Franco-American Heritage Center

Leavitt High School French Students Get Lesson in Franco Culture

Franco Center — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:38:23 +0000

Cindy Larock, left, teaches Leavitt High School French Students traditional folk dances.

Twenty-six French students from Leavitt High School, led by their teacher Christine Marcous, took a field trip to the Franco-American Heritage Center and later to Museum L/A to get a hands-on lesson on what life was like for French-Canadians immigrants in Lewiston.

First, Bates professor emeritus Douglas Hodgkin gave them a tour of the “Little Canada” neighborhood that defined life for French-Canadian immigrants, showing them the Grand Trunk Railroad depot, the mills where the immigrants found work, L’Ecole Ste. Marie where they went to school, the Oxford street tenements where they lived, and ended at the Franco-American Heritage Center where they worshiped back when it was known as St. Mary’s Catholic Church. All these institutions were within a few blocks of each other.

While at the Franco Center, they got a brief history of the building and why it became the Franco Center in 2000 (a decline in parishioners and extensive, urgent structural work caused the Catholic diocese to close the facility). Next, Cindy Larock of Lewiston, who will be inducted in the Franco-American Hall of Fame on May 14th in a ceremony at the Statehouse in Augusta, demonstrated traditional French-Canadian folks dances along with Don Cunnigham on mandolin and Lorraine Ouellette on accordion. And finally, the students enjoyed a meal consisting of samples of traditional Franco foods like tourtière, crêpres, salmon pie, pea soup and “boudin,” or blood sausage, as Franco Center banquet manager Edmond Gay explained why these foods are so quintessentially French-Canadian.

Altogether, the students spent nearly two hours at the Franco Center learning about what life was like for their grandparents and great-grandparents. After their time at the Franco Center, they boarded a bus and headed to Museum L/A to learn more about the lives of Francos in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Pre-registration mandatory for La Rencontre beginning in March

Franco Center — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 21:54:23 +0000

Goals are Accurate Meal Count, Reduced Overcrowding

While there will be no cost to do so, beginning in March it will be necessary to register in advance to attend the Franco Center’s monthly La Rencontre luncheons.

The move comes after patrons attending February’s La Rencontre voted overwhelmingly for this change when presented with three choices between (A) mandatory pre-registration, (B) buying printed tickets in advance at the box office each month, or (C) raising the ticket price from $7 to $8 to decrease demand.

Those who arrive without having first secured a place won’t necessarily be turned away — at least not immediately — but they will have to wait outside the dining hall until those who have registered have been seated.

This necessary change will serve the dual purpose of allowing the Franco Center staff to better estimate the amount of meals that need to be prepared and preventing the occasional overcrowding that can result from a particularly popular entertainer and/or an especially bountiful meal.

“In the past, we’ve tried to get an approximate head count by having a volunteer call our list of regular patrons and getting a rough estimate, but sometimes people wait to see how the weather is going to be and then decide at the last minute to attend,” says Louis Morin, the Franco Center’s executive director.

“That simply cannot happen anymore, both for the safety and enjoyment of those who took the time to let us know they are coming, and in fairness to our staff who need to know three days in advance how many people they need to feed,” he said.

“What we’re trying to avoid,” Morin added, “is a situation where we think 260 people are coming but 300 or more show up.”

Morin says that in the past, Franco Center staff would simply find room for everyone by adding more tables and maybe add an extra setting at each table. But he says that’s unfair to people who took the time to secure a space as well as the 20 or so volunteers who work the event, who must wait until everyone else has eaten before they get their meals.

“We’re not trying to be draconian about this, but when we’re full, we’re full,” Morin says, “and I am confident that our regular patrons will understand that.”

This new requirement will be put to the test on Friday, March 8 (which is the second Friday of the month instead of the usual first Friday). On the menu will be lasagna donated by DaVinci’s — cheese and spinach only, out of respect for observers of Lent — and the entertainment will be provided by about 80 young students from L’École Française du Maine in Freeport, who will be performing their adaptation of the French musical “Émilie Jolie.”

New “Hearing Loop” System for Hearing-Impaired Installed at Franco Center

Franco Center — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 00:40:00 +0000

Invisible Wire Under Floor Transmits Sounds to Cochlear Implants and Hearing Devices Outfitted with Telecoils

Patrons with hearing impairments attending concerts and other events at the Franco-American Heritage Center are now able to enjoy individually customized sound thanks to new technology installed in mid-January.

The hearing loop system consists of a wire that encircles the entire lower half of the Franco Center’s Performance Hall that magnetically transfers sound to properly-equipped hearing aids and cochlear implants. The project was co-sponsored by the Central Maine Hearing Center at CMMC.

“We are pleased to help all members of our community enjoy the wonderful performances at the Franco Center,” said CMMC President Laird Covey.

The hearing loop system was installed by Shanahan Sound and Electronics, Inc. out of Lowell, Mass., and made its Franco Center debut at the January 19, 2013 concert by the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra.

Anyone sitting inside the hearing loop and wearing a hearing aid or cochlear implant outfitted with telecoils (or T-coils) will be able to enjoy sound as their hearing-assistive devices are essentially transformed into in-the-ear loudspeakers delivering sound levels calibrated to each individual’s level of hearing loss.

“We’re touched that Central Maine Hearing Center would help us address an issue that some of our patrons have asked us about,” said Franco Center Executive Director Louis Morin.

