Event Schedule

Join our October Mentorship AiR Adebunmi Gbadebo for a hands-on ceramic workshop exploring the history and legacy of rice. Participants will share a collective meal before creating individual artworks that investigate the historical and economic impact of rice as both an African and plantation crop.

At the heart of Indigo Arts Alliance’s mission is our Artist Residency programs, which provides a creative environment for the production of artwork in all media across disciplines to global and local Black and Brown artists. We activate our mission by creating opportunities for critical feedback, relationship building and increased awareness of creative practices and resources.

Join our October Mentorship AiR Funlola Coker for a hands-on pewter casting workshop. An alloy of tin, copper and antimony, pewter’s fluid and low melting properties make it ideal for DIY casting. Using cuttlefish bones as mold material, participants will create small, hand held sculptures or wearables.

At the heart of Indigo Arts Alliance’s mission is our Artist Residency programs, which provides a creative environment for the production of artwork in all media across disciplines to global and local Black and Brown artists. We activate our mission by creating opportunities for critical feedback, relationship building and increased awareness of creative practices and resources.

Co-presented with SPACE, join us for a screening of Black Zombie, directed by Maya Annik Bedward. The documentary traces the evolution of the zombie from colonial Haiti to contemporary Hollywood, examining how a figure born from enslavement, spiritual belief, and resistance was transformed into one of pop culture’s most profitable monsters. Doors open at 6:30 PM EST.

General tickets are $10; SPACE members receive tickets for $7.

This event is held in conjunction with Fall Of Freedom, a nationwide cultural movement bringing together artists, institutions, and communities in celebration of creative expression and solidarity.

Join us for an Open Studio and immerse yourself in the artwork and processes of our September Artists-in-Residence, Asha Tamirisa & Aisha Seriki! Come by to peak behind the curtain of their process, ask questions, and engage in the world through their creative lens.

At the heart of Indigo Arts Alliance’s mission is our Artist Residency programs, which provides a creative environment for the production of artwork in all media across disciplines to global and local Black and Brown artists. We activate our mission by creating opportunities for critical feedback, relationship building and increased awareness of creative practices and resources.

Join Indigo Arts Alliance Executive Director Jordia Benjamin and Studio and Programs Manager Ashley Page for a curatorial walk-through of Maine: A Force within American Art (1890–2026).

Having served as curatorial advisors for the exhibition, Indigo Arts Alliance’s role as a Black-Led arts incubator space in Portland, ME has allowed them to keep their finger on the pulse of the creative, community, and scholarly contributions of Black and Brown artists in and around the state. Through the exhibition, we simultaneously celebrate Maine’s role in shaping the visual aesthetic of what is considered “American Art” while complicating the narrative of what it looks like and those who create it. Indigo Arts Alliance’s mission of amplifying the voices and visions of Black and Brown artists allows for a more contemporary and nuanced viewpoint into how we see Maine within the American artistic canon.

The walk will last approximately 30 minutes, after which guests will have the opportunity to explore the remaining galleries independently.

The 22nd edition of the Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) returns to Camden and Rockland, Maine, September 17–20, 2026. This year’s festival features boundary-pushing documentaries from around the globe, including 28 feature films and 35 shorts from 24 countries. Half of the feature films will be world, U.S., or North American premieres. As a Community Partner, Indigo Arts Alliance is spotlighting films you should not miss:

• How to Clean a House in 10 Easy Steps  | Carolina Gonzalez Valencia | United States
• Once Upon a Time in Harlem | William Greaves, David Greaves | United States
• Jean-Michel Basquiat | Quinn Whitney Wilson, Viridiana Lieberman | United States
• mother, you have not died yet. but you will. and when you do, you will finally be alive again | Advik Beni | South Africa, United States | North American Premiere

Join us for a conversation and zine-making workshop exploring one of the 7th Annual Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival’s featured books, The Deepest Blue by Shauntay Grant and illustrations by Daniel Minter.

Dive into the journey of a young girl as she investigates the lost stories hidden within a sunken slave ship. Attend a talk with guest speakers Gabrielle Miller, Marine Archaeologist and co-coordinator of the Slave Wrecks Project, and Indigo Arts Alliance cofounder, Daniel Minter followed by mixed media art making. In this guided conversation we will discuss the socio-historical resonance, and the real world stories that framed the construction of The Deepest Blue. 

Celebrate the opening of Thresholds, presented in partnership with the Haggerty Museum of Art.

Thresholds brings together the work of Aisha Tandiwe Bell ’25 Mentorship AiR, Portia Cobb, Stephen Hamilton ’25 Mentorship AiR, and Daniel Minter, IAA Co-founder & Artist Director, to dynamically explore the depth, complexity, and resilience of Black cultural memory. Attendees will meet the curators and artists, enjoy seasonal refreshments, and be the first to view freshly interpreted and newly-created works. 

