Staff Writer

Claire Houston doesn’t know Biddeford. Yet.

She will soon learn about the community as she works with Heart of Biddeford to document stories of residents. Houston, a photographer and graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, is one of three fellows hired by the organization for the summer.

Heart of Biddeford Executive Director Rachael Weyand said Houston, Willa Kammerer and Anna Schechter will spend up to 180 hours documenting stories of Biddeford residents. Their work, including portraits and audio slideshows, will be available later this summer on the Heart of Biddeford Web site.

“We want to give people a real sense of the stories we’re collecting,” Weyand said.

Weyand said the fellows were hired using money from a $100,000 grant from the Orton Family Foundation. Biddeford’s Heart and Soul community planning initiative focuses on creating a downtown master plan for revitalization. The plan will cover a range of topics, from streetscape design to landscape architecture and guidelines for growth. The Heart of Biddeford serves as project coordinator and the project is currently in the first of two phases.

Weyand said the organization will use storytelling and other community-wide activities to learn from people “what they think the heart and soul of the community are.”

“It’s important because the end result of the project is to bring together what we’ve heard and put it into a more formal master planning process,” she said. “Instead of asking people to come straight to planning, we want to make it as personal and respectful of people’s wants and needs as we can.”

Weyand said the fellows are “highly trained” in making documentaries using a variety of technologies. They will have creative freedom in deciding what projects to make, she said. The Heart of Biddeford will begin gathering stories this weekend at the La Kermesse Franco-American Festival at St. Louis Field. 

There, organization representatives will offer a number of activities to start dialogue, including story circles, word games and interactive photo maps, Weyand said. 

For Houston, working with the Heart of Biddeford will allow her to find interesting stories of people, a task she finds exciting.

“It’s a very unique opportunity, the kind that doesn’t come along very often,” she said. 

Houston attended Salt during the fall 2008 semester. She previously worked as a photographer in Brooklyn, N.Y., and attended photography school. She has not spent much time in Biddeford, but has busied herself over the last few weeks reading up on the city and asking people about their experiences and impressions.  

Houston, a native of Keene, N.H., said she is looking forward to getting back to her New England roots while exploring a city of similar size to her hometown.

Houston said it is “extraordinary” the multimedia projects produced this summer can be seen by people all over the world. 

“I think it will be a source of pride for people in the community. It will be something really beautiful but also effective,” she said. “It will tell the story of this city. I think it will be a fantastic addition to what the Heart of Biddeford is doing.”

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.