At the heart of our Strategic plan are values centered around courage, equity, service, trust, and Sustainability.

Many of these focus areas have been part of the PMA brand for years. Beginning with Your Museum, Reimagined in 2016, the museum dedicated itself toward looking at everything we do through the lens of diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusivity (DEAI).

As we’ve made progress and continued on this path, we’ve discovered that a true commitment to these values, however, must also contain a dedication to Sustainability. Sustainability is both a byproduct and a driving force behind our DEAI commitments, and we know that we cannot be successful with any of them if we do not fully incorporate Sustainability into all of them.

Sustainability work is DEAI work, and we have already taken behind-the-scenes action to make our campus and operations more environmentally conscious. This has included making green improvements on our campus and in our supply chain, accomplishing things such as minimizing solid waste generation, implementing paperless procedures and membership cards, protecting pollinators, and investing in clean energy. Additionally, we’ve ensured Sustainability is embedded in our culture, hiring the museum’s first-ever Director of Campus Sustainability and establishing a Sustainability employee resource group.

Yet this is only the beginning.

We are striving to become a leader in Sustainability within the art museum field itself, setting an example for how museums can create paths toward a greener and more equitable future. Our region is acutely at risk due to climate change. Maine’s seas are warming faster than 99% of the entire ocean while rising sea levels threaten our iconic coast. And for a state that depends on fisheries, forests, and tourism as economic cornerstones, the time for action is now.

We know that we have a role to play in engaging the public and activating our communities around global climate action. We believe in the transformative power of art, and our commitment will be on view this year, across exhibitions such as Clifford Ross: Sightlines and The North Atlantic Triennial, in our programs and at our events. Clifford Ross: Sightlines conveys the riveting power of landscapes with a majesty that is a sharp contradiction of their inherent fragility in the face of human-caused climate change. Each experience of Ross’ artworks reconnects us with the awestruck wonder at our natural world that we must hold dear.

It is art’s unique ability to distill complex ideas, convey urgency, and connect emotionally that is behind our newest climate change initiative: The Tidal Shift Award. This regional art prize is the result of the PMA’s belief that our youth can inspire change, provide direction, and contribute solutions to our climate crisis through art. Together with The Climate Initiative, we are thrilled to discover what New England’s next generation of thinkers, problem solvers, and artists have to say about where we go from here.

Overall, we’re incredibly excited and inspired to see how true dedication to one idea evolves and builds into deeper, impactful dedication for more. We have come a long way from initially improving access to the collection through Your Museum, Reimagined to investing in DEAI to the development of Art for All and most recently, our Sustainability efforts. It’s all connected, and a result of what can happen when institutions are supported by and reflect their vibrant and engaged communities.

Sustainability on our campus

Invested in solar fields

• Participation allows us to at procure clean solar energy without having to install our own solar panels on-site

• Promoting solar development, which in the long term will allow other customers to benefit from our involvement

• Potential to use the solar energy & RECs to make specific buildings carbon-neutral

Education partnerships with King Middle School, GMRI, Casco Bay High School, and more

• Climate justice is extremely important to today’s youth

Buildings and Grounds: Pollinator protection, waste diversion, and pollution prevention

• Eliminating the use of hazardous chemicals

Minimize solid waste generation through reduction, recycling, reuse, or composting

• Composting in the PMA Café and at events

• Installing water bottle fountains, recycling of staff bottles and cans through Clynk

• Removing Keurig single use machines

Implementation of paperless procedures, paperless payroll system, and digital membership cards

• Paperless purchasing process: PMA has invested in a fully paperless procure-to-pay system, allowing for alignment of organizational spending with our values and business objectives while providing meaningful insights into spending.

• By utilizing digital membership cards, PMA has already reduced its paper use in the membership program by over 100 pounds per year.

Established a Sustainability Employee Resource Group

Improved Facilities and Efficiencies

• 90% of motors, including all air handlers, have been replaced with EFF1 rated motors and VFDs

• CSP has been approx. 90% re-lamped with LED light sources. LDM & McLellan House only partially, primarily due to the difficulty in obtaining LEDs powerful enough for use with such high ceilings

• PMA has entered into a 20yr Net Energy Billing Agreement.

• PMAs commitment is partially funding the development of a solar electrical generating facility which ensure that approx. 90% of PMAs current electrical needs are met from renewable sources.

• Performed an energy audit, and enacted recommendations on efficient operating practices.

• Currently engaged in a project to replace our existing chilled water plant with a rooftop unit, enabling energy savings from reduced pump & motor use, as well as eliminating the use ozone-depleting refrigerant on PMA property.

• New chilled water equipment will also enable more efficient cooling during shoulder months.

• Partners in an IT equipment recycling scheme (Give IT Get IT) designed to further digital inclusion

• Numerous smaller sustainability initiatives, including reduction of microplastics in PMA waste streams, single-sort recycling of PMA waste streams, eliminating the use of pesticides & herbicides in PMA land management practices.

The PMA is committed to sustainability and prioritizing thoughtful stewardship of the Earth’s resources in all we do. 

Sustainability is funded in part by  

Individual Support:

Douglas and Sharyn Howell 

Foundation Support:

King Philanthropies 

Corporate Sponsors: