Sedaka, best known for “Breaking Up is Hard to Do,” crooned as sweetly as ever, despite 50 years having passed since his first Billboard Hot 100 hit. The crowd — and music, for that matter — was in stark contrast to that of The Decemberists, just two weeks ago. Only a few students attended; the audience was, for the most part, a sea of salt and pepper.

Despite the fairly narrow age appeal of Sedaka’s music, the concert was well attended, with 1,118 tickets sold of 1,436 available; The Decemberists filled 1,298.

The night served as a road trip down memory lane, not only for the audience, but for Sedaka himself. He joked in between numbers with the audience and told stories with no regard to humility. In a garishly yellow jacket and sporting his bright smile, he boasted of selling 50 million albums from 1958 to 1963 — an almost certainly inflated number.

Sedaka mixed his songs with personal anecdotes, telling of his children and grandchildren, wife and recording career.

“The songs of the ’50s and ’60s were all very happy, perhaps a little naïve, but you could understand all of the lyrics.”

Whether due to poor musicianship, bad audio engineering or poor acoustics in the newly renovated Center for the Arts — or perhaps a bit of all three — Sedaka was oftentimes hard to understand, and the balance of the band was often poor. Sedaka’s piano playing was drowned out by excessive use of synthesizer and a boisterous drum set.

The synthesizer, which was used to emulate strings and provide classic ‘60s pop sounds, was something Sedaka could have done without entirely. Some of the most enjoyable numbers were Sedaka’s most minimal. He displayed a confidence and showmanship that made his solo numbers the best.

The show featured two videos: a montage showing the artists who have covered Sedaka’s songs, such as Abba, Queen, Elvis, Cher and Clay Aiken; and a showing of one of the first-ever music videos. In the video for “Calendar Girl,” Sedaka croons as a different girl for each month struts in outfits ranging in coverage from mini skirts to beachwear. Music videos haven’t changed much in 50 years.

Sedaka didn’t limit himself completely to hits from his youth. He sang a few newer compositions, including the debut of a samba-like song off his new CD and a few of his songs from over the past few years. His newer song was catchy and upbeat, and was a marked and welcome departure from his earlier style. Another of his more recent compositions was very similar to his early music.

Alex Caddell, a second-year biological engineering major, came for one of his honors classes. Though he had not heard Sedaka’s music before, he found it to be “pretty good. I’d never really heard his stuff before.”

Patti Gillian of Houston said she grew up listening to Sedaka in middle and high school. “[The show] was wonderful. It brought back so many wonderful memories,” Gillian said. “He still has it. The only thing was, I thought ‘Man, he looks old,’ but from there I thought, ‘Man, you’re old too!’”

The 2009-2010 season marks the first full season of the newly redesigned and renamed CCA, formerly the Maine Center for the Arts. The year ahead is full of diverse and fascinating acts, ranging from the choreographed kung-fu of “Shaolin Warriors,” to a Broadway production of the musical “Cats.” The recent renovations have opened a world of possibilities in the realms of music, theater, dance and film.

“All I can say is everyone’s been working very hard,” said John Patches, executive director of the CCA. “The university administration and all the various departments and facilities have really, in the last number of weeks, pulled together.”

To ring in the opening, the CCA will be holding its gala performance this Saturday with the performance by singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka. From then on, the season is full of performances from the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, concerts by Grammy Award-winning musicians like Suzanne Vega and Sweet Honey and professional musicals and ballets.

But live performances are only half the fun.

“For us, the big news would be film,” Patches said. “The great projector we’ve been able to purchase, the surround-sound system is going in next week, so that will all be in place for the [Metropolitan Operas], which are also new for this season.”

The operas are high-definition, live broadcasts straight from the Met in New York City. The CCA will be showing the entire season starting with Puccini’s “Tosca” on Oct. 10. According to Patches, special satellite dishes had to be installed on the roof to pick up the broadcasts.

In addition, a series of independent films are being played on Thursday nights in the CCA. Patches said he understands it’s important for the CCA to be as relevant and hip as possible and feels the independent film series is a great way to achieve that.

“Places such as [the CCA], that were built in the ’80s, were built in a different time in a sense, even though a very recent time,” Patches said. “This place in particular was built for classical music and for speakers, and that whole paradigm has shifted.”

