Public is welcome;
art crawl included

LEWISTON — The Maine Arts Commission will celebrate Lewiston-Auburn as part of its second Maine International Conference on the Arts on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 6 and 7.

The conference expects to serve up to 350 Maine and Canadian artists, arts organizations, arts educators, community developers and policy makers. It will highlight the intersections of creativity, industry, art and innovation.

“Lewiston-Auburn has a rich cultural heritage, as well as a legacy of industrial innovation,” said Julie Richard, executive director of the Maine Arts Commission. “It seems like the perfect location for our second arts conference.”

The conference will open with a reception from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday. It will include two short performances, including one by Auburn’s Edward Little High School student Pep Band, a “State of the States” address by Pam Breaux and a keynote address by Crystal Williams at the Gendron Franco Center. Cost is $15 at the door. Tickets are also available at mainearts.com/MICA. It is open to the public and locals are encouraged to attend.

Breaux is a native of Lafayette, Louisiana, with a master’s degree in English and folklore from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She brings an intimate understanding of the celebration and sustenance of Franco culture in the U.S. to her position as CEO of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. As CEO she works in collaboration with the NASAA board of directors to advance NASAA’s federal policy agenda. She previously held leadership positions at the local, state and national levels.

Williams will deliver a talk titled “Practical Approaches to Creating Impact: Getting to a Cultural Equity.” She is a poet, essayist, and vice president for the Office of Diversity at Bates College.

Williams began her career in the arts as an actress, working in Washington, D.C., before moving to New York City. Once in New York, she transitioned from theatre to performance and poetry, becoming a regular at the Nuyorican Poets Café in the mid-1990s where she earned a spot on the 1995 Nuyorican Slam Team, which competed in the National Slam. Her highly anthologized performance poem, “In Search of Aunt Jemima,” was the only poem of that competition to receive a perfect score and it continues to be regularly performed by new generations of young women more than 20 years later.

Following the keynote, attendees have the option of exploring Lewiston-Auburn’s rich cultural infrastructure with events specially programmed for the conference.

Art Crawl will take place at multiple locations in downtown Lewiston. Attendees can take an evening walk beginning at the Gendron Franco Center and going through downtown, exploring local art, live music and cuisine. Modeled after the Twin Cities’ six-year Art Walk, Art Crawl lets participants design their own experience by visiting destinations such as Wicked Illustrations, LA Arts, She Doesn’t Like Guthries, The Hive Artist Collective, Avant-Garde Maine, and more.

Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Lewiston Public Library. Kestenbaum is the author of four collections of poems and has been a visiting writer and guest lecturer at programs around the U.S. His poems and writing have appeared in numerous small press publications and magazines including Tikkun, the Sun, the Beloit Poetry Journal, Northeast Corridor, and on Garrison Keillor’s “Writer’s Almanac.”

Chicks with Sticks, four energetic musicians from central Maine who play steel drum music for parties, festivals, receptions and other special events, is scheduled to perform at the Art Crawl on Thursday.

For a comprehensive listing of cultural opportunities in Lewiston-Auburn during the conference, visit mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/General/MICA-Visit-LA.

Further details of workshops, performances, and presentations are available at mainearts.com/MICA.