BELFAST — The Future of the Hutchinson Center steering committee meets Wednesday, August 30, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., at the Belfast Free Library, to hear the current status of the Center and consider how the public can be a part of visioning the future Belfast Hutchinson Center.

“For 23 years the University of Maine Hutchinson Center in Belfast has been a beacon of opportunity, culture, education, aspirations, and community,” said the committee, in a news release. “Belfast area residents earned their degrees, statewide conferences routinely packed the halls drawing participants from Aroostook to York. Belfast’s Senior College grew and flourished into the most successful in the State of Maine. Event after event brought many thousands from near and far to the Center every year. The Hutchinson Center flourished even as the University lost interest.”

In mid-June the University of Maine announced the Center would be closed in August. The Future of Belfast’s Hutchinson Center has been meeting and working to create a plan to acquire and preserve the Belfast Hutchinson Center. 

“The creation of the Hutchinson Center was an uncommon gift of epic proportions,” said the committee. “If we allow the Center to cease to exist as an educational, arts, business, and community engine the loss will be a catastrophe. The Belfast Hutchinson Center has enormous potential to survive and thrive. Please join in this historic opportunity.”

The goal of the meeting is to listen to the public's thoughts on what the Hutchinson Center did for Belfast and the area, ideas for the future Hutchinson Center, and look to gather supporters for the operation of the next generation of Belfast’s Hutchinson Center.

If you are unable to attend, the steering committee wants to hear from you via email at hutchinsonfuture@gmail.com.