File this one under the category of surprise: Lora Urbanelli is leaving her position as executive director at the Farsnworth Art Museum and taking over as director of the Montclair Art Museum in Montclair, N.J., starting in January.

Urbanelli has served as executive director at the Farnsworth since January 2006. She will continue in that role until the end of December.

"This is a personal career decision for Lora, and we are excited for her," Farnsworth board president Richard Aroneau said in a press release. "Although we are sad to see her go, we are grateful that she leaves behind a highly professional and united senior management team that has the strength and skill to guide the museum through a transition period while the board conducts a careful and thorough search for a new director."

In a statement, Urbanelli said, "It has been a true honor and a pleasure to work with this talented group of individuals in such a vibrant and beautiful area of the world. Midcoast Maine is unique, and the Farnsworth Art Museum is so well loved by its neighbors and members. Our place in the hearts of this community is the envy of many of my museum colleagues. I know my departure will surprise a lot of people - it surprised me too - but we are well-positioned with strong leadership on the staff, and our friends will find that our internal transition will be seamless. Moreover, our exhibition and education programs will be very impressive next year."

Maine State Music Theater in Brunswick just sent out a press release announcing its 2009 summer season, and the big news is that the theater will be the first in northern New England to produce the Broadway hit "The Light in the Piazza."

The season will continue with the Gershwin classic "Crazy for You," the comedy "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" based on the Steve Martin-Michael Caine film of the same title, and the showbiz comedy, "The Drowsy Chaperone."

Season tickets are on sale now, and early-bird season ticket rates are in place through Friday. Visit www.msmt.org for details.

The Maine Arts Commission has announced the recipients of the 2009 Artists' Fellowship Awards, one of the nation's highest awards for individual artists made by a state arts agency. The four recipients each will receive a $13,000 grant award, and will be honored during an awards showcase Nov. 21 in Bangor.

This year's four fellows are: Alison Chase, Brooksville, for the performing arts; Don Roy, Gorham, for the traditional arts; Penelope Schwartz Robinson, Cape Elizabeth, for the literary Arts; and Randy Regier, Portland, for the visual arts.

Chase, a dance choreographer, is best known as the founding artistic director of Pilobolus Dance Theater. In 2005, Chase created Apogee Arts.
She plans to use the grant to create Apogee Arts' inaugural work, which will explore the varied ways that people come together. This work will challenge preconceptions about physical form and psychological function, about human purpose shaped into roles, rules and responsibilities through complex relationships.

Roy, a Franco-American fiddler, has been playing the fiddle for more than 30 years. In recent years, he has turned his attention to making fiddles, and says he finds making the instruments at least as satisfying as making the music.
Roy shares his music-making tradition, teaching students privately and through larger workshops statewide. One of the things he likes most about the music in his life is the positive atmosphere it generates. "Music," he said, "is a reason to get together and feel good about life."

Robinson was awarded the Stonecoast Book Prize for her essay collection "Slippery Men," recently published by New Rivers Press. She has taught nonfiction writing and literature at the University of Maine at Farmington and Southern Maine Community College in South Portland.
Robinson intends to use her award and newfound nationwide credibility to pursue her next project, a nonfiction book about her experience of helping a friend through the process of dying.

Regier was chosen from among 130 applicants to be this year's visual arts fellow. He is currently working on "NuPenny," an installation that has all the makings of a toy store, with an aesthetic that references the early- to mid-1960s, but every element will be rendered entirely in photographic grayscale.

About the award, Regier said, "Joseph Campbell has written that 'money is congealed energy.' I can't possibly think of a more elegant way to put it. This grant has given us (Regier and his family) energy to live, and me, personally, energy to create art. As an artist, there is nothing more I could ask for."

The Nov. 21 showcase at the Penobscot Theatre in Bangor will feature presentations from this year's fellows, accompanied by the 2009 Traditional Arts Masters.