The University of Maine at Presque Isle has received a $50,000 federal grant to help build a new visual arts center that will be the first of its kind in the region.
The grant was among the $5.07 million awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts as part of its Our Town community development program. Sixty-six of the program’s 275 applicants received funding.

The Northern Maine Center of the Cultural Arts, which will be located on the second and third floors of the former Wight Furniture Building at 149 State St., is a collaboration between UMPI, the city of Presque Isle, the Wintergreen Arts Center nonprofit group and several other partners.

The project, estimated to cost $257,000, has raised an additional $50,000 through a Maine Arts Commission economic development grant and other monies through fundraising events.

Heather Sincavage, a UMPI art professor and project director for the arts center, told the BDN that the center will help create a greater draw for the city’s downtown.

A timeline for the center’s renovation and opening was not available.