Visiting Artist: Masterclass with Rachel Childers
2025-01-31 16:30 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Corthell Hall, 13 University Way, Gorham, ME, 04038, United States
Join us for an afternoon masterclass with Rachel Childers.
Rachel Childers, a Michigan native, has been Second Horn of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 2011, holding the John P. II and Nancy S. Eustis chair. Notably, she is the first female member of the BSO brass section. Prior to joining the BSO, Rachel served as Acting Assistant Principal/Utility Horn with the Colorado Symphony and performed with various California ensembles.
Rachel earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan, studying with Søren Hermansson, and completed an Artist Diploma at the Colburn School under David Jolley and David Krehbiel.
An advocate for music education, Rachel works closely with the BSO’s Education Department, contributing to initiatives like “BSO In Residence” in Jamaica Plain, MA, and performing programs for young audiences. She is currently on faculty at the New England Conservatory.

Event Details
Parking
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Alternatively, payment kiosks are available both in the parking lot outside Bailey Hall and within the Corthell Hall lobby.
Disability Access and Accommodations
If you have questions about disability access or need to request disability accommodations (e.g. sign language interpreters, materials in electronic format, etc.), please contact the USM Music Box Office, (207) 780-5555, usm.music@maine.edu, TTY 711 (Maine Relay). Requests should be made as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the accommodation process.

Mapping Memory and History: A Dialogue between Billy Gérard Frank's Palimpsest and Indigo: Entanglements
2025-02-07 17:30 - 19:30 | Hannaford Hall — Abromson Community Education Center, 88 Bedford St, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
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).
RESCHEDULE TO FRIDAY, February 7th, 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.

Life Forms: Grow Artist Conversation via Zoom
2025-02-13 18:00 - 19:00 | https://maine.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_AduswXeUS0-p_Ei4RZc2kQ#/registration
Join us for an online conversation with the artists of our current exhibition: Life Forms: Grow.
Join us virtually on Thursday, February 13th for an evening of conversation with artists Jackie Brown, Leah Gauthier, Elaine K. Ng, and Ashley Page, from our Life Forms: Grow exhibition. The artists will talk with Director of Art Exhibitions Kat Zagaria Buckley on the meaning of growth and its relation to play, community, and how envisioning alternative pasts, presents, and futures contributes to becoming.

Due to inclement weather, the discussion will be held via Zoom. Please register for the online conversation HERE.
Don’t miss Life Forms: Grow at the Art Gallery, on display through February 15.

Are you a Daughter of the King? Une fille du roi? A book talk with Judi Valentine
2025-03-05 18:30 - 20:00 | Franco-American Collection — LAC, 51 Westminster St, Lewiston, ME, 04240, United States
The Franco-American Collection at the University of Southern Maine invites you to “Are you a Daughter of the King? Une fille du roi?” a book talk with Judi Valentine. Join us at the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston campus, 51 Westminster St. in Lewiston, on March 5, 2025 at 6:30 pm for the event. There is no fee for our programs, which are made possible by the Québec Delegation in Boston and by TV5MONDE.

Growing up, author Judi Valentine lost the connection to her Quebecois background. According to Judi:
“Only recently when my husband researched my ancestral heritage did I learn I had a rich, and possibly royal (tongue in cheek), connection to France beginning in the 1600s. This inspired me to study my family history and I was surprised to learn I am related to three filles du roi, or so-called daughters of the king. Women who King Louis XIV recruited to populate what was then called New France, now Quebec. To this day, these indomitable women who crossed the Atlantic Ocean alone, are revered.”
At the talk, she will discuss the remarkable history of these pioneer women and how her research of the filles du roi influenced her latest novel. Two years ago, Judi and her husband visited Lille, Riviere Ouelle, and Kamouraska—places in Quebec where her ancestors settled and lived for many years. The trip inspired The Lost Treasure. A story about two Maine teenagers who, while visiting their eccentric great aunt in Kamouraska, chase down a family legend. In the story, their ancestor, Jeanne Savonnet, (Judi’s real great ancestor) was given an eye popping ruby red necklace by Queen Maria Theresa, King Louis’ wife (this part is made up). The kids learn their own Quebecois history during a perilous hunt for the lost treasure. Join us for a lively talk, a bit of Quebecois film, and an opportunity to learn about les filles du roi.
Judi Valentine attended USM and USM/LA, and after a career in business administration, moved to Washington D.C. where she received degrees in nutrition science. Over the years she has been on many boards and adjunct faculties. Once home, Judi enjoyed writing adventure fiction for young readers. Her fifth book is being published by Maine Authors Publishing.
To see her books, go to: jvalentinebooks.com.
For more information or to register , contact the FAC archivist, Anna Faherty at anna.faherty@maine.edu or by phone (207) 753-6545. If you have questions about disability access or need to request disability accommodations (e.g. sign language interpreters, materials in electronic format, etc.), please contact Anna. Requests should be made as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the accommodation process.