“Lewiston has a high proportion of older people and for years they haven’t been able to enjoy our performances to the same extent as those without hearing loss,” added Morin, “and now they can.”

Patrons with hearing aids that do not contain T-coils may still experience the enhanced sound made possible by the hearing loop by borrowing a headset from the Franco Center box office. The lightweight headphones are hooked up to a small signal receiver with an adjustable volume level.

Franco American Heritage Center Saddened by Lewiston Mayor’s Remarks

Franco Center — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:43:09 +0000

“Leave your culture at the door” remark is as offensive when directed at Somalis as it was when directed decades ago at French-Canadians, says new Executive Director

(Lewiston, ME) – The Franco American Heritage Center today expressed its disapproval of Lewiston Mayor Robert Macdonald’s comments in the media telling Somali immigrants to “accept our culture and leave your culture at the door.”

The Franco Center’s response comes after Mayor Macdonald made his remarks in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation, remarks that have subsequently been widely disseminated in Maine’s statewide media.

“We recognize the need to accept the basic tenets of life in a new country and to abide by its laws,” says the Franco Center’s new Executive Director, Louis Morin, “but it’s just as important that you not forget who you are and where you came from, and it’s especially important to retain elements of one’s native culture as a means of maintaining one’s heritage.

“The irony of such remarks coming from the mayor of a city literally built by French-Canadian and Irish immigrants is not lost on us,” he added.

Morin said it’s important to respond to such comments forcefully and promptly, given that Lewiston’s French-Canadian immigrants faced similarly strong pressure to assimilate decades ago when tens of thousands of them emigrated from Canada to provide the workers in Lewiston’s mills at a time when Americans didn’t want those jobs, which paid little.

“It’s not just Lewiston. America itself was built by immigrants, and we are the stronger for it,” says Morin. “Lewiston’s Somali community has demonstrated a willingness to adapt and to open businesses on Lisbon Street and we should be encouraging them to continue doing so.

“Lewiston’s dominant architectural feature is the Basilica of St. Peter and Paul, built stone by stone and paid for by the area’s French Canadian immigrants,” says Morin, who then offered a question for Mayor Macdonald to ponder.

“Who’s to say what amazing future contributions to Lewiston our Somali neighbors might one day make?”

Franco Center Names New Executive Director

Franco Center — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 23:18:54 +0000

The Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston has named Louis P. Morin as its new executive director, only the second in its twelve year history.

Morin, 46, began working on September 4, 2012 and will eventually replace Rita Dubé, who is retiring in December after 12 years of running the center. Morin currently resides in Freeport.

“Rita has very kindly agreed to stick around for three more months to help me understand how the center works, how its programs are funded and to introduce me to the community,” says Morin.

“I don’t pretend for a second that I could ever truly replace her, since she’s irreplaceable,” he added. ”All I can do is work very hard to be the best steward of the Franco Center that I can be to ensure the long-term health of the organization.”

Morin is no stranger to Lewiston and comes to the Franco Center after over seven years at the Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation. Most of those years were spent at MPBN’s headquarters on Lisbon Street where he served as director of marketing and public relations and also worked for a time as the network’s corporate support manager.

Prior to MPBN, Morin worked for four years at Time Warner Cable and is a former weekly columnist for the Portland Press Herald, where he covered the city’s local music scene. He also spent three years as marketing and promotions director for WBLM-FM and WCYY-FM, two radio stations based in Portland.

Born and raised in Skowhegan in a family that moved to Maine from Quebec shortly before he was born, Morin grew up speaking only French before concentrating primarily on English after entering school. He has a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Maine, where he also participated in the university’s Canada Year exchange program in 1986 and studied for a semester at McGill University in Montreal.

In a bit of coincidence, Morin’s family hails from Saint-Côme, Quebec, a town not far from the border that also happens to be the same town with which the Franco Center has had a student and cultural exchange program for the last six years.

“When I heard that the Franco Center’s sister city in Quebec just happens to be the town where my parents were born, got married and started their family, I knew I would be at home here,” says Morin. “I can’t wait to get up there, where many of my aunts, uncles and cousins still live. I spent so much time there as a kid, it’ll be like going home again.”

Morin admits his French has gotten a little rusty over the years, but he says he still gets to practice on visits home to Skowhegan and to Quebec.

“I found that it comes back pretty quickly after a couple days in Quebec,” Morin says, “but it’s one thing to be conversational and quite another to be able to conduct business in French. My goal is to be proficient at the latter within a year.”

He says he will immerse himself in the language courses at the Franco Center to both familiarize himself with the Franco Center’s course offerings and to improve his own French-speaking ability.

“Elles Sont Venues, Elles Ont Servi”

Franco Center — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 19:18:26 +0000

Please check out this recent article in the Portland Press Herald by Franco friend Juliana L’Heureux.

The story gives a behind-the-scenes look at a display we are developing here at le Centre for a reveal this spring.

“I’ve wanted to celebrate the enormous dedication of Grey Nuns to our community, because they provided social services and health care well before organized human services programs existed. Their effectiveness has not been fully recognized,” she says.

“The Grey Nuns were the backbone of the social services network in our communities before human service agencies were organized to help people,” says Dube. Known officially as the Order of Sisters of Charity of Montreal, the Grey Nuns were founded in 1737 by St. Marguerite d’Youville to care for the poor.

“In my judgment, the social services the French-speaking sisters provided was a kind of glue that bound the Franco-immigrant community with the church, their families and the community,” Dube says.