Prepare Maine is a new initiative of the Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education to improve the quality of education and economic opportunity statewide. They held kick off events last week in Portland, Skowhegan and Bangor and launched their website in an effort to build public support for, and help to identify, an agenda for significant educational reform in preparation for a new administration in Augusta. 
Those of us who follow tech startups like Portlanders follow the Red Sox (sorry, Sea Dogs), have noticed some similarities between Colorado's most creative city and Maine's. An article in yesterday's New York Times, Boulder, Colo.
If, like me, you missed last summer's Wilco concert on the Maine State Pier in Portland because you didn't get tickets on time, here's a heads up. The two headline acts for this summer's Pier Review benefit for Preble Street have been announced.
This just in from Cultivating Community: Cinque Terre will host Portland's second 20/20 charity wine tasting to benefit Cultivating Community. The event will feature twenty unique Italian wines presented by South Portland Wine Company, Easterly Wines, Devenish Wines, Davine Wine Co, and Crush Distributors.
Facebook post from Art At Meca: Tonight! MECAmorphosis. Five floors of art, food, drink and open studios.
The University of Maine School of Law Center for Law and Innovation will hold a free brown bag lunch introduction to Trademark Law and Product Placement in Media on Friday, May 14. It's a great opportunity for filmmakers, marketers and creative entrepreneurs to get up to speed about how to work with copyrighted materials in creative projects.
Photographer Rose Marasco, a professor of art at University of Southern Maine (USM), has been honored as the university's third distinguished professor. The recognition underscores Marasco's more than 30 year contribution to the photographic and educational communities in Portland.
And speaking of the experience economy, Portland's highly regarded local music blog HillyTown will go beyond covering the local scene to also start presenting events. The first HillyTown Presents concert will feature Brooklyn's Milagres along with local bands Selbyville and Jakob Battick & Friends, on Friday May 21 at Slainte Wine Bar in Portland.
