MIO Celebrates Juneteenth Becoming a National Holiday!
Friday, June 18 | 6:30-8pm EST
Saturday, June 19 | 1-5pm EST
Join us for the second annual celebration of Juneteenth!
On June 18, 2021 Maine Inside Out joined collaborative partners in Congress Square Park to celebrate Juneteenth becoming a National Holiday. There was a performance from Maine Inside Out and Signature Soul; Calls to action from Maine Youth Justice, Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous and Maine Tribal Populations, and the Portland Racial Equity Steering Committee.
On Saturday June 19th from 1-5pm the celebration featured art and print making with Indigo Arts Alliance and Little Chair Printing, community dialogue, food and more performances!
This annual celebration of Juneteenth in Portland is founded and organized by Athena Lynch and hosted by the Friends of Congress Square Park. Featuring:
Athena Lynch is the founder and organizer of Portland's annual Juneteenth celebration in Congress Square Park. Athena has been living in Maine for 6 years and attended Maine College of Art in Portland. She is a transdisciplinary socially engaged artist whose work ranges from installation to object making centered story-telling and social engagement. Her work references African diasporic perspectives past, present and future.
Maine Inside Out will perform The Weeping City an original play created in 2009 following a fatal police shooting in Portland, Maine. Young people in the community came to Maine Inside Out with a request to create theater specifically to initiate dialogue about police violence. MIO re-staged The Weeping City in May 2021 to remember and honor George Floyd and call our community to action to end state sanctioned violence and systemic racism. June 18th is the second performance of this 2021 version that has been adapted and revised by one of the original creators of The Weeping City, Nancy Valmond-Bell, with the MIO Models for Community Change team and the MIO Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) affinity group.
Signature Soul IS A FUSION OF RHYTHM + RHYME + REASON + RESONANCE MADE UP OF THE ECLECTIC DUO. We create and share original poetry, music, and art that capture our experiences and shed light on our aspirations. We facilitate creative expression labs & writing workshops that encourage participants to explore their Voice and to share their truths. We strive towards sustaining an interdependent network of artistic activists, free-thinkers, & community connectors who are dedicated to making our world more creative and peace-full.
Maine Youth Justice is a nonpartisan campaign fighting to end youth incarceration in Maine and invest in a range of community based supports that respond to young people’s needs, support families, and build community. We are a campaign led by young people who have been incarcerated in Long Creek and directly impacted by the juvenile justice system. We are calling for the closure of Long Creek Youth Development Center, the end of youth incarceration, and the reinvestment of the $18.6 million dollars currently being spent to lock up Maine’s youth.
Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition is composed of Maine inmates, their friends and families, victims of crime and others committed to ethical, positive and humane changes in Maine’s prison system.
Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous and Maine Tribal Populations has a mission to examine racial disparities across all systems and to specifically work at improving the status and outcomes for the historically disadvantaged racial, Indigenous, and tribal populations in the State. The Permanent Commission is empowered to advise all three branches of the Maine government.
Indigo Arts Alliance builds global connections by bringing together Black and Brown artists from diverse backgrounds to engage in their creative process with an opportunity to serve as both mentors and mentees. An integral aspect of the Indigo vision is to provide Maine based artists of African descent access to a broader range of practicing artists of color from around the world.
Portland Racial Equity Steering Committee
& MORE...