HALLOWELL -- The Kennebec Valley Art Association recently received a $10,000 grant from the Portland-based Quimby Family Foundation.

The grant will be used for general operating funds in support of staffing, according to Deborah Fahy, executive director.

In recent years, Fahy said the association has developed into a cultural leader in the region, dating from its role spearheading a Discovery Research project funded by the Maine Arts Commission in 2005-06.

The effort led to the October 2006 publication of a cultural directory that remains available online at www.discoverken nebec.org.

Since that time, she said the organization's growing reputation as a vibrant and inclusive community arts center has meant increased audience, more and varied events, and a busier schedule.

"Membership has more than tripled over the past four years, from about 90 in 2004 to approaching 300 members today," Fahy said.

She said paid staff, including the executive director, are currently part-time positions. It has been a challenge, she said, to coordinate a schedule of exhibitions and other events as the art association continues to grow.

As a result, she said the board of directors created a new, part-time assistant director position, currently held by Nancy Keenan Barron, of South Gardiner.

Fahy said this position is now responsible for much of the day-to-day gallery administration, freeing her up to focus on public relations, development, grant-writing and fundraising.

The Kennebec Valley Art Association is a membership-based nonprofit art association whose mission is to promote the arts and artists of central Maine. The art association has owned and operated the Harlow Gallery at 160 Water St. in downtown HALLOWELL since 1963.

The Quimby Family Foundation was formed in 2004 by Roxanne Quimby, a businesswoman, environmentalist and philanthropist. The mission of foundation is to advance wilderness values and to increase access to the arts throughout Maine.