{"id":469631,"date":"2026-02-15T06:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T06:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/469631\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T06:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T06:28:18","slug":"portland-museum-of-art-looks-to-provide-community-space-while-expansion-plans-take-shape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/469631\/","title":{"rendered":"Portland Museum of Art looks to provide community space while expansion plans take shape"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\tA preliminary concept design for a temporary program space the Portland Museum of Art hopes to have in place at 142 Free St. this summer. (Rendering by Lever Architecture and courtesy of the Portland Museum of Art)<\/p>\n

The former site of the Children\u2019s Museum in Portland has stood empty since the building was razed in September<\/a>, but the Portland Museum of Art hopes it will be a place to gather come summer.<\/p>\n

The museum ultimately plans to build a new wing<\/a> on the parcel at 142 Free St., but Elizabeth Jones, deputy executive director of PMA, said the museum wants to \u201cactivate\u201d the space in the near term.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than have an empty lot, it feels important to engage the community in this space and pilot some ideas that we have for the eventual new wing,\u201d Jones said in a phone interview Friday.<\/p>\n

As the PMA continues its fundraising campaign toward the expansion project \u2014now at $67 million of its $100 million goal \u2014 the wooden, open-air structure would be a place for the community to gather and could also play host to films, theater, music and other artistic endeavors.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuseums can be so precious, but this is a space that we feel we can really experiment with,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

The museum is in the process of acquiring the necessary permits for the outdoor space, Jones said, and hopes to open it this summer. If all goes to plan, the structure would be temporary only in location.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a temporary, mobile space,\u201d Jones said. \u201cOnce we are ready to build a new wing, we will think about where a new home for this community space could be. \u2026 It\u2019s meant to be sustainable and reused.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it inches closer to a new wing, the museum is also acquiring parcels along Free Street from MaineHealth<\/a> as part of its expansion plan. In addition to office space for the museum, some of the parcels being bought from MaineHealth would be used for public parking.<\/p>\n

Jones described the endeavor as a \u201conce in a generation\u201d opportunity to bolster the arts district. She hopes the temporary space can provide an early taste of what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the activation of the space, I think we can really provide a more seamless artistic-, pedestrian-, vehicle-friendly experience to the arts district,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty exciting moment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A preliminary concept design for a temporary program space the Portland Museum of Art hopes to have in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":["post-469631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}