Art & Culture
Portland Public Library is the City’s cultural center and is the most visited cultural institution in Maine offering print, film, music, and online collections to showcase the arts and creativity.
We offer materials in the arts and humanities, a wide variety of programming in partnership with local cultural organizations, and a place where creative organizations and individuals can share their work with others. We celebrate the broad diversity of our community’s creative expression, and are committed to building awareness and appreciation of the arts around us.
Visit the Downtown Children’s Library from December through January for our annual exhibit from Art Quilts Maine!
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Portland Ovations has a lively season packed with touring Broadway shows! Join us in reading and discussing books that are related to themes in three of these shows. Participants will have a chance to win a free pair of tickets to each show.
Learn More »The seventh annual Reading Challenge is here! 24 books in 12 months: will you accept the challenge?
Still enjoying your summer reading? We are a READ ME Participating Library!
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Portland Public Library Spotlight Lectures bring authors into engaging conversation with their peers. This year, these conversations follow the theme “Fashion + Sustainability”. Hear about the effects of fast fashion and how what you wear has can have impacts on society, the economy, and the environment.
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Register to join local cartoonist Isabella Rotman on five consecutive Saturday afternoons to draw comics! In this class, we will cover the basics of comics making, including comics terminology, character design, setting, expressions, and the comics-making process. Each student will write, storyboard, draw, and self-publish their own comic from start to finish.
This free series is for anyone over 16 and all materials will be provided. All skill levels welcome—novice artists and seasoned cartoonists alike! Registration is closed.
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Portland Comics Club aims to support emerging graphic artists and cartoonists by providing support, reflections of ideas, and awareness to publishing and self-publishing. Open to the everyone in the public aged 16 and over. Some supplies will be provided. Discussion of graphic novels encouraged and welcomed. The Comics Club meets every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month.
The Portland Poet Laureate is an honorary position given every three years to a poet who resides in the Greater Portland area and wishes to connect our shared community to the wonderful world of poetry. Portland’s current eighth Poet Laureate is Signature MiMi, and the first Portland Youth Poet Laureate is Yashaswini Derisala.
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Join us on Peaks Island for a friendly meeting of students interested in working on their drawing skills with local artist and teacher Laura Glendening. Registration required, no prior drawing experience needed.
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The Noonday Concert Series provides free access to live performances by Maine’s most talented musicians throughout the academic year. The series has always been an integral part of the Conservatory’s mission to provide equal access to high quality music and highlight its talented faculty and students.
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Join us for our monthly Button Club in the Teen Library to design and make your own wearable buttons! We meet on the third Thursday of each month.
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Museums & More
Portland Public Library offers free passes to several local Museums and cultural sites including Portland Museum of Art, Portland Observatory, Southworth Planetarium, and the Maine State Museum. To request a pass for a specific date, with your Library card, call or visit the Lending Desk at any of our locations.
Up Next at the Library:
From the PPL blog:
Looking for a good book? PPL library staff share a few of our picks for fall. More »
In August we plunge into nonfiction and novels, movies and music and adventures, fire and water! More »
Our June 2024 Staff Picks blog post. Read to discover new books and booklists at the library! More »