Upcoming events, project updates, new fiscal sponsorship program & more
MIO performs in Kennedy Park in Lewiston in June 2019
Juneteenth Ain't Enough
“Younging asked OG
What is Juneteenth?
What does this holiday have to do with me?
I asked if there is a difference
Between these handcuffs and slavery’s chain links.
What’s the difference between what they did to the slave
And what they doing to us in this penitentiary?
- Joseph Jackson
Policies that surveil and separate Black families, rupture community ties, and control bodily autonomy are not new. Violence that terrorizes Black bodies and communities is not new. These are tactics of chattel slavery replicated in our current systems of child welfare, criminal justice, and healthcare and supported by a foundational belief in the supremacy of white bodies.
In a recent lecture facilitated by MIO's Co-Director Bruce King, scholar Dorothy Roberts exposed how the child welfare system surveils and destroys Black and Native American families. A few weeks later, a leak from the Supreme Court suggests that the court intends to overturn Roe v. Wade, landmark 1973 legislation that legalized abortion across the nation and improved access to reproductive care for people of color. Last weekend, a mass shooting in Buffalo New York targeted and killed Black people in a grocery store. Here in Maine, Black members of MIO experience disproportionate surveillance, family separation, incarceration, discriminatory healthcare, and violence.
This is why we say, “Juneteenth Ain’t Enough.” This year, Maine celebrates the second anniversary of recognizing Juneteenth as a State holiday. On June 17, Maine Inside Out and friends will host a celebration of Juneteenth in Lewiston’s Kennedy Park and call for liberation from systems of racial violence and oppression. Join us on June 17 – and at events hosted by our partners across the state – in reckoning with the legacies of slavery and the struggle for liberation that are so alive today.
“Juneteenth Ain’t Enough”
June 17 3-5pm
Kennedy Park Lewiston
This public event will feature performances by MIO members and BIPOC artists from the community, and will be supported by a broad coalition of people, organizations, and businesses working toward racial justice. This event will be part of a statewide weekend long recognition of Juneteenth. Stay tuned for more information about events hosted by our partners.
Project Updates
MIO’s Advanced Theater Troupe is working on a new play at the Lewiston Site
There are generations of artists for social change at work in Lewiston.
At MIO’s site on Lisbon St, the Advanced Theater Troupe is developing an original play to share when we open the site this Fall. The troupe consists of experienced MIO artists from across the state. The performance will showcase MIO’s method for creating social and cultural change through original theater and dialogue. Our new home is filled with the sounds of singing and dancing, the smells of home cooked meals, and the quiet moments of sharing personal experiences and stories as the play begins to find its way.
A few blocks away at Lewiston Middle School, two groups of 7th grade students are working hard to develop original plays to perform for the entire 7th grade, their families, teachers, and school administrators to spark dialogue and social change. The students are playing games, sharing stories, and beginning to craft scenes on the emerging themes of violence, disciplinary practices, friendship, and trust. The students will celebrate their work by visiting the MIO site for an artist exchange with the Advanced Theater Troupe and a celebratory meal.
The Advanced Theater Troupe and Lewiston Middle School Project Facilitators gather at MIO’s site for a community meal
Writing on the Walls
“Writing on the Walls” is a segment in our communications that features artwork by MIO members incarcerated across the state of Maine. The logo for “Writing on the Walls” is designed and illustrated by Jace Murphy. Jace is a visual and tattoo artist, musician, and writer from Portland, ME. He is currently incarcerated at Mountain View Correctional Center. Stay tuned for artwork, poetry, and music by MIO artists inside Maine’s prisons and jails.
MIO Fiscal Sponsorship
Starting in May 2022, Maine Inside Out will support mission-aligned independent artists, organizations, and groups without 501(c)(3) tax status to apply for grant funding through formal fiscal sponsorship.
Through fiscal sponsorship, MIO will support visionary artists and community organizers in the practical process of resourcing their ideas, reducing the administrative burden on emerging artists and projects and amplifying the collective community impact on social change.
Watch "Family Surveillance" the University of Maine's Howard B. Schonberger Peace and Justice Lecture. The lecture is delivered by Dr. Dorothy Roberts and facilitated by MIO Co-Director Bruce King.
Watch "Four Stories for Social Change Through DEI Work" presented by the Maine Women's Fund featuring MIO Co-Director Margot Fine.
Read this article in the Sun Journal about MIO's Director of Leadership Development Joseph Jackson receiving the Constance H. Carlson Public Humanities Prize from the Maine Humanities Council.