our office, huddled around space heaters and blankets, we would occasionally be met with a loud puff of black haze as two men, clad entirely in white, goggles, and facemasks. The only part of their skin exposed was their cheeks, which became grey with charcoal. But soon, the weeks have gone by, and the co-working space has become insulated.
Here’s the coworking space today!
There is a palpable excitement at Lights Out. The building is coming to life and starting to morph into the collective space we dream about. The office we are working in is on the chopping block to be gutted soon. The sounds of hammers are certainly hammering away. When the fear of frozen pipes has melted away, we plan on moving our office out of our little haven of heat that it has been in the winter and tearing out the walls as well.
We are getting closer to building this community space, and we need your help now more than ever. Grant funding these days is limited and freezes in federal funding and budget cuts. The list eternally goes on. You are living in the same world that I am. We need your support. We need your support to ensure we can pay our workers what they deserve. To buy materials to repair historical architecture and spaces with care. To create a public space to foster artists, creatives, weirdos, people who need to make friends, people who want to learn, want to make signs, need to build something, can come.
We talk of Lights Out being a resilience center, a meeting space for creating new radical futures through art, or a space to gather as a community in weather or strife. This is a space we need to build more than ever. A space to gather. To plan, and grieve, and discuss, and protect. Building and sharing, meeting new people, emerging together.
Upcoming events:
Community Art Night (Afternoon)!
Sunday, March 23rd, 2pm-5pm in the Community Room at Lights Out!
Why make arts and crafts at home alone when you can do it with others! Bring your materials or some of ours to send a some time being creative! Recent projects have included, painting miniatures, mixing DJ sets, darning and sewing, watercolor journalling, holiday decorations, clay sculpting and more!
Life Drawing
Monday, March 24th, 5pm-8pm in the Community Room at Lights Out!
Come practice your figure studies with a variety of poses! The Western Maine Art Group is moving their Monday figure modeling to Lights Out. Bring your own supplies, easel and such, the chairs and the model will be waiting for you. $12 for the three hour session.
Please become a member by signing up for monthly donations or make a one-time donation. Really. It means a lot to us.
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The building of community space at lights out is truly one of the best things that has happened in Norway!!