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The Third Place

@thirdplacemaine

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A cross-sector network that connects Maine's Black professional's, students, and entreprenuers to social, career and economic opportunities.

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Shout out to Seth Goldstein for a providing such an engaging conversation on African Diaspora Sailors in Maine and New England.

Thank you to @maine_mill for your partnership in bringing this presentation to Lewiston.

For our third installment in our Finding Place Series: Maine's Black Presence Then and Now, we will be gathering in conversation with Meadow Dibble, Executive Director of Atalantic Black Box to discuss what it means and what it taes to build a practice of narrative return in partnerhsip with Black and Wabanaki communites.

Click the link in bio or go to https://narrativereturn.eventbrite.com

@androscogginhistory @androscogginhistorical @batescollege @lewistonauburnarts @lplonline @mainehumanities @bates_africana @atlanticblackbox taken in Maine MILL by @thirdplacemaine

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5 days ago

There is a long and storied tradition of Black sailors in Maine and New England. People of African heritage also worked in related shore-side industries such as longshoremen, blacksmiths and sailmakers. Maritime historian Seth Goldstein will share stories of Black mariners across time, starting with the African roots of Black sailors and progressing up to WWII.

Participants will learn why the occupation of sailor was so significant to formation of Portland's Black community and how this community participated in the activities of the Underground Railroad.

Free and Open to the Public
RSVP - https://BlackSalts.eventbrite.com or Click link in bio

Refreshments provided

Finding Place: Maine’s Black Presence Then and Now is presented by The Third Place, in partnership with Maine MILL, with support from the Maine Semiquincentennial Commission. The broader project brings together historians, artists, academic partners, and community organizations to expand public understanding of Black life in Maine – past and present.

@androscogginhistory @maine_mill @batescollege @lewistonauburnarts @mainehumanities @blacknescac @bates_africana taken in Maine MILL by @thirdplacemaine

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14 days ago

Through augmented reality, Black and Wabanaki stories are brought back into view.

Cape Town based artist Meghna Singh has brought her knowledge of augmented reality technology to the Interco(a)stal project, supporting our artist cohort with tools to create immersive historical recovery work. Using AR, we are able to design installations that can exist in a co-created world, expanding on our ideas of public art and monument making.

On Sunday October 18th, join us in Bath, Maine - The city of ships, for a day long journey through place, memory, stories, and augmented reality.

RSVP in our bio.

#historicalrecovery #augmentedreality #artsinmaine taken in Bath, Maine by @thirdplacemaine

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22 days ago

Tomorrow at Maine MILL! ✨ Join us Saturday, September 26 for the Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival, a day celebrating children’s books, creativity, and community. Admission is free for kids.

From storytime and hands-on art to button-making, Design Lab activities, and free books while supplies last, there’s plenty for young readers and their families to discover. We can’t wait to welcome you!

Presented in partnership with @indigoartsalliance and @thirdplacemaine taken in Maine MILL by @thirdplacemaine

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23 days ago

IMPORTANT NEWS!

We have made a change to the date for our Interco(a)stal WHERE Walk due to a large rally scheduled for the same date in Bath.

We look forward to welcoming you to experience the incredible work of our collaborators, now on Sunday October 18th, same places, same activations.

Spread the word and RSVP at the link in our bio. taken in Bath, Maine by @thirdplacemaine

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a month ago

Meet the Artists working on Interco(a)stal

Nyugen E. Smith @bundlehouse is a Caribbean-American artist whose work explores ritual, memory, migration, and the ways people create refuge and meaning amid crisis.

For Stranger Faces, Nyugen is utilizing a land-based experimental drawing process he developed during his residency at the Lusaka Contemporary Art Center. He is collaborating with the land in Maine to bring forth faces of those who have been erased, forgotten, disappeared, intentionally remained anonymous, and perhaps are not yet born, but will carry the torch for good in future.

“It is a collaboration with the landscape, history, time, and me as the vessel.“

Join us on October 17 in Bath, Maine to experience the work of our Artist Cohort in person! RSVP for this upcoming WHERE Walk at the link in our bio.

