Blog and Newsletter

Date: Friday, June 14, 2024 from 6:00 PM  8:00 PM
Location: Hannaford Hall, University of Southern Maine, Portland

A keynote presentation by Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries of The Ohio State University, with a panel conversation and reception.

America is a product of its past, the sum of four centuries of triumphs and tragedies. But Americans find it difficult, impossible even, to talk openly and honestly about historical events that revolve around race, such as slavery, Jim Crow, and mass incarceration. In this keynote address, Dr. Jeffries will explore America’s distaste for Hard History and preference for nostalgia. He will also highlight critical lessons about racism and democracy that can be learned from confronting Hard History directly.

A panel event following the keynote will feature Speaker of the House Rachel Talbot Ross, Policy Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine Meagan Sway, Portland Public School's Wabanaki and Africana Studies Lead Fiona Hopper, and a Wabanaki Studies Specialist.

A WHERE2024 event, presented by Atlantic Black Box in collaboration with the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, University of Southern Maine, Maine Black Community Development, and The Third Place.

LEARN MORE & REGISTER HERE

Date: Thursday, June 13, 2024 from 5:30 - 8:00 pm
Location: Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment, Freeport

An educator workshop and teacher-appreciation dinner with Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries of The Ohio State University, Dr. Kate Shuster of the Hard History Project, and longtime education leader Maureen Costello, who works at the intersection of history, civics, and social justice education.

Two major projects – Teaching Hard History and the 1619 Project – began changing the way schools taught the story of race-based American slavery.  In the years that followed, the movement made a lot of headway as teachers took workshops, gained access to accessible online tools, and brought previously untold stories and overlooked perspectives into the classroom. But in the past two years, teachers and schools came under attack for teaching honest and hard history. Today, the question is: What's next, and where do we go from here? Attendees will hear from the leaders of Teaching Hard History and learn about new resources for teaching and defending a fuller history. They will also have the opportunity to engage in conversation about how to meet the challenge ahead of us. 

A WHERE2024 event, presented by Atlantic Black Box in collaboration with Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, Maine Black Community Development, and The Third Place.

LEARN MORE & REGISTER HERE

This event will ground The Walk For Historical & Ecological Recovery (WHERE) in the Interfaith Pilgrimage of the Middle Passage, the epic journey that inspired us to walk together over the next seven months in the place known for millennia by the Wabanaki people as the Dawnland. Through art, story, performance, and dialogue, WHERE walks and programs will provide opportunities to uncover our shared histories of colonization, genocide, slavery, resistance, and survival, and to move toward healing together. 

On the 25th anniversary of the Interfaith Pilgrimage, founders Nobuntu Ingrid Askew and Sister Clare Carter will join Crossing the Waters Co-Director Dr. Sonji Johnson-Anderson and moderator June Thornton-Marsh for a screening of the documentary Rise Up and Call Their Names, which chronicles the extraordinary thirteen-month journey the founders led in 1998-1999 through the eastern United States, the Caribbean, Brazil, West Africa, and South Africa to reverse the direction of the Middle Passage–that is, the forced voyage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic–both symbolically and geographically. 

Please click here to register and help us spread the word by adapting this template email and sending it to your list. You can also share our event on Facebook and post the attached graphic on Instagram.

Join us for this and other WHERE2024 gatherings to seek truth and transformation through creative and embodied approaches to antiracist and decolonial historical recovery.

Convened by the public history nonprofit Atlantic Black Box, WHERE2024 is carried out in partnership with Wabanaki REACH, Indigo Arts Alliance, Community Change Inc., In Kinship Collective, The Third Place, Pejepscot Portage Mapping Project,  York History Partners,  Maine Black Community Development, and Momentum Conservation. 

Thank you for being a part of this journey.

Our colleagues at NEMA have a request...

We recently launched the collector for the NEMA Salary & Benefits Survey. The Survey was last published in 2020 and it is time for a refresh. So much has changed due to the pandemic.

This is one of the most valuable publications NEMA produces and we need all museums–from the largest institutions, to the smallest all volunteer organizations–to be represented. The survey closes April 26, 2024.

You can find full details here: https://nemanet.org/salary-survey

Thanks!

Heather A. Riggs

(she/her/hers)

Director of Administration

New England Museum Association

22 Mill Street, Suite 409

Arlington, MA 02476

Phone: 781-641-0013

Fax: 781-641-0053

www.nemanet.org

From our friends at Maine Preservation:

I want to draw your attention to the upcoming Jane's Walk ME festival.

ABOUT JANE’S WALK ME

Jane’s Walk is a global festival of free, volunteer-led walking conversations inspired by community activist Jane Jacobs. Jane’s Walks combine the simple act of exploring a place with personal observations, local history, and civic engagement.

