Courage Beyond Control Performance & Updates from MIO
Dear Community,
“Courage like a mountain. Freedom in my soul.”
On June 22, five young men incarcerated at Mountain View Correctional Facility premiered their new original play, “Courage Beyond Control.” The visitation room in the correctional center was filled with family members of the artists, Maine Inside Out community from near and far, correctional officers, and the warden. In the performance and post-show dialogue, the artists and audiences opened up about the ways control and courage impact our choices, relationships, social systems, and what we believe is possible for our communities. It was a personal, emotional, and courageous conversation.
“Courage” (from the French words “coeur” and “age”) literally translates to “time of the heart.” We resonate with this call from artists at Mountain View to be guided by the wisdom of our hearts. As Maine Inside Out moves into the second half of the year, we will continue to deepen the ways we put values of trust, love, purpose, creativity, connection, and consistency into action. In all relationships, projects, partnerships, and internal culture, we are building a world of courage and interconnection that nourishes the freedom in our souls.
What or who is in need of your courage right now? What does it look like for us all to step into “heart-time” and meet the challenges of this moment with “courage beyond control” ?
Juneteenth: “A Change We're Waiting For”
Tyler Jackson, a project facilitator at Maine Inside Out, raises his hand Friday while others rock out to “If Not Us Then Who,” the title song from the organization’s album premiered at the Juneteenth observance at Kennedy Park in Lewiston. Photo by Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
Thank you to MIO's Juneteenth Partners!
ACLU of Maine, A Hand Up, Androscoggin Bank, Athena Lynch, Bates College, Berman & Simmons, Central Maine Showing up for Racial Justice, Church of Safe Injection, Community Organizing Alliance, Diversified Communications, The Francis Hotel & Spa, KeyBank, L/A Arts, L.L.Bean, Maine Community Integration, Maine Inside Out, Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, Maine People’s Alliance, Maine Prisoner Re-Entry Network, Maine Youth Justice, New Beginnings, Permanent Commission, Recovery Connections of Maine, Safe Voices, Southern Maine Workers Center, Shukie & Segovias, St. Mary’s Nutrition Center, Survivor Speak USA, Trinity Church, Wright-Ryan, Youth Justice Clinic and Center for Youth Policy & Law at Maine Law, YWCA Central Maine, Zachau Construction
Listen to MIO's Album Released on Juneteenth
Experience An MIO Theater Workshop!
MIO theater facilitator Tyler Jackson leads a pre-show circle before the debut performance of “Some Dreams Come True, Some Dreams Become Nightmares” at Lewiston Middle School in May 2023.
Did you know that MIO offers workshops for large and smaller groups based on the games and exercises we use to create original theater? These workshops are engaging, playful, highly interactive experiences led by the team that facilitates MIO’s groups in schools and prisons. Workshops can be designed in collaboration with your organization for groups of adults, youth, or all ages together. If you are interested in scheduling a workshop, we would love to hear from you! We are currently booking workshops from August 2023 into 2024.
Partner Spotlight: Sunlight Media Collective
“This River is Our Relative" is a new Sunlight Media Collective documentary about the Penobscot Nation’s intrinsic kinship connection to and tireless environmental advocacy for the Penobscot River. The story is told through the voices of 24 Penobscot people, who share their experience of historical, physical, and spiritual connection to place; of cultural identity and survival.
MIO is proud to be the fiscal sponsor to Sunlight Media Collective. The Sunlight Media Collective is an organization of Wabanaki and non-Wabanaki media makers working to document and raise awareness about issues affecting Wabanaki people, with a particular emphasis on the frequent intersection between environmental issues and Tribal rights. Sunlight Media Collective’s work facilitates understanding, analysis and historical context, and provides educational opportunities for alliance building, social change, and environmental stewardship.
Co-Founder Transition: Honoring Tessy
Earlier this spring, MIO honored Tessy Seward in a Co-Founder transition ceremony for her incredible founding and continued contributions that have made MIO what it is today.
Earlier this spring, MIO honored Tessy Seward in a Co-Founder transition ceremony for her incredible founding and continued contributions that have made MIO what it is today.
From Tessy:
Dear MIO community,
This spring, I made a gentle transition from my long-time development role at Maine Inside Out. At a gathering of MIO friends and family spanning all eras of the organization, we celebrated this shift by sharing good food, stories, poetry, appreciations, and of course some theater-based movement and play. While I will no longer hold a full-time role at MIO, I will continue to be an active community member, and support the ongoing work however I can. In the short-term, that includes a joyful return to co-facilitating theater workshops with the MIO theater team.
When Margot, Chiara and I found ourselves in a car, rolling north into the first theater workshop at the Women’s Re-Entry Center in Bangor in 2008, we’d known each other just a few months. In the conversations we’d managed to squeeze in between our various full-time jobs, new babies and school coursework, we recognized a deep connection in values, vision, and purpose, and felt motivated to start wherever we could with the work we believed could create change. We could not have imagined the ways that journey would unfold, and the amount of learning and growth ahead, on both personal and community levels.
I want to share my extraordinary gratitude for the evolving journey of Maine Inside Out, and recognize with love all of the people I have had the honor of learning from and alongside. This vibrant, powerful collection of artists and bridge-builders is truly changing the world. I am grateful for the ways we’ve worked together in so many contexts and spaces, encouraged always by the shared vision of a more just world, and the creative energy and the love that have long formed the foundation of MIO’s work. There is so much ahead for this organization. I look forward to seeing the next chapters unfold.
With love and deep respect,
Tessy
Maine Inside Out artists offer creative visions and community forums to build connection and leadership across boundaries, identities and generations.
Your support is an investment in the leadership of youth and young adult activists and artists working for racial justice, criminal justice reform, economic justice, and community health.