Mission, Vision, Values
Mission
The Center Theatre is a 501(c)3 non-profit with a mission to engage and inspire by making arts, education, and entertainment accessible to our rural communities.
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Vision
Center Theatre will remain a stable cornerstone of the larger community through increased outreach, diverse programming, arts stewardship, and continuously expanding membership.
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Values
We shall treat one another and all with whom we interact with respect; operate with fiscal responsibility, transparency, integrity, creativity, and joy; and the work we produce and present shall reflect our firm commitment to strengthening our community, contributing to the quality of life in our region, and creating a safe place for risk-taking, collaboration, and the open exchange of ideas.
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About Us
Our home is a historic movie theater and local landmark in downtown Dover-Foxcroft, the County Seat of Piscataquis County, Maine. The theater was built in 1940 and enjoyed a long run as the area’s cultural hub. With the rise of television and regional economic decline, the Center Theatre closed in 1971. While the lobby area was used for various businesses and storefronts, the auditorium was abandoned and in danger of being forgotten. Click here for more information on the history of the Center Theatre.
In 1998, a group of Piscataquis County residents formed a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization called Center Theatre, Inc. to begin the work of renovating the historic landmark and once again making it the center of the downtown. After 8 years and 2 Million dollars raised, the Center Theatre for the Performing Arts held its grand opening in August of 2006. Since then, it has provided a year-round schedule of accessible arts, education, and entertainment programming. Our community theater group, The Slightly Off-Center Players produces several shows every year along with a variety of educational programming including the Center Theatre Children's Summer Drama Camp and After School Theater program.
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In 2009, the Center Theatre hosted the first ever Maine Whoopie Pie Festival. That first festival drew 600 people to the parking lot behind the Center Theatre. Now the largest one-day festival in Piscataquis County, the annual festival draws over 8,000 to downtown Dover-Foxcroft. Visitors celebrate the taste of Maine's Official State Treat, enjoy a wide variety of other food vendors, artists, and crafters, listen to live music and children enjoy bounce houses, rides, and activities.
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