The First Coast Recording and
Archiving Maine Stories

At the door of the 31' Airstream trailer mobile studio for The First Coast project, from left: Natalie Springuel (Maine Sea Grant), Teagan White (College of the Atlantic), Galen Koch, and Rebecca Clark Uchenna (Island Institute). The trailer will be in coastal Maine communities where year round Maine residents can tell their stories. Mark Haskell photo

ROCKPORT—An Airstream trailer served as a mobile recording studio during the Maine Fishermen’s Forum in early March. The First Coast project will be recording stories about the ocean, fisheries and life as a year-round Mainer as told to archivists at the mobile studio. The trailer will be located in several Maine communities in the coming year. It will be in Stonington until April 15 and Lubec from May 1 to June 1. Other locations will be posted at: www.thefirstcoast.org, follow the progress on Instagram: @thefirstcoast, or email galen@thefirstcoast.org.

The First Coast project will archive the stories collected and provide them to town historical societies in Maine. The project has been organized by Portland, Maine, video and documentary producer Galen Koch. The project is inviting year-round Maine coastal residents to share stories about the ocean or life as a year-round Mainer. The producers are asking participants if “they want to pass their knowledge and legacy on to future generations of Maine.”

Galen Koch interviewing Diane Berlew and Bob Williams at the Forum. Koch will have the Airstream in several Maine coast towns for a few weeks each. Mark Haskell photo

Koch, originally from Stonington, Maine, gutted and renovated the vintage 31' Airstream trailer to serve as a recording studio, office and exhibition space for the project. “It was an Airstream parked at my family’s home in Stonington and working its way into the earth when I decided to repurpose it,” said Koch.

The First Coast project worked with College of the Atlantic students, Maine Sea Grant and the Eastern Maine Skippers Program at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum. In 2017 The First Coast received funding from the Kindling Fund distributed by SPACE Gallery and from the Maine Arts Commission.

The project also received 177 donations through crowd-funding.