The Chinese and American Friendship Association of Maine (CAFAM) presents their annual Lunar New Year Celebration.

This year's event will feature music and dance performances, crafts, lectures, Tai Chi, tea tasting, Chinese food, and vendors.

More details to come!

Performance seating: first come, first served

Free admission for children under age 5

Plenty of free parking

If the live event is canceled, all tickets purchased will automatically be fully refunded.

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lunar-new-year-celebration-tickets-1113185139719?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Indigo Arts Alliance is proud to partner with Nyamuon “Moon” Nguany Machar (ALUM 20’) and Charles C. Stuart of Stuart Productions to bring I COME FROM AWAY - An Immigrant in Maine (Part Two) to Portland, Maine. Please join us for this film’s premier screening on Friday, February 7th at 6pm EST at Indigo Arts Alliance. Located at 60 Cove St. Portland, ME 04101.

As a refugee, immigration activist and documentary filmmaker, Moon focuses her lens on the extraordinary effort made by the city of Sanford, Maine to accommodate hundreds of asylum seekers who showed up unexpectedly one day in the spring of 2023. Moon followed their journey to the city of Sanford, Maine (pop. ~22,000). Known as "the city which never dies" because of its resilience after the decline of the once-thriving textile industry, the city of Sanford responded in force at every level. City officials, community action workers, police and volunteers jumped into the fray. Where to put the new arrivals? How to feed them? With no help from the federal or state governments, Sanford was on its own. Follow Moon and meet the people on the front line of the national issue of immigration.

Following the screening, there will be a discussion between Moon and Mufalo Chitam, Executive Director of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition. Join the conversation about how New Mainers can contribute to the future of Maine while under threat of mass deportation, and the power of collective action and collaboration.

The film will also be available for viewing on Maine Public Film Series Thursday, February 27 at 9pm. A second screening is scheduled on Friday, February 21 at 6 pm at the Nasson Little Theater, located at 457 Main St, Springvale, ME 04083. Following this screening, Moon will be in conversation with Steven Buck Sanford City Manager, Jennifer Davie, Housing Navigator with York County Community Action and Ndombaxe Pedro, Community Health Worker with YCCAC.

Mapping Memory and History: A Dialogue between Billy Gérard Frank's Palimpsest and Indigo: Entanglements

Please join the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education at the University of Southern Maine for our annual DiMatteo Lecture--an evening lecture, film screening, and discussion with acclaimed artist and filmmaker Billy Gérard Frank. Frank will discuss his Indigo: Entanglements series of paintings and screen his 2022 Venice Biennale short film, Palimpsest: Tales Spun from the Sea and Memory (the film's New England premiere).

Thursday, February 6th, 2025, 5:30pm-7:30pm

Reception: 5:30-6pm

Lecture, Film Screening, and Q and A: 6pm-7:30pm

Hannaford Hall (Abromson Center), University of Southern Maine (Portland)

Support for this event is generously co-sponsored by Indigo Art Alliance and Moss Galleries.

Frank's Indigo: Entanglements series is a new and ongoing body of works (multimedia painting incorporating silkscreen, vintage African fabric, newsprint, acrylic, etc.) interrogating the unmitigated drama and tragedy of New World Slavery and Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The Osher Map Library has recently acquired Indigo: Entanglements, No. 6, for their permanent collection, a complex multimedia painting that engages with Maine's role in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, via maps, documents, and other archival imagery.

Palimpsest: Tales Spun From Sea And Memories narrates overlaying tales; fragments of a life and man: Quobna Ottobah Cugoano, born in the Gold Coast (Ghana) in the Fante village of Agimaque. Cugoano was one the most radical and central African British opponents to have actively engaged in the fight against slavery in the eighteenth century, England. His book Thoughts and Sentiments On The Evil Of Slavery, published in England after he gained his freedom, is one of the most direct criticisms of slavery by a writer of African descent. You can watch the trailer here.

