YAM Stewardship Report

For almost 30 years, the Portland Museum of Art and the Maine Art Education Association (MAEA) have collaborated to bring National Youth Art Month to Maine. This annual exhibition showcases the incredible work produced by K‑12 students throughout the state, representing a wide variety of youth perspectives and artistic practices in Maine. MAEA member teachers – the dedicated individuals at the forefront of Maine’s quality school art programs – each select one piece of exemplary work from their classrooms to represent the creative efforts of their students and to empower students with a passion and talent for art. 

For the first time, YAM is digital, which brings exciting opportunities to share the artwork of Maine’s youth with a wider audience. We hope that the artworks in this exhibition inspire more creativity, spark more conversations, and garner support for more arts education in our schools and in our communities. Art is a powerful, expressive tool through which people of all ages find their voice, their passion, and their power. 

Youth Art Month is supported by the Onion Foundation and the Peggy L. Osher Education Endowment at the Portland Museum of Art, with corporate Support from Norway Savings Bank.

General Information and Demographics: 

• Artworks submitted: 82

• Maine counties represented: 11 of 16 counties

• Maine cities: 40 cities

• Number of people at receptions: 100 total

  • 22 people at K‑4th grade

  • 46 people at 5–8th grade

  • 32 people at 9–12th grade

Digital engagement:

Most popular webpage for the month of March*

• Overall Website Users: 23K (up 43% from previous month)

• Overall Sessions: 30K (up 42% from previous month) 

• YAM Pageviews: 2735

• YAM Average time spent on page: 00:04:27

*apart from homepage

Social media for March (Facebook/Instagram/Twitter):

• Overall Reach: 7487

• Engagement: 359

• # of posts related to YAM: 3

• Combined likes for YAM posts:  329

Youth Art Month 2020 

• 114 artworks submitted

• 12 of 16 counties represented

• 80 students & their families attended reception

• 604 people in total attended reception

Youth Art Month 2019

• 108 artworks submitted

• 11 of 16 Maine counties represented

• 45 Maine cities represented

• 71 students & their families attended YAM receptions

• 450 people total attended YAM receptions