PORTLAND (WGME) — After 22 years as the St. Lawrence Arts Center, artistic organizers decided it was time for change.

The center has now rebranded to become The Hill Arts.

With a new name, comes new purpose. Brenda Garrand, Strategic Director of Marketing and Co-Chair of Development Committee at The Hill Arts, says this new image will bring the Arts Center to the future.

She is one of many working on plans to build a major expansion that would house a 400-seat auditorium that she says will fill a gap in Portland’s performing arts centers. Other local artists agree.

“We have over 6,000 people annually who are coming to our productions,” Classical Uprising Artistic Director Emily Isaacson said. “But we have nowhere to put them.”

Isaacson says for many performances, the venues in Portland are either too big or too small, and the city lacks a mid-sized venue like the one The Hill Arts plans to build.

Aside from the venue space, The Hill Arts planned expansion will host after-school and weekend arts programs for students at East End Community School.

“This place has the potential to be a lot of things to a lot of people,” Garrand said.

David Greenham, Executive Director of Maine Arts Commission, praises the rebrand and expansion plan and hopes that this will bring a new wave of artists to the city.

“I think that art can happen in any place, in any space,” Greenham said. “But I think their compelling case about the need for a mid-size space certainly is important for Portland.”

The project received approval from the City of Portland Planning Department in May, 2023, but still needs to raise about $10 million to complete construction. Organizers say they hope to break ground on the expansion by 2025.