Patches chuckled as he admitted he was most looking forward to the chamber music series in Minsky Auditorium for its lofty artistic merit.

He hopes that the opening of the Verve Café, run by Abe and Heather Furth — owners of Woodman’s Bar and Grille and the Verve in Orono — will help the CCA’s image as well. The café will be opening in October and will operate from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, as well as during events. There are also plans to put in a bar, according to Patches.

The eclectic mix of acts is designed so there is something for everyone this season.

“Our audience is very diverse,” Patches said. “I think a place such as this on a university campus has the responsibility to try and be all things, to all people. I believe that diversity is extremely important, particularly in this day and age. I think it’s important for students of all ages to see how other cultures approach creativity.”

Patches said he hopes to combine all the facets of the CCA together: performances, film and the collections at the Hudson Museum.

The renovations have reinvigorated the museum. The world-renowned collection, which the university acquired before Patches can even remember, has never had a proper home.

“Before there was no definition to the museum,” Patches said. With the new technology acquired during the renovations, the museum can finally display the collection properly. “Most of the general public hasn’t seen about two thirds of the collection.”

The renovations totaled $11.2 million dollars, according to Patches. The Collins family, the namesake of the center, donated $5 million.

Richard Collins told The Maine Campus last spring his family made its contribution “to keep UMaine moving ahead, to keep improving. Our interest is in the university, in education and decision making. That’s what we’re focusing on, to make sure that young people have the same benefits that we had when we were going to college.”

Collaboration has been key for the CCA. Patches said his team has been working closely with student activities and other offices around campus about speakers. This year is also the first time an event is being co-produced by the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. The “Classical Mystery Tour” — a Beatles tribute band with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra backing them up — will take place in late March.

For a complete schedule of events and performances visit: collinscenterforthearts.com

“There are 60,000 tiles, all three-quarters of an inch by three-quarters of an inch,” said Kievitt, a soft spoken man with a distinct artistic vision. “They’re all glass tile, mortared and grouted onto the wall. [The mosaic] acts on the negative space of the untouched walls. It’s surprising; unexpected, with varying levels of interest and varying viewpoints.”  He explained that the piece is completely different depending upon the time of day and type of light under which it is viewed.

The mosaic overlooks the walkway to the CCA’s Hudson Museum and draws on many fundamental motifs found in the museum’s collection.  Characterized by strands radiating from a central orbit, the multicolored tile tapestry is currently enjoying its final touch ups before becoming the center of attention on Oct. 3 at the CCA’s grand opening gala.  Kievitt, a Maine College of Art and Parsons University graduate, based the design on a series of his own drawings from last year. He was influenced by Gretchen Faulkner, director of the Hudson Museum, and her appreciation for the cultural significance of geometric shapes — triangles, squares, rectangles and circles, in particular.

“The circle is a fundamental anthropological shape,” Faulkner said as she scrolled through photographic collections of traditional pottery, beadwork and baskets that all share Kievitt’s vision on an old desktop computer. She took him through the same virtual collection when his design was still that: a design.

“I loved his design; it worked beautifully in the space.  It’s stunning.  The scale of the piece is appropriate for the space,” Faulkner said.

Faulkner values Kievitt’s geometric, organic designs and enjoys that the work originally came from a drawing and was modified — from ink and paper to glass and mortar.

“The glass and bead aspect comes from many different cultural representations found in our collection,” Faulkner said.

The best part of the mosaic, for many of those involved, is that it is required.  Kristen Andresen, writer and editor for the University of Maine’s University Relations, explained that because of the CCA’s renovation, “According to the Maine Arts Commission (MAC), one percent of all construction and renovation costs are dedicated to commissioning or supporting already existing pieces of art.”

Kievitt added that the mosaic simultaneously meets the quota set by MAC while contributing to a higher cultural experience at the newly renovated CCA.

John Patches, the executive director of the CCA, spoke of the process involved in uniting the Verve Café and Kievitt’s mosaic. The Verve Café, located on Mill Street in downtown Orono, will operate a secondary café in the CCA.  In addition to serving smoothies, burritos and bagels from Bagel Central in Bangor, the CCA’s Verve will serve food an hour before performances. “We knew we would need a café in the new center; we kept it as one of our many focuses and we got the space,” Patches said.