Billy Gérard Frank, born in Grenada, West Indies, is a multimedia artist and filmmaker. His research-driven practices mine personal issues related to race, exile, memory, global politics, and post-colonial and queer decoloniality. Frank challenges conventional narratives and creates counter-histories through his work, which has been showcased in solo and group exhibitions at institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum (2020) and the Butler Institute of American Art. His art is also part of several private collections and institutions, such as the National Academy Museum of Fine Arts and Design, Farnsworth Art Museum, Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, among others. Frank represented Grenada at the 59th La Biennale di Venezia (2022) and was also part of the collective representing the island at the 58th La Biennale di Venezia (2019), and (2024) Smithsonian Design Triennial. He is a 2024 Creative Capital Awardee and has received numerous grants, including the Ford Foundation Grant for his 2022 La Biennale project.

The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education is delighted to welcome Billy Gérard Frank as our inaugural Peggy L. Osher Visiting Artist Fellow in the spring of 2025.

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mapping-memory-and-history-a-dialogue-between-billy-gerard-franks-artwork-tickets-1141003254449?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

We invite you to be part of our exciting in-person event that aims to bring together a diverse audience. Come learn, connect, and be part of the conversation on at Thompson's Point in Portland, Maine.

The Maine Immigration Forum (MiF), an event spearheaded by the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, serves as a beacon of celebration and recognition for immigrant communities across the state.

As the event enters its second year under the theme "Embracing our Diverse Roots, Cultivating our Future in Maine," its mission remains steadfast: to elevate, motivate, and celebrate immigrant communities throughout our state.

This year’s theme encapsulates reflection and anticipation, weaving together a narrative of rootedness and optimism that resonates with Maine's rural landscape. Central to this narrative is an acknowledgment of all the people who inhabit the state we call Maine from the indigenous peoples who have stewarded this land for generations to the diverse immigrant communities. Their voices are woven throughout the fabric of the event.

As participants come together to celebrate their collective heritage, the Maine Immigration Forum stands as a testament to the power of collaboration, inclusivity, and diversity in building a stronger Maine.

The MiF is an annual gathering, open to all members of the community, including residents, local organizations, businesses, youth groups, seniors, and marginalized populations.

For more information, please reach out to:

projects@maineimmigrantrights.org

Event Draft Program:

4:00 pm - Event doors open

5:00 pm - Networking & Community Tabling

5:30 pm - Dinner is served

6:30 pm - Main Reception begins

8:30 pm - Event concludes

Register Here: https://atlanticblackbox.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/atlanticblackbox/eventRegistration.jsp?event=63&

Register here: https://mailchi.mp/atlanticblackbox/kerimalewis-14171016?e=698516072a

Musical Storytelling, Songs, and Dance with Lisa Mayer and Rabbi Sruli Dresdner | 11:00 am

Luncheon featuring traditional Sephardic food | 12:30 pm

Songs of the Sephardim in Izmir, a documentary short, and conversation with filmmaker Brooke Saias. | 1:30 pm

The United States of Elie Tahari | 4:00 pm

Seven Blessings | 6:00 pm

Sephardic Music by Cantor Sheila Nesis, Seth Warner, guitar, and Eric LaPerna, percussion | 8:00 pm

RSVP: Here

This workshop is for startup founders and small business owners looking to understand the basics of financial projections. In this session, you'll learn how to create realistic revenue, expense, and cash flow projections to guide your business decisions and secure funding. Whether you're just starting out or refining your existing business strategy, this workshop will equip you with the knowledge to confidently forecast your financial future.

Instructor Whit Ford owned a small Maine company for 25 years, after working in industrial marketing, strategic planning, software development, and education. He has been a SCORE mentor for seven years.

If you are an immigrant entrepreneur and want to move your business forward, join us!

Register here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-immigrant-business-owners-guide-to-financial-projections-tickets-1041088322197?aff=oddtdtcreator

Do you have an idea for a new business but don’t know how to get started? Are you looking for financing for an existing business? Do you want to grow your business? In all three of these situations, a business plan is useful and, sometimes, required. In general, it is a tool for you to better understand your business and plan for the future.

For many people, writing a business plan feels overwhelming. This workshop will help you better understand:

• Why a business plan is important

• How it can help you plan and understand your business

• What the basic parts of a business plan are

• How to get started writing your business plan

• Where to find help creating your business plan

If you are an immigrant entrepreneur and want to move your business forward, join us!

Questions? Email us at bizhub@welcomeimmigrant.org or call the Business Hub at 207.517.3401 ex. 822.

We are planning to provide interpretation services. Please fill out your preferred language in the event registration form and we will be in touch.

Register HERE.