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Turning Private Space Into an Artistic Sanctuary
Like countless renovators before her, Donna McNeil bought her Rockland, Maine, home with decidedly lofty plans. As the founding executive director of Rockland’s Ellis-Beauregard Foundation (a nonprofit that spearheads arts education and supports creators) and lifelong curator and arts advocate, her vision encompassed much more than her own day-to-day needs. “I [bought] this place to share it; I like to host people,” she says. “I don’t have a family or partner, and so I create one through community. There’s been so much partying and dancing in this space, and it [now] functions exactly as I envisioned in terms of welcoming folks in.”
Getting to that point involved both polishing up the massive (and now-171-year-old) former church’s beautiful bones and revisiting its previous caretakers’ decisions. Join us for an intimate look at how she has spent the last seven years honoring its origins, giving it a cost-conscious makeover and creating a public-facing private home that’s even greater than the sum of its parts.