Patches and his committee then concentrated on finding the right artist. Looking through applications from across the nation, Patches and the committee narrowed it down to three artists and eventually decided upon Kievitt, who had worked with an architect to establish the placement of his work.  The final proposal seemed to work for the committee; their decision was unanimous.  The issue of giving the café an identity had been resolved.

“We were very pleased,” Patches said. “It all came together, so to speak.”

In addition to Kievitt, Patches attributes much of the renovation’s success to Abe and Heather Furth, owners of Woodman’s Bar and Grill and the Verve Café, who are strong contributors to both Orono and UMaine culture.

Patches spoke excitedly of the CCA’s future and the “town-grown” relationship the center will foster between community members, the university and patrons alike.

“We want to be very relevant to society in general . . . and appeal to a wide diversity of tastes and expectations,” Patches said.

Kievitt’s artistically accessible mosaic certainly speaks to this mission statement.

The CCA enjoys its grand opening gala on Oct. 3 at 8 p.m. and will feature ’60s billboard topper Neil Sedaka.

The band did not play the full ‘Hazards’ album, as it will do during later tour dates, because Becky Stark and Shara Worden, who provided vocals for the record, were unavailable.

The band’s frontman, Colin Meloy, pictured here, joked with the audience about his recently shaved head. “I can see, like, 20 percent more,” he said.

The Portland, Ore.-based indie rock band provided the most energetic show at the Center for the Arts in recent memory.

The 1,436-seat Collins Center for the Arts was nearly sold out, with 1,298 tickets sold, according to Abtin Mehdizadegan, vice president for student entertainment, which sponsored the event.

As the night ended, audience members streamed to the front of the theater, despite security personnel asking them to keep back.

Meloy and Chris Funk invited two men onto the stage to play guitar, and Meloy ripped Funk’s shirt off.

Scott Levy, producing artistic director of Penobscot Theatre for the past four years, calls it “imperative” the arts not diminish in an area like Bangor.

“The arts contribute to the sense of place. I’m not an outdoorsman, but imagine, what if Cadillac Mountain went away? It’s the same thing,” said Levy, 33, of Bangor.

Community support is high, but at this time, “the arts are not first on anybody’s mind,” said David Whitehill, the BSO’s executive director for the last year and a half. Whitehill, 30, of Bangor, said nonprofits such as health and human services are more popular for donations than arts at this time. “I can absolutely understand that, but that doesn’t mean that arts and culture shouldn’t be considered in the same breath. We do a lot for this community as far as quality of life.”

George Kinghorn, 41, of Bangor, director of UMMA since June 2008, feels similarly: “It’s important that the arts hold their strength in the state. We’re in an economic downturn at the moment, but it isn’t always going to be like that. We have to hold the boat steady. The arts are typically always the first to get cut, but they’re the most lasting bits of civilization, really.”

Practical corners were the first to be trimmed for these three Bangor bastions of “the most lasting bits of civilization.”

To save on expensive heating oil costs, the Penobscot Theatre did not perform in January and February. Levy worries the coming fiscal year will be tough. The theater will need to create a budget with 20 percent less expenses, a task he calls difficult but not impossible. The nonprofit theater employs a 10 to 12 person staff year-round and roughly 100 employees through the year. Everyone is paid. Penobscot Theatre has not closed any existing programming but has postponed new ideas. The theater puts on eight productions per season.

“How the organization operates will change. It has to change. We can’t sit back and wait for the economy to turn around. That’s ludicrous,” Levy said. “The productions next year are all smaller. One of the shows we did this year had 14 actors in it and five sets. That’s just too much.”

Levy’s plan echoes the attitude across the nation. According to a National Public Radio report last week, the Theater Communications Group surveyed 200 theaters and found 30 percent said they planned to produce plays with smaller casts.

Kinghorn said UMMA’s budget impact has not been dramatic this year. The museum’s only tangible cut thus far is four to five summer teaching positions. Kinghorn said the elimination will mean more work for the museum’s five-person staff. He continues to pursue earned income work to bring money into the museum, speaking with corporations about the benefits of supporting the museum.

To “slim down to where we become as efficient as possible,” internal overhead costs for the BSO were the first to go, according to Whitehill. Four years ago, the BSO paid five salaried employees and three contracted employees, a number that has reduced to two salaried employees, with only one working full-time, and two contracted employees. The orchestra transferred its box office responsibilities to the Collins Center for the Arts at the University of Maine and moved its office from a visible presence on Main Street in Bangor to Husson College.

