Staff news + join us for dialogue
Maine Inside Out 2025 creative ensemble members Chiara, Hassan, Noah, Tyler, Joseph, and Stacy, with Mandy Huotari (center). Photo by Sarah Violette.
Message from the Co-Executive Directors
Maine Inside Out is no stranger to big change. Our ability to shift and evolve is part of the strength of this organization - it’s how we’re able to meet each cultural moment with creativity and trust. We are in a moment of evolution, and we want to bring you in close to it.
With great celebration and also grief, we are sharing that Noah Bragg is moving on from his role at Maine Inside Out this summer after 10 years of growing and leading our programs. Noah will share more about his journey in an upcoming newsletter. We are reflecting with gratitude on all that Noah has brought to MIO.
The other big news: This month, MIO welcomed Mandy Huotari to our staff as Inside Program Coordinator after she spent two years facilitating our creative ensemble as a contractor. We are thrilled to have her on the staff team as we prepare for theater projects inside prisons and in the community this fall.
These transitions come at a pivotal time. We are actively preparing for theater projects inside two prisons this fall, and deepening our community work with youth in Lewiston. We need to maintain our capacity because the need is real - for incarcerated people, for young people navigating systems that were not built for them, for everyone impacted by systemic oppression. We are continuing this work toward a shared vision of transforming a culture of punishment and isolation to one that thrives in connection, dignity, and community-led accountability.
We’ve kept our work going creatively, despite funding cuts. But we’ll only be able to keep going with broader support. This June, we'll be launching a fundraising campaign to fuel the work ahead. Stay tuned.
And please come to our Juneteenth events! Join in community for deeply needed dialogue to move our collective work forward.
In solidarity,
Joseph and Chiara
Welcome Amanda Huotari, Inside Program Coordinator
After two years facilitating Maine Inside Out’s creative ensemble as a contractor, Amanda Huotari has joined the Maine Inside Out staff to lead the coordination, facilitation, training, and implementation for our theater programs inside prisons. Mandy will also be the lead on our volunteer programs and our group workshops open to the public, and will co-lead the creative ensemble.
Mandy is a theater artist and facilitator who believes that each of us is a radical, creative force of nature - and that by creating together, we have greater impact and way more fun.
Mandy brings over 30 years of experience as a theater artist to the MIO community. Her award-winning interactive performances have toured internationally, from Montreal to Bogotá, and from the New York Clown Theatre Festival to the White House. In 2022, she was named the Maine Arts Commission’s Performing Arts Fellow.
She spent 15 years as Executive Artistic Director of Celebration Barn Theater, where she co-facilitated workshops and retreats for thousands of artists from around the world, deepening creative exploration, encouraging bold risk-taking, and amplifying each artist’s unique voice.
Juneteenth Performances + Community Dialogue
Your voice matters. Come to reckon, reflect, and act together.
Join Maine Inside Out for our Juneteenth community gatherings in Lewiston and Portland. Each event will be an open dialogue about mass incarceration in the US, anchored by original theater, film, and lived experience. Come to think, feel, and reckon together about what liberation looks like in our communities. At a moment when civic engagement is vital, this is an opportunity for active participation.
Lewiston tickets: Thursday, June 11 at The Public Theatre, doors at 6pm
Portland tickets: Wednesday, June 17 at Mayo Street Arts, doors at 6:30pm
These events are entirely supported by donations, sponsorship contributions, and grants. Many thanks to our event supporters: Maine’s Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous, and Tribal Populations, Androscoggin Bank, Berman & Simmons, KeyBank, Lewiston Public Art Committee, Little Chair Printing, Poland Spring, Sam L. Cohen Foundation, and The Youth Justice Clinic and the Center for Youth Policy & Law at Maine Law. There is still time to support these events - contact us for details.
Celebrating our Collaboration: Maine Inside Out + Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition
MIO and MPAC came together this month to break bread and celebrate our new pilot collaboration: the MIO-MPAC Adult Re-entry Community Group. Building on the robust peer support networks that each organization has built over many years, the group welcomes adults ages 18+ who are in re-entry after incarceration to come together weekly at MIO’s site in Lewiston for peer support, artistic expression, and civic engagement.
During our time together we shared lunch, played theater games, and created a “collaboration tree,” writing notes on its leaves about our hopes for what this collaboration will bring forth into our communities.
Highlights:
“Collaborative projects, coming together, breaking bread”
“Inspiration and action”
“Create more plays together”
“Belonging, overcoming isolation”
“Strengthen and sustain this work until it is no longer needed”
“Trust”
Partner Events:
Somali Bantu Community Association Spring Blessing Event
May 21, 11am-1pm
MIO will be at Liberation Farms on May 21 and would love to see you there! The event will celebrate the beginning of the farming season, and will be a day to connect and learn more about the SBCA’s work around food sovereignty, client navigation services, land access, and youth engagement.
