RECEPTION: Barça/Barzak: The immigrant’s hope | Papa Mendy

SPEEDWELL 630 Forest Avenue, Portland, ME, United States

Barça/Barzak: The immigrant's hope | Papa Mendy Exhibition On View: October 13 - 21, 2018 Opening Reception: Saturday, October 13, 6-8PM Hosted by SPEEDWELL Projects, Barça/Barzak is a pop up shop featuring furniture by Senegalese artist Papa Mendy in conjunction with Making Migration Visible: Traces, Tracks, and Pathways. Each piece is handcrafted and made one-of-a-kind from repurposed […]

MUSIC: Okbari Middle Eastern Ensemble

Mayo Street Arts 10 Mayo Street, Portland, ME, United States

The Okbari Middle Eastern Ensemble presents music from the richly varied contemporary and historic cultural traditions of the Middle East including Ottoman Turkish Classical compositions, rural Turkish folk and devotional songs, Arabic classical and folk music, and dance music from the Armenian and Turkish immigrant diasporas. Tickets are available here.     >> Click here […]

CONVERSATION: Page to Stage at the Portland Public Library

Rhines Auditorium, Portland Public Library 5 Monument Way, Portland, ME, United States

                          A brown bag lunch and discussion of the themes and ideas addressed in Refuge Malja ملجأ, moderated by Portland Stage. Page to Stage is a discussion series run like a book group and hosted in collaboration between the Portland Public Library and […]

FILM: Help Wanted? Immigration and Work

Museum L-A 35 Canal St., Lewiston, ME, United States

Screening of Destination America Episode 1: The Golden Door by Stephen Stept and David Grubin. In this first episode from the acclaimed four-part series on immigration, historians Donna Gabaccia and Janet Nolan, among others, provide a historical context for America’s longstanding and sometimes conflicted relationship with immigrant labor. Reflecting that “once, there was no such […]

READING: Refuge Malja ملجأ | hosted by Maine College of Art & Design

Maine College of Art & Design 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, United States

A reading from Refuge Malja ملجأ by Bess Welden with Arabic translation by Ali Al Mshakheel. A scene from the play Refuge Malja ملجأ will be read in English and Arabic. Portland Stage will present Refuge Malja ملجأ as a full lenth production October 30 – November 18, 2018. Short discussion regarding the play to […]

Traces | READING: Refuge Malja ملجأ | @ MECA&D

Maine College of Art & Design 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, United States

A reading from Refuge Malja ملجأ by Bess Welden with Arabic translation by Ali Al Mshakheel. A scene from the play Refuge Malja ملجأ will be read in English and Arabic. Portland Stage will present Refuge Malja ملجأ as a full lenth production October 30 – November 18, 2018. Short discussion regarding the play to […]

CONVERSATION: The Stories We Carry

USM Glickman Library, Special Events Room, 7th floor 314 Forest Ave., Portland, ME, United States

This interactive literary event will help the audience to explore some of the ways in which storytelling and oral histories preserve our cultures and connect us to our origin.  A diverse slate of voices will tell the stories that they carry. Which stories does your family carry? We invite community members to come, share, and listen […]

FILM: To Light a Candle

Shettleworth Lecture Hall, Maine Historical Society 489 Congress St., Portland, ME, United States

Screening of To Light a Candle by Maziar Bahari. Through personal stories and dramatic archive footage, To Light a Candle gives a powerful account of the Baha’i people in Iran, a religious minority that builds solidarity, resilience and pride among its people through its passion for education. With the establishment of the underground Baha’i Higher Institute of Education […]

FILM + PANEL: There is My Home

Bailey Hall, USM Gorham Campus 16 University Way, Gorham, ME, United States

There Is My Home features Hawa Ibrahim and Batula Ismail, two women trying to support their families as farmers in Maine. Born and raised in the Jubba River Valley of Somalia, both learned to farm at a young age from their parents. When civil war broke out in 1991, their villages were repeatedly raided for food. […]