Are you ready to find more customers and grow your business? In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn how to quickly generate, test, and implement innovative ideas that address your unique business challenges. Ensuring you stay ahead in today's competitive market, you’ll learn proven strategies that help successful businesses thrive and avoid the pitfalls that cause 42% of small businesses to fail because they solve the wrong problem for their customers. 

Session 1 kicks off with a case study where you’ll solve a real-world challenge for a small business. Through an interactive and participatory, step-by-step process you’ll learn how to apply it to your own business.

In Session 2 the focus is on your business, guiding you to uncover new ways to attract customers, increase loyalty, and stand out from the competition. Whether you're just starting out or looking to expand, you’ll leave with practical, no-nonsense strategies you can start using right away to grow your business and avoid common mistakes. 

Instructor: Justine Bassett, MS

Justine Bassett is an experienced leader who helps businesses and organizations advance their goals with a mix of strategy, creativity, and design. She has led innovative transformations in multiple organizations such as the University of New England (UNE) and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Her business experience includes international work for large companies including MCI, Motorola and Bath Iron Works and has been a business leader at multiple small businesses and start-ups. Her business, Dynamic Foresight, provides business and strategy consulting and training to business leaders and organizations. Her work has been profiled in the Boston Globe, Downeast Magazine and Maine Magazine. In 2022, she was honored as one of Maine Magazine's “Mainers of the Year.”

Whether you're a cinephile or just like movies, come hangout, chat, and learn about the history of film and the ways that people have consumed this popular media since its conception.

During this session, you will learn how to navigate multiple worksheets, save your workbook, create formulas, use functions, change the layout of your worksheet, and how to create practical worksheets. 1040 Income Tax – Maintain tax information that is very useful when preparing your annual tax return. The design of this course includes 2-3 hours of work with the software between sessions to gain maximum benefit from the sessions. Some examples of using Microsoft Excel as a Practical Tool: ● Grocery Shopping List – Quickly create a weekly grocery shopping list. What a time saver! ● Contractor Estimate Calculator - Great tool for any contractor who has to provide estimates for customers. ● Household Budget – Create a monthly budget of your household expenditures. This is a live online class using ZOOM. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey included in your automated receipt so the instructor can tailor the course to meet your needs. You will want to have Microsoft Excel on your computer for this workshop and many people find it helpful to have two monitors though it is certainly not necessary to benefit from the sessions. There are two ways to accomplish this: 1) attach an external screen to your computer (contact our program if you need technical assistance with that); 2) use two computers (one for Excel and the other for the ZOOM meeting. Val Landry is a lifelong business educator and academic advisor focused on helping enrich and enhance students' educational and life purposes. He is experienced in college management and, as an adult educator, having taught at the Mid-State College and Kennebec Valley Community College. His teaching experience covers over 45 years in the areas of computer applications, accounting, and Quickbooks training workshops.  Instructor: Val Landry

Join Kathryn Carter and learn how to create stunning seascapes, landscapes, plants, flowers and birds with professional instruction and step-by-step demonstrations. Learn how to select the right materials and handle them properly; color mixing ( to avoid making mud); the use of exciting techniques to capture light and shadow; and much more. Watercolor teaches us to slow down, be present, and enjoy the journey with confidence, gratitude, patience, and joy. Let’s paint!

MATERIALS – 2024-2025

PALETTE Mijello 18-well airtight (Amazon $20). Any covered palette will work. PAINT I recommend small tubes. Pans are hard to work with. Sets contain colors we do not use and they omit ones we do need. Windsor Newton, DaVinci, Daniel Smith are a few of the trusted brands we use. Colors Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, Cobalt Blue, French Ultramarine, Sap green, Titanium white. Additional but optional: Raw Sienna, Permanent Rose, Cerulean, Payne’s Gray

PAPER Arches Watercolor Paper Pad, 140 lb. Cold Press- 9x12.

BRUSHES Synthetic rounds in sizes #2, #4, #6, #8. 1/2” Flat. #1 Liner (optional). Black Velvet brushes are a blend of natural hair and synthetic, hold a good point and lots of paint or water. I use my #8 all the time along with a few synthetic brushes.

MISCELLANEOUS White and kneaded erasers, masking tape (1/2”), paper towels, HB pencils, notebook, kitchen towel, toothbrush, old credit card. I will supply water containers for class use. SOURCES: Cheap Joe’s, Dick Blick, Daniel Smith, Jerry’s Artarama

Plastics-while we encounter a variety of these materials throughout the day, we rarely give any thought to history. But in fact, plastics not only possess a history, but that history yields clues as to how they became so ubiquitous in a relatively brief period of time, measured only in decades. This course will offer a history of plastics in a broad context, from the technology to the social impact. It is hoped that you will never look at plastics in quite the same way again. Instructor: James Kences

Create the perfect pitcher for refreshing beverages! In this workshop, you'll design and hand-paint your own unique pitcher, perfect for all your gatherings. Whether you're hosting a casual get-together or a special event, your custom creation will be a standout piece. Join us and add a personal touch to your entertaining. 

at Firefly Pottery, 72 Mirona Rd Suite 1, Portsmouth, NH 03801

So, you’re on a budget, managing a bank account, and wondering about the next steps in your financial journey. In Adulting 102, we will look at the differences between saving and investing, and if you are ready to invest, how to get started. Other topics will include protecting your assets (insurance), advanced budgeting, and understanding the role economics plays in our financial life. Join Steve Kautz, Financial Education Programs Specialist from the Finance Authority of Maine for this 1-hour virtual workshop as you take the next steps into adulting. #FAME

In this workshop, you'll explore textures and fold forming to create unique earrings. Templates will be provided to help you choose the shape, which you will then saw out of metal. After folding the metal in half, you'll gently hammer it to create a seam, then open it up again to texture the folded seam. Each student will also learn how to make small granules to solder onto the earrings for added design details. No experience is required, and all materials and supplies are included. Join us to craft a distinctive pair of earrings from start to finish! Instructor: Alice Carroll

Class is located in Alice Carroll's Studio in The Button Factory, 855 Islington St. #202 Portsmouth, NH 03801