“I don’t have a photocopier anymore. We use Husson’s,” Whitehill said. “We have to balance the budget every year now, and we’ll have to make some sacrifices. But mostly we’ve taken out some of the overhead and administrative expense.”

He doesn’t think the BSO has seen the worst of the recession.

“We are not in an economic crisis,” said Whitehill, formerly an Orange County director who worked multiple Southern California orchestras. “A crisis has an end. I think this is a condition we’re going to be in for some time. I think we have to brace ourselves.”

To combat a potentially dragging Bangor arts scene, Kinghorn, Levy and Whitehill meet regularly to discuss their situations and share ideas, often with executives from Bangor’s Maine Discovery Museum and the Bangor Public Library.

“We’re not in competition. We realize there’s a lot to be had by sitting around a table and talking, because each of us might have a different perspective,” Whitehill said. They can openly discuss their revenues – as long as they’re trend together in success or lack thereof, there is solace.

“I think it’s important to be in the company of other good colleagues who are trying to do really good things for the community,” Kinghorn said. The group recently proposed a project to the Cultural Arts Commission for the City of Bangor to help package and promote all Bangor’s cultural organizations with arts district signs and an “annual printed marketing rack card so that visitors can know what is going on at the various cultural venues,” Kinghorn said.

The BSO will collaborate with UMaine’s Collins Center for the Arts to bring two artists – violinist Chee-Yun and cellist Alisa Weilerstein – next season, something neither organization could afford solo.

“We have done everything we can to not take away from any bit of our artistic product. The art is the core of our organization,” Whitehill said. “We haven’t brought the economy into the artistic discussion.

“We still should be moving forward. We’re investing more in the artistic product because that’s what we’re about. Sometimes that’s where people cut first, and that,” he said, banging his hand on the table, “is not an option, as far as I’m concerned.”

While pulling through the recession may be taxing, Kinghorn intends for the audiences to be exempt from the troubles.

“Even in this economic climate, our supporters see the value in the arts as playing a big role in the vibrancy of a city,” Kinghorn said. “We will continue to provide a really quality product. The impact on our audience is not going to be noticeable.”

“We still look as strong as ever,” Whitehill said. He referred to the cross-organizational idea of a “sacred cow” – a cherished tradition or program organizations continue to support every year, although it may not be well-funded or well-supported.

“We never question it, we just do it,” he said. The symphony’s sacred cow was a sixth classical performance in its season, which has been nixed for an easier-to-manage pops concert.

Several musicians have returned paychecks or offered their services for free, fostering a “What can we do to help?” attitude, Whitehill said.

Levy, who lived in New York City and produced on Broadway prior to coming to Maine, is on alert but not in despair for the future of the 35-year-old Penobscot Theatre.

“We have to be cautious in this time, absolutely. Do I think Penobscot Theatre is ever really going to go away? No. I’m not convinced the community would allow that to happen,” Levy said. “I’m more concerned for communities that house more than one professional theater company.”

His concern is valid. The Christian Science Monitor reported in March that the National Endowment for the Arts researched to find the national unemployment rate of artists is roughly double that of other professionals. The Portland Symphony Orchestra cut jobs, reduced salaries and artist fees, canceled performances and scaled back educational programs to cope with a $220,000 deficit, according to a February article by the Portland Press Herald.

“We are doing more programming with less budget,” said Kinghorn, who has worked in the arts for 15 years, the last decade in museums, most recently as director and curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville, Florida. UMMA now hosts events like a fashion show, a photography scavenger hunt in Bangor, and lunchtime talks.

“We’re doing a heck of a lot,” Kinghorn said. “It’s not good enough just to have the art on the wall. You have to find ways to connect with diverse audiences.”

Innovation, flexibility and “making the museum a more lively place” are key, Kinghorn said. Finding new audiences through community outreach is one of his priorities. UMMA hosted an evening “art walk” in the museum and welcomed more than 300 visitors – the most the museum has seen in a single day. Art walks will become a quarterly happening.

The BSO initiated a voucher program for students in March. Students with vouchers can attend for free, bring a sibling or friend for free, and buy tickets for any other family members for $10.

