It’s never been easy trying to make a go of it being an indie, emerging or mid-career artist, filmmaker or musician in Maine. If it were, everyone would drop their “jobby-job” to do it full time. Since 2014, however, a new nonprofit in Bangor, called Launchpad, has been giving these type of artists a leg up, serving as a support and incubator for artists throughout Maine.

On May 16 organizers hosted their largest event to date: The first-ever All Roads Music Festival, in Belfast, was a monumental success, which has propelled Launchpad out of the underground. Even though they’ve been in existence for more than a year, many people around the state are just beginning to find out about them now.

Launchpad was started by a young entrepreneur, Meg Shorette, who is the organization’s executive director and has always worked in nonprofits, and volunteered for the KAHBANG Music and Art Festival for years.

“I had always really enjoyed seeking out emerging artists to fill the other stages, film and art festival components of KAHBANG that weren't focused on the headlining acts,” said Shorette.

The KAHBANG Festival, despite its powerful beginnings, tried unsuccessfully to move its operations to Portland last year. Right now, it’s currently inactive.

“It was heartbreaking to see something that was built with such young, upstart spirit struggle in its last year,” she said. “Say what you want about the event—it had heart and I have never worked with another group of people so passionate about making it happen. I will always be grateful for the years it gave me to meet and talk with artists, musicians and filmmakers on an indie level. I learned what they want and need from events and organizations to launch them to the next levels of their careers.”

Along with a nonprofit board, Launchpad is now emerging as one of the coolest organizations in Maine supporting and spearheading artist-led events.

Here’s how Launchpad works. They currently support a slate of initiatives and programs to strengthen the existing Maine artistic landscape. These include its flagship project, the Launchpad Arts Incubator, the HelpArt initiative and the Central Gallery.

The Incubator is the professional side, helping artists hone their business and networking skills. It provides a physical, collaborative space for artists who are chosen through an application process to spend a residency, develop arts education, work on community-based arts projects, as well as have access to exhibitions, performances and talks.The HelpArt initiative is the funding side. HelpArt is a crowdfunding initiative designed to help artists raise the funding necessary to develop, produce or complete projects. The main vehicle is through the online portal: helpart.org.

The Central Gallery is where all of the prep work and training comes together. The gallery, located on Central Street in Bangor, used to be the KahBang gallery, run by Shorette before that festival moved its headquarters to Portland. Now, it is the place where contemporary, emerging and unconventional art, artists and ideas come together.  Each year, the space presents 12 visual arts exhibitions as well as hosts various events and programs.

Beyond that, Launchpad has a slew of other programs, labs, workshops and classes. Their events favor the quirky, silly, innovative vibe, such as Tipsy Art on May 26 (two hours of painting and wine) and an upcoming Dance-A-Thon on May 30 (a prolonged dancing event to raise money for artists). To see more details on these upcoming events visit: Launchpad on Facebook

“I truly believe that creative careers of all kinds start one audience at a time,” said Shorette. “Launchpad aims to be the catalyst in as many artists' lives as possible and if we can keep creating opportunities for artists to be seen, we're doing our job. The artists, musicians and filmmakers we work with should outgrow us in time as they keep progressing but we hope they'll always remain a part of this community we're starting to build.

It’s tremendously exciting to see a young successful arts nonprofit that “gets” the creative class in Maine. For more information on Launchpad’s programs visit: wearelaunchpad.org

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com