The Ad Club of Maine’s Broderson Awards were created 32 years ago in memory of Dick Broderson, a radio personality and advertising professional who was dedicated to excellence in creativity. The awards recognize Maine agencies and professionals for exhibiting this same dedication in their own creative endeavors.

The charter of the Advertising Club of Maine was signed on July 23, 1923, at the Congress Square Hotel in downtown Portland. It is one of the nation’s oldest professional organizations for advertising executives. Membership comprises representatives from the major agencies in the state, as well as all the media outlets, printers, direct mail houses, public relations professionals, photographers, web designers, freelance copywriters and graphic artists. The Ad Club’s mission is to lead and serve the membership through professional development, networking opportunities and recognition of creative excellence.

2011-2012 Ad Club Board Members
Amber Caron, Ad Club President, Kemp Goldberg Partners
Stephanie Deveau, Vice President, Shads Advertising
Joe Whalen, Treasurer, WCSH-TV
Sarah Downs, Secretary, Downs Creative and Copywriting
Chris Paquette, Transit ID
Larry Vine, Garrand & Co.
Matt Scheumann, Shoeless Design
Joe Rosenfield, Edison Press
Matt Burgess, Burgess Advertising
Jennifer Cartmell, NL Partners
Dan Routh, Burgess Advertising
Lauren Myers, Freelancer
Karen Tucker, Executive Administrator

Inspired by Dylan Thomas’s poem In My Craft Or Sullen Art, the 2011 Broderson Awards celebrates Commercial Artists as Fine Artists.

While Thomas did not care for “the strut and trade of charms on the ivory stages,” Commercial Artists do. And just as poets write, “by the raging moon,” so, too, do we. Our “craft” is not unlike that of any Fine Artist. We write, sculpt, mold and create, all with the same purpose—to move people with emotion and inspiration. The copywriter, art director and graphic designer are as essential to civilized society as the musician, painter or poet. For without Commercial Art, the wheels of innovation would slow to a crawl.

Commercial Art is Fine Art, and creativity is universal. The 2011 Brodersons is a celebration of Commercial Artists from the State of Maine.

In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms,
I labour by singing light
Not for ambition or bread
Or the strut and trade of charms
On the ivory stages
But for the common wages
Of their most secret heart.
Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Round the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages

There was no better backdrop for this year’s award show than the elegant State Theatre. Built in 1929 and steeped in rich history, this Maine legend features the distinguished architecture of Herbert W. Rhodes, who crafted a fusion of Spanish, Italian and Art Deco styles to create what truly is a piece of art in and of itself.