DONATE TODAY TO
Help us save Lincoln Street Center!
With your help we can save Rockland’s only artist building along with its historic school building and theater space.
Thanks to the fiscal sponsorship of Waterfall Arts in Belfast, you can make a tax-deductible contribution today!
We are also seeking major commitments in the form of pledges—if you have interest and capacity to help us secure the building as a major donor, please call or email our Board Chair, Amy Files. Thank you!
Our situation
The Art Capital of Maine’s only Artist Building.
The Lincoln Street Center, located in the iconic former Rockland High School, is home to over 30 affordable artist studios and a historic theater. It now faces imminent and permanent loss, unless the local community bands together to save it.
Our building is currently under contract to be purchased by local housing developers from an international landlord. Upon learning about the building’s vital role in Rockland’s arts ecosystem, the developers have generously offered the Lincoln Street Center organization—founded by artists within the building—the opportunity to purchase it instead. But there’s a catch: we must raise $1.8 million by October.
“This building is more than just a space—it’s a lifeline for our creative community. We’re calling on our Midcoast community, philanthropists, art lovers, our local arts institutions and those who believe in Rockland’s future to help us preserve this irreplaceable resource. Without affordable studios, we risk losing the very artists who make Rockland the Art Capital of Maine. If we let this opportunity slip away, we will permanently lose, not only the creative spaces, but the theater and historical character of the old school, both precious pieces of Rockland history.”
—Amy Files, Board Chair, Lincoln Street Center for the Arts
What is at stake?
An invaluable resource that we can’t afford to lose.
The Lincoln Street Center provides essential and affordable creative space to artists and artisans across the Midcoast.
Housed in a building rich with local history, the Center serves as both an incubator for artistic talent and a conduit for community connection. Our facility also includes a 300-seat theater and vintage gymnasium, offering expansive potential for performances, events, community gatherings, and collaboration with local schools and organizations.
If the Lincoln Street Center were shuttered tomorrow it would result in the displacement of over 30 creative small businesses, a majority women-owned, leaving many of our local artists without anywhere to go.
The benefit in providing affordable workspace to artists extends far beyond the tenants who reside in it. Lincoln Street Center has helped launch careers, is an engine for the artwork shown in our local galleries, provides fuel and energy to spur local creative activities and carries with it invaluable potential to serve and partner with our local community, our schools, our City and our local organizations, as an arts and cultural center.
Under new ownership, we will lovingly and carefully restore the structure and renovate the auditorium and gym spaces—bringing them back to their glory as a future home to school plays, community events, lectures, musical performances, and more.
What is our Plan?
Strategic Planning & Organizational Overview
The Lincoln Street Center already exists.
It’s our mission to save it.
About two years ago, a small group of our artists had the foresight to see the writing on the wall—it was only a matter of time until we lost the building. In order to prepare for the moment we are now faced with, they formed a Maine non-profit “Lincoln Street Center for the Arts” and reached out to Waterfall Arts in Belfast, to establish a partnership and fiscal sponsorship under which they could begin their fundraising.
Our mission:
To preserve and provide vital creative space for our Midcoast arts community.
Our vision:
To serve as a hub for artistic excellence, innovation, and all forms of creative engagement between working artists and our Midcoast community by providing critical work, performance and event space. Utilizing the historic Lincoln Street school building, which has been a foundation of the community since 1867, under our ownership, we will preserve and steward this special place for the next generation, building capacity and connectivity between local organizations, artists and community members. By providing exposure to our rich and rooted local arts scene through open studios, educational programming, artist residencies, mentorship, performances and public events, the Lincoln Street Center for the Arts will ensure there continues to be a home for our local arts well into the future.
Our immediate need:
In order to execute our vision, not only to save the artist studios, but to act as stewards of this historical Rockland landmark, we need to secure ownership of the building. We are seeking $1.8 million in donations pledged in support of the building purchase and startup costs. That amount will allow us to finalize the purchase and immediately begin the work of caring for the property and preserving the affordable artist workspace, as well as restoring one of the only theater spaces in Rockland.
While we face an initially daunting goal of raising significant funds in a short amount of time, the good news is that a thriving arts eco-system already exists. We have a building full of artists and with it rental income that will cover a majority of our critical operating expenses. After securing the building and studios through purchase, we can begin the exciting journey of building the capacity of this unique space to host events, performances, and act as a vibrant cultural space centered in our community and to serve as a conduit to connect artistic disciplines, creative energy and organizations throughout the Midcoast.
On behalf of the entire Lincoln Street Center community, we’d like to thank you for your time and interest in our project and this opportunity to invest in its future.
The Lincoln Street Center for the Arts’ mission is simple but powerful: to preserve and provide vital creative space for the Midcoast arts community. With time running short, we are seeking major donors, community partners, and champions of the arts to join them in securing a permanent home for creativity in Rockland.
Thanks to the support of Waterfall Arts, a thriving hub for artist and community in Belfast, who has graciously offered their mentorship and support of our project, through their fiscal sponsorship, Lincoln Street Center for the Arts is able to accept tax-deductible donations and pledges towards the $1.8 million goal needed to purchase our building and property at 24 Lincoln Street, Rockland.
For more information or to get involved, please contact:
Amy Files, Board Chair of the Lincoln Street Center of the Arts, at info@lincolnstreetcenter.com or 207-200-5151.
Make a tax-deductible donation today!
For larger donations, or donations by check:
Checks should be made out to “Waterfall Arts” and then noted in the memo line: “for Lincoln Street Center for the Arts”. Checks should be mailed to: Waterfall Arts, 256 High Street, Belfast, Maine
For major donation inquiries or pledges: