Would it be the newspaper? Radio or TV? E-mail, Twitter or Facebook?

If you had your druthers, what would be your favorite way to learn about arts and entertainment events in the Lewiston-Auburn region?

That’s what Bates and a number of local organizations would like to know. And we’re hoping you’ll tell us.

Through a survey launched today on SurveyMonkey.com, Bates and such organizations as L/A Arts hope to assess audience preferences for cultural events — the types of events you most enjoy, how you hear about them now and, most important, how you would like to hear about them.

• If you attend events in Lewiston-Auburn, please take our survey! Follow this link to the 8-minute survey.

“The earthquake in mass communications is shaking up arts presenters, too,” says Bates staff writer Doug Hubley, who publicizes cultural events for the college. “As we try to spread the word about happenings at Bates, or at the Public Theatre or L/A Arts, we can’t assume that the old methods are still effective.

“The question is, what methods will be effective? And we’re hoping our audiences will use this survey to tell us.” The 8-minute survey is titled ”The Arts in L/A: Getting the Word Out.”

Currently, Bates follows a fairly traditional path in publicizing events — press releases to the media, a printed monthly calendar mailed to subscribers and the same calendar online. The information gathered through the survey, the sponsors hope, will have a two-birds, one-stone effect, Hubley says.

“If it turns out our print pieces are going straight to the recycling bin, we may be able to save money on printing and mailing. And at the same time, we’ll learn how to give information to people the way they want to get it,” whether it’s through e-mail or even a Facebook site, he says.

Partnering with Bates in the survey project are the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce, the Auburn Community Band, the Bates Dance Festival, the Franco-American Heritage Center, Gleason Media Group, L/A Arts, the Lewiston Public Library and the Sun Journal.

– Doug Hubley, Office of Communications and Media Relations

The Harward Center for Community Partnerships joins several local agencies serving teens and young adults in launching Youth + Adults + Dialogue = Action, or YADA, an intergenerational project that will bring together more than 100 community members to discuss how to make Lewiston-Auburn a better place for youth.

A series of four dialogues for small groups will be co-facilitated by a young person and an adult. The goal of the two-hour dialogues is to develop action steps to be implemented collaboratively by young people and adults to make L-A  more youth-friendly, says YADA steering committee member Holly Lasagna, assistant director of service learning for the Harward Center. Including young people in the discussions is key to the effort.

The first YADA dialogue kicks off at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, in the Lewiston Public Library, 200 Main St. The remaining dates are Nov. 1, 8 and 15. The Harward Center hosted a Sept. 29 facilitator training session at Bates College, where 30 teenagers and adults worked on skills to use in upcoming dialogues.

“I was blown away by the response of those who attended,” Lasagna said. “Everyone was very engaged, and it was exciting to witness the adult-youth partnership that evolved. If their interaction is any indication of how the community dialogues will go, I believe this will be a very meaningful experience for all involved.”

In April 2006, several local agencies working with teens and young adults convened a group of community members to discuss ways to make Lewiston-Auburn a more youth-friendly and youth-empowered place. Although the group made some strides, they realized there were no young people sitting at the table. After careful consideration, much research and meaningful interaction with local youth, the consortium decided to initiate a “study circles project.”

Those interested in participating in the dialogues may contact YADA steering committee chairman Larry Marcoux of the United Way of Androscoggin County at 207-795-4000 or this lmarcoux@unitedwayandro.org.

In addition to Bates College, members of the YADA steering committee include the United Way of Androscoggin County, the city of Lewiston, the Lewiston Public Library, TD Banknorth, New Beginnings, Lots to Gardens, THRIVE, local public schools, ACE/Youthbuild, YWCA, community businesses and young people.

Word about YADA is circulating nationally. Read about the project on DemocracySpace, where community organizers and public officials connect online to share news, views and ideas, or on the Study Circles Resource Center site, featuring a report about YADA by the Lewiston Sun Journal.

For the third year, students starting their Bates College careers will discover their new community up close and personal through a walking tour of downtown Lewiston and Auburn led by community leaders.

The tour starts in Lewiston’s Kennedy Park around 5:15 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, and concludes roughly 30 minutes later in Auburn’s Festival Plaza. Community leaders such as Paul Badeau, marketing director of the Lewiston Auburn Economic Growth Council, will lead groups of students through the twin downtowns.

About 300 students will take part, out of 511 expected to enter Bates this fall. That total includes 490 first-year students, 20 transfers from other schools and the annual visiting Hirasawa Scholar. (A conclusive total of entering students will be released later.)

Lewiston Mayor Lionel Guay Jr. will greet the students at Kennedy Park, and Auburn Mayor Normand Guay (Lionel’s brother) will greet them at Festival Plaza.

The Growth Council and the college’s Dean of Students office have organized the event, devised in conjunction with the council in 2003 by Minh Le, a member of the Bates class of 2005 from New Orleans.

The students on the tour are participants in the Bates Annual Entering Student Outdoor Program, designed to introduce first-years to Maine, to each other and to the Bates culture. Designed and led by upperclassmen, AESOP excursions range from community service programs in the Lewiston-Auburn area to wilderness canoeing, mountain-climbing and camping.

Led by two Bates sophomores and Dyk Eusden, associate professor of geology at Bates, the trips to the Great Falls are open to the general public and may be scheduled as school field outings. Each two-hour trip consists of viewing the falls from West Pitch Park and, if weather and water levels allow, scrambling over the rocks of the falls.

Tours will be held Sunday, Oct. 11, from 10 a.m. to noon and from 3 to 5 p.m.; Wednesday, Oct. 14, from 2 to 3 p.m. and Friday, Oct. 16, from 1 to 3 p.m.

For more information about signing up for a tour, call the Bates College Center for Service-Learning at 207-786-8273.

The Bates College basketball camps are designed to develop fundamental basketball skills for the appropriate age levels. Participants will be divided by age and skill level. Specific emphasis is placed on teaching offensive and defensive techniques and strategy and having fun.

Both individual and group instruction will be provided. Daily activities will include full-court game competition, skill development stations, lectures, demonstrations, contests for prizes and more.

For more information, call the Bates Office of Special Projects at 207-786-6077.