Collins Center for the Arts Director Announces Retirement

John Patches, the longtime director of the University of Maine Collins Center for the Arts, has announced he will retire effective Jan. 31 in order to spend more time with his family. Patches will be dividing his time between Maine and California to be with his grandson. Recognition of Patches’ 22-year legacy and role in Maine’s cultural arts will be held in the fall in conjunction with the Collins Center for the Arts Annual Gala.

“Under John’s direction, the Collins Center has become a cultural focal point in the state and region,” says Janet Waldron, senior vice president for administration and finance. “We appreciate his passion for the arts and his service to UMaine. He will be missed.”

Patches has been a member of the UMaine community since 1992, first as director of the then-named Maine Center for the Arts. In 1999, he also was named UMaine’s associate dean of cultural affairs and, in 2002, was named executive director of the Collins Center.

Patches came to UMaine from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he spent more than a decade as the associate director of the Fine Arts Center.

He has served on the boards of the Association of College, University and Community Arts Administrators, and of the Atlantic Presenters Association. His awards include the 2009 Vincent Hartgen Award and the 2006 Wilma Award at UMaine, and the 2003 Professional Presenters Award from the Atlantic Presenters Association.

Patches is the second director of the Collins Center/Maine Center for the Arts since its opening in 1986.

Contact: Margaret Nagle, 207.581.3745