Thresholds is a part of The Otherworld Is Home, three interconnected exhibitions exploring themes of personal reclamation, cultural identity, spiritual passage, and connection across Africa’s many diasporas. The title of the museum-wide presentation was inspired by the Yorùbá proverb, “Life is a journey, the otherworld is home” (ayé l’àjò, ọ̀run n’ilé).

Join us for plein air painting at Surf Point, presented in collaboration with Indigo Arts Alliance (IAA) and facilitated by Maine-based artist and IAA David C. Driskell Fellow ‘24 Raquel P Miller.

Spend the morning making work outdoors across Surf Point’s 45-acre grounds, drawing inspiration from the coastline, fields, gardens, wooded trails, marshland, and architecture. After a brief welcome and site orientation, participants can find a location to work independently. The session will conclude with an optional gathering to share and discuss work made during the morning.

Surf Point events are free and open to all. Space is limited. Please register to receive the address and directions by email before the event. The suggested donation is $25, with donations above or below this amount welcome. All profits from the event will be split between Surf Point and Indigo Arts Alliance.

Join artist verónica a. pérez ’21 David C. Driskell Fellow and producer Flo Edwards at a listening party for the podcast braiding circles. Attendees will meet folx featured throughout the podcast, experience excerpts from the series alongside live stories shared by community members, and share homemade pozole prepared by  Danielle Arroyo ’22 + ’26 Mentorship AiR.

Spend time in dialogue with Indigo Arts Alliance’s July Mentorship Residents, Alison Croney Moses ’26 and Alisha B. Wormsley ’26. As socially engaged, craft oriented and sculpturally inclined artists, Alison and Alisha have been developing projects that navigate the complexities of family, relationships, and mothering. Within their works, these artists carve out space for Black and Indigenous dreaming, creating systems of care, safety and visibility. This event is free and open to all.

Be amongst the first to hear SUNCATCHER, the newest album from Sascha Rose ’26 David C. Driskell Fellow during this open format listening party. 

Evolving from singer-songwriter ambient-focused songs, this album was forged through primarily drum machine samples. SUNCATCHER is dance-focused and veers between glitch-hop, experimental beats, and trip-hop. Join the festivities as Sascha will talk briefly about the process of making this project as well, before playing a full run-through of the album.

We hope that you’ll come along to dance, listen, and be in community!

This event is free and open to all. No registration required. 

Explore our studio spaces for insight into the ongoing work of the Artists-in-Residence, Folayemi Wilson ’19 & VIVA the Sensation ’21. As an artist, designer, educator, and writer, Folayemi’s work celebrates the Black imagination as a technology of resistance and self-determination and expresses Afrofuturist concepts of blackness. VIVA is a composer, producer, and solo performer whose commitment to civic participation is interwoven into her creative philosophies.

This event is free and open to all.

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Folayemi Wilson ’19 & VIVA the Sensation ’21 are participants of our Mini-Mentorship Residency. This new residency model was created as a commitment to maintaining lasting relationships with artists by reconnecting, re-engaging, and amplifying the voices and practices of our artist alumni network.

Folayemi Wilson ’19, joins plant biologist Dr. Beronda Montgomery for a conversation exploring the intelligence, interconnectedness, and wisdom of trees, and the ways forests can serve as allies in Black liberation. Presented in partnership with Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, the program also includes an interactive walk through the gardens, where participants will engage with the landscape through the lens of Black freedom, memory, and ecological knowledge. This event is free and open to all.

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Wilson is a participant in our Mini-Mentorship Residency. This new residency model was created as a commitment to maintaining lasting relationships with artists by reconnecting, re-engaging, and amplifying the voices and practices of our artist alumni network. 

Join Maya Tihtiyas Attean ’26 for a day of creative exploration and connection with the natural world. Presented in partnership with Bomazeen Land Trust, the program includes a guided nature walk, foraging experience, and cyanotype workshop that examines how Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities sustain spiritual, material, and emotional relationships with the land while practicing stewardship of shared landscapes. This event is free and open to all.

Led by Cinthya Santos-Briones ’26, this hands-on workshop invites participants to embroider phrases drawn from news reports and journalistic archives documenting migration in the United States. Inspired by Chilean arpilleras and other Latin American traditions of textile-based protest, participants will explore textiles as vessels for collective memory, mourning, solidarity, and storytelling. All materials will be provided, and no previous experience is required. This event is free and open to all.

Join the Indigo Arts Alliance in kicking off our Artist Residency Season for 2026! 

This Open Studio event activates our studio spaces and gives insight into the ongoing work of the artists in residence, Danielle Arroyo ’24 & Pame Chevez ’21. This event is free and open to all.

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Arroyo and Chevez are participants of our Mini-Mentorship Residency. This new residency model was created as a commitment to maintaining lasting relationships with artists by reconnecting, re-engaging, and amplifying the voices and practices of our artist alumni network. 