Thanks to:
@thirdplacemaine
@mainemaritimemuseum
@bomazeenlandtrust by @thirdplacemaine

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a month ago

As we commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, we have an opportunity to look beyond the familiar narratives and make room for the histories that have too often been left out.

In Waves of Tears, Winds of Hope, acclaimed storyteller and performer Antonio Rocha brings two powerful Maine maritime stories to the stage: The Malaga Ship and Pedro Tovookan.
Through movement, voice, and storytelling, Rocha explores the story of a Maine-built ship that became part of the transatlantic slave trade, alongside the story of a young boy whose life offers another window into the human cost of that history and the resilience that endured beyond it.
Together, these stories ask us to see Maine’s maritime history more fully.

Our history is not only about shipbuilding, fishing, trade, and coastal life. It is also about the people carried by those ships, the systems those ships were part of, and the ways Maine was connected to a much larger Atlantic world.

A meaningful 250th commemoration should do more than celebrate what we already know. It should help us recover what has been overlooked, confront what is difficult, and better understand the full history that brought us here.

Join us for Waves of Tears, Winds of Hope and experience Maine maritime history through storytelling, memory, movement, and a more complete telling of our shared past.

Click link in bio for free tickets and more information.

This free performance is presented by The Third Place in partnership with @mainemill and Bates College. Funding was made possible by a grant from the Maine Semiquincentennial Commission

#WavesOfTearsWindsOfHope #AntonioRocha #America250 #Maine250 #MaineHistory #MaineMaritimeHistory #MaineBlackHistory #BlackHistory #PublicHistory #TheThirdPlace by @thirdplacemaine

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a month ago

📚✨ Save the date! Maine MILL is proud to host the Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival — a statewide celebration of Black and Black immigrant children’s literature, art, and storytelling inspired by beloved Maine artist and author Ashley Bryan.

🗓️ Saturday, September 26 | 10AM–4PM
📍 1 Beech Street, Lewiston, ME

Bring the whole family for a day of stories and creativity:
🎨 10:30 AM — Storytime & Activity
🖌️ 1:00 PM — Family Art Workshop

Stick around and explore Maine MILL, and don’t leave without a free book from this year’s festival selections while supplies last!

FREE for kids. Come for one activity or make a day of it.

In collaboration with @indigoartsalliance and @thirdplacemaine.

#BeautifulBlackbird #MaineMILL #Lewiston #ChildrensBooks #beautifulblackbirdfestival by @thirdplacemaine

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a month ago

What happens when artists, researchers, knowledge keepers, museum professionals, descendants, educators, community organizers, and technologists come together to reimagine how history is remembered?

The last week of July brought together many of the currents that have been shaping Interco(a)stal: Reading Between the Ribs of Maine's Maritime History over the past year. Across four days, project partners gathered in different configurations for WHERE Walk site visits, a public lecture, collaborative workshops, and creative working sessions. Each gathering built upon the last, strengthening relationships and weaving together the ideas, research, and artistic practices that will culminate in our public WHERE Walk and monument reinterpretation on October 17 in Bath.

The week began with a walking tour of the evolving WHERE Walk route, where project partners joined Cape Town–based artist Dr. Meghna Singh to explore potential sites for augmented reality (AR) activations.

That evening, community members gathered at Maine Maritime Museum and online for Meghna's public lecture, Reclaiming Public Space, which explored how artists and activists are using augmented reality to deepen our relationships to place, memory, and community by revealing histories that have long remained hidden within familiar landscapes. You can view the recording at the link in our bio.

On July 30, nearly fifty collaborators came together for our largest working session to date.

Artists, researchers, historians, Wabanaki knowledge keepers, museum professionals, writers, performers, descendants, students, and community partners spent the day sharing discoveries, exchanging ideas, making things, breaking bread, and exploring what we call Narrative Return—the ongoing process of returning stories to the communities and landscapes from which they have long been absent.

Throughout our workshops, new collaborations emerged as participants imagined how stories uncovered in the archives might take shape as performances, installations, poetry, sound, visual art, and augmented reality experiences.

