Pecha Kucha Night in Portland, Maine on Feb. 25 to Benefit Haiti

Fun, fast-paced event at SPACE Gallery in Portland will showcase the works, thoughts and ideas of creative Mainers – and raise money to help rebuild Haiti

PORTLAND, Maine (February 13, 2010) – The first Pecha Kucha Night of the new year in Portland, Maine will raise money to help rebuild Haiti while showcasing the works, thoughts and ideas from some of Maine’s most creative minds.

The public is invited to the Pecha Kucha Night event on Thursday, Feb. 25 at SPACE Gallery at 538 Congress St. in Portland. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and presentations begin at 7:20 p.m. Donations will be accepted at the door to support Architecture for Humanity, a well-known global organization helping rebuild Haitian schools, health clinics and community buildings.

The event, billed as a dynamic, friendly sharing of ideas, is presented by Pecha Kucha Portland Maine, the local branch of Pecha Kucha Night Global. For more information, visit http://www.pecha-kucha.org/night/portland-maine/.

Pecha Kucha Nights, started in 2003 in Tokyo by Klein Dytham Architects, follow the same format all over the world: Presenters are given a short amount of time to share their ideas. It's like speed dating, but with ideas. Fast-paced and energetic, the evenings are a chance to see what other creative people in the community are up to while enjoying a beer and meeting other designers and artists.

Pecha Kucha Global is committed to supporting the efforts of the people of Haiti to rebuild their country. All Pecha Kucha organizations will be raising funds throughout February for Architecture for Humanity (AFH) to use in Haiti. AFH operates globally and was instrumental in getting projects built after the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. The design costs for the new buildings in Haiti have already been covered, so all donations will go directly toward the construction of much needed schools, health clinics and community structures.

The Feb. 25 event is the 11th event put on by Pecha Kucha Portland Maine, which was the 80th city in the world to form a branch. The popularity is growing as branches of Pecha Kucha, which refers to the Japanese term for the sound of “chit chat,” now operate in more than 230 cities around the globe.

The program at SPACE Gallery will feature Maine designers, photographers, filmmakers, a landscape architect, and food sculptors. The lineup of presenters, for example, includes Masey Kaplan (www.maseykaplan.com), a graphic designer from Falmouth, and Kate Kaminski (www.willardbeach.tv), the creator of a comic web series set in South Portland’s Willard Beach. Each presenter will show 20 images, each for 20 seconds, and talk along with the images for a total of 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

“Pecha Kucha Night is all about creative people making creative presentations,” said Jean Maginnis, the Executive Director of the Maine Center for Creativity, an event supporter. “Every time I attend one of these events I am blown away by the amazing creativity and thought process going on in people’s minds and in their studios. There’s just a lot of positive energy in a very relaxed, fun setting.”

In addition to the non-profit Maine Center for Creativity (www.mainecenterforcreativity.org), Pecha Kucha Portland Maine is supported by Green Design Furniture (www.greendesigns.com), and Greg Boulos & Family.

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Here is more information about Maine Center for Creativity