“You can’t tell me that’s not affordable,” Whitehill said. He strives for cost effectiveness and large attendances, but perhaps most important, as with Kinghorn, is a broad audience connection. Whitehill uses the symphony’s revamped image as an example: The logo change added more prominence to the word Bangor and less to Symphony Orchestra.

“It’s not necessarily about the symphony – it’s about our community,” he said.

Levy corroborated the need to broaden audience appeal for Penobscot Theatre. More well-known plays will be one strategy, although keeping the theater’s aesthetic mission intact is critical.

“Noting that discretionary income is less than it was, what is going to get people to say they need to come to the theater, as opposed to ‘I’d like to come to the theater’? It has a lot to do with name recognition. But that doesn’t mean I would ever do ‘Cats,’” Levy said.

The theater recently enjoyed success with “On Golden Pond” and “Little Shop of Horrors.”

Levy sees Bangor as full of opportunities, particularly for arts activities.

“If the people want all of the arts and cultural opportunities that are here to stay here, to help improve the quality of life in the area, they have to attend,” he said.

Whitehill said BSO attendance is a problem, and he is willing to do nearly anything, including dirt-cheap ticket prices, to fill the seats.

“Inflation goes up, the cost of what we do goes up, but ticket sales have stayed the same. Every year the gap gets bigger. But we have all these empty seats. Why don’t you put somebody in that seat? Sell it for $5, get them in. Would you rather have no money, or some money?” Whitehill said.

Machias Savings Bank sponsored UMMA in 2008 and 2009 to underwrite free admission. Kinghorn is hopeful the museum will remain free in 2010.

“That sends a particularly strong message in the current economic situation as people are looking for ways to spend their leisure time without spending a lot of money,” he said, adding the museum’s attendance has increased substantially in 2009.

Penobscot Theatre’s contributed income, which makes up for roughly half its annual budget, is down 20 percent to 30 percent, Levy said. Government, foundation and corporation support are the biggest drops, with severe declines Levy called troubling.

“Box office is down, but not as down as I would’ve expected,” he said. It’s dropped 5 percent after the company’s most successful year ever. Earned income for the Penobscot Theatre – the other half of its budget – comes from ticket and concession sales, educational programming and renting out the Bangor Opera House, which the organization owns.

After July 1, 2008, nonprofit organizations lost immunity from overtime and minimum wage labor laws. The law change was a major budgetary hit for the Penobscot Theatre.

“It’s long hours, long nights, a lot. And if you’re getting paid for that, it’s beyond our ability,” Levy said.

Whitehill recalled stories of organizations across America with endowments sinking 40 percent to 50 percent. The BSO draws 5 percent from its endowment each month, an amount that has lessened with a decreasing endowment. He called individuals the core of the donor base.

“The good news is people are giving. People are attending. People are still sticking by us and giving whatever they can afford to give,” Whitehill said. While foundation and corporate giving has plummeted, “endowments have been almost obliterated,” Whitehill said of the national scene. He said the BSO has more individual donors this year than last.

Nationally, museums are also hurting from anemic endowments. The Los Angeles Times reported in March that the J. Paul Getty Trust, “envied as the economic Goliath of the museum world,” would face a 25 percent budget cut amounting to $1.5 billion. The Times added this week that 205 jobs would be sliced as well.

“We don’t have that situation here,” Kinghorn said. Like the BSO, UMMA relies greatly on individual support. In this respect, UMMA benefits from its smaller size as a museum; larger institutions critically reliant on annual endowments have struggled. “This is a situation where small, like our museum, may be better. In this particular economy, big is not better. Running a lean and mean operation can be very beneficial.”

Until six months ago, Levy witnessed an economic growth in Bangor. Now he’s seeing it decline in the empty Main Street store fronts.

“That’s concerning to me. [Penobscot Theatre] operates as an anchor to downtown. So if downtown starts shrinking, then only in turn will our work shrink,” Levy said. He cited historical economic development of downtown districts thanks to entertainment venues.

“Every person who buys a ticket and comes to see a show of ours will probably spend an additional $24 in the community, via shopping or eating or drinking. That’s the actual figure from Americans for the Arts for every ticket sold,” Levy said, adding if there are less places to eat and shop, the entire experience is lessened. The economies of arts and business go hand in hand, Levy said.

“It’s all about the whole experience. The play in the theater is the main course, but we’ve got to have the appetizer and the dessert,” Levy said.