Walks are often of neighborhoods, downtowns, and scenic areas, but can also be of just one site. For example, the L.C. Bates Museum gave a tour of their exhibits and grounds last year.

I hope you will consider sharing information about Jane's Walk ME with MAM's constituency, and perhaps leading a walk yourself!

All the best,

Tara Kelly
Executive Director
Maine Preservation
P.O. Box 488
Yarmouth, ME 04096
mainepreservation.org

The Office of Strategic Partnerships at the National Museum of African American History and Culture announces our open call for applications for the 2024 Ethical Interpretation Workshop. 

Offered annually, the Ethical Interpretation Workshop provides technical training for museum professionals on interpretive theory and ethical practice. The program addresses histories of oppressed people whose experiences have been historically ignored and misrepresented and does so by recognizing their individuality, achievements, and challenges. Ethical Interpretation centers the critical importance of collaboration with the communities whose histories are being interpreted, and connects past, present, and future conditions for learners. Participants are equipped with tools and techniques to develop culturally responsive interpretation, and how to prepare themselves to engage in challenging discussions in a safe and sustainable way. Appropriate use of language and cultural frameworks, awareness of identity and self, and addressing audience responses are just some of the topics covered.

 

2024 Session Dates are as follows:

• Virtual Days: June 10-13, 2024 (10:00 am to 3:30 pm daily) 
• In-Person Days: June 17-20, 2024 (9:00 am to 5:00 pm daily) 

 

The workshop is open to museum professionals in the United States and the Caribbean engaged in historical and cultural interpretation or a closely related field. Several travel/tuition scholarships are available. Please visit our website for more information and instructions on how to apply. Feel free to reach out with any questions you may have about the workshop and/or the application process.

 

Completed applications are due by 11:59pm on Sunday, April 21, 2024.

Maine Library Association, Picture Maine, Maine Preservation, New England Museum Association, Maine Humanities Council, Maine Arts Commission, and Cultural Alliance of Maine, have collaborated to bring Cultural Advocacy Day 2024 to the State House! 

We invite you to join us on March 5 from 1-4 pm at the Maine State House for an impactful day of advocating for culture, fostering connections with colleagues, and engaging with elected officials.

Register to Join Us! 

There are a few opportunities for tabling at the event, please complete the form linked below if you are be interested.

Interested in Tabling?

New deadline: Feb 10, 2024

We need your 2023 data!

Thank you to everyone who has participated in the Impact Statement Survey! If you did not have a chance to participate, we have reopened the survey with a new deadline of Feb 10, 2024.

We need your 2023 data! By answering this survey, you will provide MAM with the tools it needs to advocate for our sector, particularly on Cultural Advocacy Day at the State House on March 5th.

All questions are optional, but we have highlighted five key questions that we hope all organizations can answer.

Key questions:

In 2023, my organization employed _____ (#) people.

Volunteers contributed  _____ (#) hours.

We spent $_____ on goods and services in our community and beyond.

We served _____ (#) visitors.

We served _____ (#) students.

Thank you for your input!

Survey link:https://forms.gle/NfbHSLbfNbN37q9i7

Help us advocate for cultural institutions in Maine by contributing data about the impact your organization made in 2023. This survey will remain open until January 5, 2024.

Museums, historical societies, archives, and other cultural institutions are not one-size-fits-all, so please fill out any relevant sections of the survey and skip those that are not applicable. We will compile the data into a statewide impact statement to share with community members, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

Please also mark your calendar for Cultural Advocacy Day, which will be held at the State House on March 5, 2024 from 1-4pm.

If you have any questions, contact MAM's Advocacy Committee by emailing: greta.schroeder@bangorpubliclibrary.org

Thank you for your input!

Click here to take the Survey!

The Wabanaki Voices Speaker Series continues with a discussion on tribal sovereignty led by Ambassador Maulian Bryant and Darren Ranco. They will share the history of the issue and potential detailed changes that sovereignty would bring.

Tuesday, November 21 at 7pm at the Margaret Chase Smith Library, 56 Norridgewock Ave, Skowhegan.

Or, join via Zoom.  Register here. 

Ranco, a Penobscot Tribal member, is an associate professor of anthropology and coordinator of Native American research at the University of Maine at Orono. Ambassador Maulian Dana Bryant was appointed by Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis in September 2017. As Ambassador, Maulian is responsible to act as a representative of the Penobscot Nation and to serve as a liaison for the Nation at the local, state and federal levels of government to educate and advocate for policy and laws that impact and protect the Penobscot Nation's sovereignty, culture, natural resources and the general welfare of the Penobscot people.

Sponsored by Skowhegan History House Museum & Research Center.