Envision Resilience Launches 2025 Midcoast Maine Challenge with Local Design and Art Partnerships
Marking its fifth year, the program continues its work in Maine, inviting undergraduate and graduate design teams to engage with local community advisors and artists to address climate challenges and opportunities shaping Midcoast communities
The 2025 cohort and community local partners pose outside of the Maine Maritime Museum during the Faculty Workshop in June. (Photo courtesy of Envision Resilience.)
BATH, Maine (June 25, 2025)—Envision Resilience will bring its place-based, multi-university design studio to Bath and Harpswell, Maine, this fall, pairing university students with community leaders to develop creative ideas for communities facing rising sea levels and challenges related to housing, stormwater management and coastal infrastructure, habitats and ecology.
Participants in the 2025 Envision Resilience Midcoast Maine Challenge include local partners University of Maine at Augusta’s architecture program led by Patrick Hansford and Maine College of Art & Design (MECA&D) led by Addy Smith-Reiman.
Rounding out the cohort is Northeastern University College of Arts, Media and Design (CAMD) led by Sara Jensen Carr, PhD and Michelle Laboy; University of Virginia School of Architecture led by Michael Luegering and C.L. Bohannon, PhD; and University of Massachusetts Amherst Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning led by Samantha Solano. Kicking off the 2025 design studio, faculty leads were onsite in Bath and Harpswell earlier this month for a three-day workshop with community partners from city planning, housing and sustainability offices, local nonprofits and land trusts, conservation committees and individual artists, designers and landscape architects.
“The communities and leaders of Bath and Harpswell are at the forefront of not just climate challenges, but climate action and resilience planning,” said Claire Martin, executive director of Envision Resilience. “The work of Envision Resilience is rooted in thoughtful student and community partnerships—and the depth and breadth of design thinking, art and storytelling outcomes of our program is a direct reflection of those relationships. Connecting with local leaders before the fall design studio semester allows the faculty to tailor their curriculum, research and sites which then in turn will create better design outcomes.”
The workshop set the groundwork for the fall semester design studio, during which multidisciplinary student teams from these leading institutions will continue the engagement with the coastal towns of Bath and Harpswell, Maine. Their task will be to research, identify and propose innovative, community-driven designs that address climate challenges and strengthen local resilience while celebrating the region’s maritime heritage and natural beauty.
“Partnering with Envision Resilience offers an extraordinary opportunity to elevate Bath’s Resilient Bath plan by bringing in fresh academic perspectives and design innovation,” said Rod Melanson, director of sustainability and environment for the City of Bath. “Their multidisciplinary student teams will help us reimagine coastal resilience, green infrastructure and community-led solutions that are tailored to our city’s unique maritime heritage and climate challenges. Our community leaders are very excited to be engaged in this program and we look forward to working together to translate cutting‑edge ideas into practical, community-driven action.”
Building on Envision Resilience’s mission to foster the next generation of planners, leaders and design professionals, the 2025 program places an emphasis on supporting local industries, arts and innovation. Students and faculty will collaborate with regional, city and town stakeholders, as well as artists, fisherman and local business owners, to consider design solutions that balance ecological protection, resilient infrastructure, economic vitality and affordable housing. Special focus will also be given to professional development, preparing participants to work collaboratively across disciplines and fields.
A core pillar of the program is the local art partnerships which bring together artists and designers to bridge climate science and community dialogue through creative expression. This year, students and faculty from MECA&D will collaborate with local creators and participating universities, offering visual, performative and experiential works that make the impacts of climate change, and the opportunities for resilience, accessible to all. The public art studio, a course requirement for the Public Engagement Minor and offered through the Sculpture Department, will celebrate, communicate and inspire design strategies that address stewardship of place, material reuse and clean energy futures.
“I am pleased that Maine College of Art & Design will take part in the 2025 Envision Resilience Midcoast Maine Challenge,” said Paul Gebhardt, dean of undergraduate studies at MECA&D. “At the intersection of ecology, science and community, art becomes a vehicle for transformation—especially here in Maine, where the climate is ever present, and we must respond creatively and collectively. We are excited to be both a partner and a bridge—connecting art and design programs, universities, local collaborators, and the wider public in meaningful work.”
The Envision Resilience Challenge is currently in phase one of its programming, building relationships with key community partners and connecting them to faculty leads. Phase two begins in August and runs through the fall semester, punctuated with student site visits to Bath and Harpswell, a speaker series and virtual mid-term and final jury reviews. Phase three begins in January 2026 with the rolling out of the final student design proposals to the community through exhibitions, public art and continued community programming. Envision Resilience will work with Portland-based artist and curator Brian Smith—a 2020 MFA graduate of MECA&D who works in sculpture, painting and drawing—for a second year to showcase the design work to the communities through a series of exhibitions and public art programming.
For more information about the 2025 Envision Resilience Midcoast Maine Challenge, visit envisionresilience.org.
About Envision Resilience
Envision Resilience works to advance innovative city planning and design in the face of climate change through student and community partnerships. By connecting current and future professionals working across disciplines, the organization creates opportunities for communities to reimagine climate challenges and inspire resilient solutions. Envision Resilience, originally developed by Remain, is part of the philanthropic organizations and initiatives created and funded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt to work toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
CONTACT:
Claire Williams
communications@envisionresilience.org
(317) 989-8140
Download press release PDF here.
