Open Mic & Introducing New Board Members!
You are invited to join the MIO community for an Open Mic next week on Tuesday, October 22 from 6-8pm at L/A Arts in Lewiston. All of MIO’s Open Mics in Lewiston this year are funded by the National Endowment for the Arts to support art for healing after the devastating mass shooting. This Open Mic is a few days before the first anniversary of the mass shooting and we will take time at the event to honor and grieve for the victims, for everyone impacted by the tragedy, and for the ongoing gun violence in Lewiston. Come join us to be together in community through the power of artistic expression and witness.
L/A Arts is accessible for people with disabilities. Please contact Joseph Jackson at Joseph@maineinsideout.org if you need any specific accommodations in order to attend this event.
There are other upcoming events that we recommend attending to show your love and support for the Lewiston community in commemoration of the mass shooting:
On October 25, One Lewiston is hosting an October 25th Commemoration Event to commemorate the tragic events of October 25, 2023.
On October 25, Maine Community Integration is hosting a “Purple Walk” to honor victims of the mass shooting.
October 28 - November 1 is Love Lewiston Week hosted by Tree Street Youth to love our community and show the true spirit of Lewiston’s love.
MIO’s “Landing Pad” community of system-impacted artists gathered on Tuesday, October 8 for a community lunch. MIO’s monthly community lunches focus on building leadership, offering peer support, and sharing resources among MIO’s statewide community of system-impacted young adults. The group breaks bread, creates and shares original poetry, offers each other support, and learns from a system-impacted guest speaker. The theme for poetry this month was “life outside” and the guest speaker Jeffrey Glover from Recovery Housing of Maine spoke about his early life, time inside, recovery journey, and personal transformation. Community members are encouraged to bring their families, and this month 3 artists brought their children ranging from 6 months to 6 years old.
Beyond the monthly meetings, MIO’s “Landing Pad” program offers crisis support, emergency funding, connection to resources, and support navigating systems including the criminal justice system and family reunification through the child welfare system. The “Landing Pad” artists will be hosting and sharing original art and poetry at the Lewiston community Open Mic next week and you are all invited to join us there!
Also, the month of October is Youth Justice Action Month hosted across the nation by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency. Check out the website for more information about events and actions.
Save the Date for MIO’s Fall Performances & Events
Thursday, November 21
Lewiston Community Performance of “Broken Clock”
Doors at 6:30pm
Performance & Dialogue at 7pm
Schaeffer Theatre Bates College
329 College St. Lewiston, ME
Friday, November 22
Portland Community Performance of “Broken Clock”
Doors at 6:30pm
Performance & Dialogue at 7pm
10 Mayo St. Portland, ME
Tuesday, December 3rd
Performance of two new original plays by Lewiston youth.
Performances & Dialogue at 5pm
Location TBA
Tuesday, December 10th Performance of two new original scenes by King Middle School students.
Performances & Dialogue at 5pm
King Middle School
92 Deering Ave Portland, ME
Tuesday, December 17
Lewiston Community Open Mic
Location TBA
Check out MIO’s event calendar to stay up to date on upcoming events!
Introducing MIO’s New Board Members Alicia and Robbie
We are excited to welcome Alicia Ricker and Robert Pollock to the Maine Inside Out Board! They bring experience and connections to the community, prison art and writing programs, schools, and social justice organizing. We are grateful for the energy that they will contribute to the work of Maine Inside Out and look forward to collaborating with them on the Board.
- Jonah Fertig-Burd, MIO Board Chair
Alicia Ricker has been an educator in public schools for 15 years. She is currently a Math Coach & Math Interventionist in the Oxford Hills School District. Alicia was drawn to MIO through the pilot school MIO programming at Lewiston Middle School in 2022. She served as the school’s contact and organizational person for students to be able to participate in the program. She became part of the MIO community through supporting students and their growth in the program.
Alicia lives with her 2 daughters and husband. She enjoys skiing with her family in the winters!
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Robert Pollock has worked with the justice system and its intersection with the arts for nearly two decades. He is the former Prison and Justice Writing Program Manager for PEN America, where he designed and published 6 annual anthologies of award winning work of writers who were incarcerated. He has led projects with Rehabilitation Through the Arts, Musicambia, Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, Music on the Inside, and Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections Advisory Committee. He has collaborated with the Fortune Society, Osborne Association, the Old Globe's Shakespeare in Prison program, and several national justice grassroots organizations. He illustrated the children's book "Sing, Sing, Midnight!" by Emily Ridge Gallagher, which has been used across the country to help families talk about visitation and incarceration. He has spoken in workshops and panels at Columbia Law, Harvard Law, NYU, Yale Law, NY Bar Association, John Jay, and many other events about power of the arts in prison education, community-building and restorative justice practices. Robert is a Fall 2019 New York Community Trust Leadership Fellow.