FRANCO CENTER

The Franco Center is a performing arts and cultural facility at 46 Cedar Street in Lewiston, Maine, housed in the former St. Mary's Church, a Late Gothic Revival structure in the city's historic "Little Canada" neighborhood. The facility includes a 428-seat Performance Hall, a multi-functional event and banquet hall, a Franco-American Heritage Museum, and a French language library.

Programming spans popular music, Broadway, folk, symphonic music, solo instrumentalists, chorales, comedy, dance, and theater. The Center also produces theme night series and informal nightclub performances. Events celebrate both Franco-American heritage and contemporary performing arts.

St. Mary's Church was built between 1907 and 1927, holding its first mass on Christmas Day 1927. It served the French Canadian immigrant community until the Catholic Diocese of Portland closed it on July 1, 2000 due to declining attendance and high maintenance costs. Former Lewiston mayor Lionel Guay led a community effort to form a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that purchased the church from the diocese for one dollar, saving the diocese nearly $250,000 in demolition costs. The building was deconsecrated and reopened as the Franco-American Heritage Center.