Meghna Singh interviewed Barbara Burgo of the Cape Cod Cape Verdean Museum and Cultural Center about Maine's taken in Bath, Maine by @thirdplacemaine

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2 months ago

Mana Abdi is a community organizer, public servant, and trailblazing leader dedicated to building a more just and inclusive Maine. Born in a refugee camp in Kenya and raised in Lewiston after immigrating to the United States at age 11, she became the first of two Somali Americans elected to the Maine Legislature, where she represents Lewiston in the Maine House of Representatives and serves on the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.

Throughout her career, Mana has championed immigrant communities, disability rights, equitable housing, education, and civic engagement, guided by the belief that lasting change begins with listening to and working alongside the people most affected. Before her election, she served in leadership and advocacy roles with Bates College, Disability Rights Maine, and the Androscoggin County District Attorney's Office, bringing a lifelong commitment to public service and community empowerment.

A graduate of the University of Maine at Farmington with degrees in Political Science and International and Global Studies, Mana continues to inspire a new generation of leaders through her unwavering commitment to expanding opportunity, strengthening communities, and ensuring every Mainer has a voice in shaping the state's future.

To learn more, donate or purchase tickets to the 2026 Maine Black Excellence Awards, go to https://givebutter.com/2026MaineBlackExcellence

#Leadership #PublicService #CommunityLeadership #CivicEngagement #WomenInLeadership taken in Caswell Farm & Wedding Barn by @thirdplacemaine

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2 months ago

Ben Conniff is an entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, and advocate for creating more inclusive pathways into Maine's working waterfront. As the founder and executive director of Lift All Boats, he is expanding access to the lobster industry by teaching students from non-fishing backgrounds the skills, confidence, and sense of belonging needed to succeed on the water.

Ben is also the co-founder of Luke's Lobster - @lukeslobster, the Certified B Corporation seafood company, where he continues to serve as Impact Executive, advancing environmental stewardship and social responsibility throughout the company's operations and supply chain. Beyond his work in business, he advises emerging food and beverage entrepreneurs and serves in leadership roles with the Maine Office of New Americans, Maine B Corps, and White Men for Racial Justice. Through his commitment to economic opportunity, sustainability, and community partnership, Ben is helping build a more equitable and welcoming future for Maine's coastal communities.

Visit www.liftallboatsmaine.org or @liftallboatsmaine to learn more about Lift all Boats.

To learn more, donate or purchase tickets to the 2026 Maine Black Excellence Awards, go to https://givebutter.com/2026MaineBlackExcellence

#Leadership #Entrepreneur #SocialImpact #CommunityLeadership #SustainableSeafood #WorkingWaterfront #MaineLobster #BlueEconomy #MaineBusiness #MaineBlackExcellenceAwards taken in Caswell Farm & Wedding Barn by @thirdplacemaine

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2 months ago

Flo Leighton-Shapiro, PMHNP-BC, is the founder of Heal Wellness & Consulting, a Biddeford-based mental health practice dedicated to providing holistic, culturally responsive care. A board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner with more than 20 years of experience, she has built her practice around the belief that wellness should be prioritized alongside diagnosis while recognizing the profound impact of racial trauma on mental health.

Through clinical care, provider supervision, workplace wellness programs, and DEI consulting, Flo is expanding access to equitable mental health services while helping prepare the next generation of culturally competent healthcare professionals. Her previous experience includes serving on the faculty of New York University's College of Nursing and advising healthcare organizations and municipalities on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Beyond her professional work, Flo is a dedicated community leader, serving as chair of Biddeford's Citizen Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and formerly as community liaison for Biddeford High School's Black Student Union. Through her leadership and advocacy, she continues to strengthen Maine's mental health landscape while creating spaces where Black communities can thrive.

Visit www.healwellness.org or @healwellnessme to learn more about Flo’s practice.

To learn more, donate or purchase tickets to the 2026 Maine Black Excellence Awards, go to https://givebutter.com/2026MaineBlackExcellence or click link in bio.

#MaineBlackExcellence #BlackExcellence #BlackLeadership #BlackWomenLead #BlackMentalHealth #BlackMentalHealthMatters #MentalHealthAwareness #CommunityLeadership #CommunityImpact #Maine #MaineEvents #TheThirdPlaceMaine taken in Caswell Farm & Wedding Barn by @thirdplacemaine

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2 months ago