When Mark Waskow was in college, he discovered a museum on campus. When he couldn’t convince his friends to go, he decided to go on his own.

“I never knew anybody there, but I had a great time,” he said, “and I started going to art shows in town. To scratch the art itch.” Today he’s president of Northern New England Museum of Contemporary Art (NNEMoCA) and is on a mission to inspire people like his friends in college to give art a shot.