Indigo Arts Alliance’s 7th annual spring fundraiser, Spring is in the AiR is Back! 

You will not want to miss this vibrant celebration of creativity and community. Even as organizations like Indigo Arts Alliance face disproportionate federal arts funding cuts, we are still here. Still creating. Still building. Still dancing forward.

Guests will have the opportunity to purchase exclusive, curated cultural experiences reflecting IAA’s vibrant network of artists, collaborators, and partners, including a powerful offering centered on the legacy of Ashley Bryan and a once-in-a-lifetime Safari in South Africa.

Featuring an Indigo Poppin’ dance party with DJ Ben Spalding ’22 +’25, delicious cuisine from Oun Lido’s, Katahdin Kitchen, and Niyat Catering, indulgent treats from Dean’s Sweets and even better company, this event helps Indigo Arts Alliance raise funds for our Artist-in-Residence programs, which is the heart of our mission.

Join Indigo Arts Alliance and The Portland Museum of Art in person at the Bernard Osher Foundation Auditorium from 6 – 7:30pm as we honor David Driskell’s love of the natural world through facilitated discussion between environmental activists, farmers, scholars, and artists. Panelists representing Maine’s African Diaspora will discuss the importance of understanding Black people’s relationship to the land, past, present, and future, starting with re-contextualizing our histories and exploring the resurgence of younger generations taking up the cause to correct the false narratives that have obscured Black people’s experiences with the environment and environmental activism.

Panelists include Samaa Abdurraqib (Maine Humanities Council), Phillip Dube (The Trust for Public Land), Cheryl Townsend Gilkes (Colby College), Daniel Minter (Indigo Arts Alliance), Amara Ifej (Maine Environmental Education Association), and Dawud Ummah (Ummah Enterprises).

110 minutes. Directed by Kahlil Joseph. Rated R. In English.

BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions is co-presented with Indigo Arts Alliance and SPACE Gallery.

Adapted from Kahlil Joseph’s renowned video art installation, BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions is a distinctive cinematic experience that mirrors the sonic textures of a record album, weaving fiction and history in an immersive journey where the fictionalized figures of W. E. B Du Bois and Marcus Garvey join artists, musicians, Joseph’s family, and even Twitter chats, in a vision for black consciousness.

UPCOMING SHOWINGS

• Friday, April 3, 2026, 6:00 PM – 7:55 PM
• Saturday, April 4, 2026, 12:00 PM – 1:55 PM
• Sunday, April 5, 2026, 12:00 PM – 1:55 PM
• Sunday, April 5, 2026, 3:00 PM – 4:55 PM
• Wednesday, April 8, 2026, 12:00 PM – 1:55 PM
• Thursday, April 9, 2026, 1:00 PM – 2:55 PM
• Thursday, April 9, 2026, 3:30 PM – 5:25 PM

Join us via Zoom on Tuesday, March 17th from 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm EST for Voices + Visions: An Artist Conversation with Gabriel Frey, Candice Gosta and Benjamin Spalding.

Moderated by Indigo Arts Alliance’s Studio and Program Manager, Ashley Page. The conversation will delve into the creative intersections of each artist, unpack their common themes of ancestry, legacy, and identity. As participants in our David C. Driskell Fellowship, each of these artists approach their practice from a place of internal reflection and social responsibility. This residency program provides Maine’s Black and Brown artist community with time and space to focus on their creative production. David C. Driskell was a beacon for Black and Brown artists in his life. Selected fellows also receive 1:1 feedback and mentorship by the Indigo Arts Alliance staff and participate in studio visits with a selection of artists, curators, cultural workers, and scholars. Hear directly from Fellows, past, present and future, about their time spent in the residency and the impact of Dr. Driskell on their work.

Art in the Wake II: Repairing, Healing and Memory examines art not only as a critical record of the past, but as a living, generative force shaping the architecture of future possibilities. The symposium will be held at the Museu da História e da Cultura Afro-Brasileira (MUHCAB) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Feb. 28, 2026.

Presented as part of an ongoing collaboration between Indigo Arts Alliance (IAA) and the Center for the Study of Global Slavery (CSGS) at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC), the program engages directly with the international traveling exhibition “In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World,” and extends the dialogue initiated during IAA’s inaugural 2023 convening, Art in the Wake: Reckoning and Re-membering.

We can’t wait to see you at Haint Blue, featuring Samuel James and Michael Kebede. To start the evening, we invite you to an informal pre-concert gathering where you can enjoy community, artmaking, and a delicious meal. This event is presented in partnership with Indigo Arts Alliance.

Participate in an interactive art installation and community art making activity led by Maine Artist, Raquel P. Miller, and partake in a catered meal by our friends at Black Betty’s Bistro.

After the reception, we will walk across the street to First Parish Church to enjoy the performance. Tickets must be purchased separately for the performance.

RSVP Today!