Visiting Artist: Voice Masterclass with Nicholas Phan
2025-03-06 15:30 - 17:00 | Corthell Hall, 13 University Way, Gorham, ME, 04038, United States
Tenor Nicholas Phan will give a masterclass to students in partnership with the Portland Chamber Music Festival. The masterclass will run for approximately 1.5 hours, features music by women composers, and is free and open to the public to attend.

Described by the Boston Globe as “one of the world’s most remarkable singers,” American tenor Nicholas Phan is an artist with an incredibly diverse repertoire that spans nearly 500 years of music and who performs regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and opera companies. Also an avid recitalist, in 2010 he co-founded the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago (CAIC) to promote art song and vocal chamber music, where he serves as artistic director. He also has served as guest curator for projects with the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, Laguna Beach Music Festival, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Merola Opera program, WQXR, and San Francisco Performances. A celebrated recording artist, Phan is a recipient of the 2025 Grammy award for Best Opera Recording, and is a four-time nominee for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.

Event Details
Parking
Reserve Your Parking
Alternatively, payment kiosks are available both in the parking lot outside Bailey Hall and within the Corthell Hall lobby.
Disability Access and Accommodations
If you have questions about disability access or need to request disability accommodations (e.g. sign language interpreters, materials in electronic format, etc.), please contact the USM Music Box Office, (207) 780-5555, usm.music@maine.edu, TTY 711 (Maine Relay). Requests should be made as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the accommodation process.

The Music for Childhood Well-Being Initiative
2025-03-06 19:30 - 21:00 | Corthell Hall, 13 University Way, Gorham, ME, 04038, United States
Research Presentation with Dr. Sarah Bartolome
The Music for Childhood Well-Being Initiative: Leveraging Group Singing and Breathwork to Support Children’s Health and Wellbeing Globally
The Music for Childhood Well-being Initiative (MCWI) examines the use of music as an intervention for mitigating stress and increasing the well-being of children globally. This pilot study explored the impact of an 8-week, trauma-informed group singing and breathwork intervention on children aged 9-11 (N=67) in the US (n=27), England (n=20), and Mexico (n=20). Our interdisciplinary team integrated biometric, psychological, and behavioral methodologies to provide a holistic, biopsychosocial understanding of the impact of group singing and breathwork on children. In this research talk, Sarah Bartolome will explore the issue of trauma-informed music education practice, present MCWI and its preliminary findings, and offer practical applications for music educators seeking to adopt a more trauma-informed approach in the classroom.
This event is free and open to the public and cosponsored by the Osher School of Music and the Maine Music Educators Association

Dr. Sarah J. Bartolome, an Associate Professor of Music Education at Northwestern University, is a children’s music specialist with an interest in world music for the classroom. She earned degrees in music education from Ithaca College (BM), Northwestern University (MM), and the University of Washington (PhD). She is also a fully certified Kodaly educator, having received all three levels of certification from the New England Conservatory’s Kodaly Music Institute and serving on the faculty of the Kodaly Levels Program of Seattle. Dr. Bartolome’s scholarship in music education has been published in such journals as the Journal of Research in Music Education, Research Studies in Music Education, the International Journal of Community Music, the Kodaly Envoy, and the Music Educators Journal. Dr. Bartolome is the author of World Music Pedagogy V: Choral Music Education (Routledge, 2019) and co-author of a forthcoming book on gender expansive music education (Routledge, 2025). Her research interests include participatory music making as social capital, world music pedagogy, gender expansive music education, and trauma-informed approaches in music education. She is a frequent clinician at regional, national, and international conferences and has completed music fieldwork in Ghana, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Panama, and Vietnam. In 2013, she was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in Vilnius, Lithuania where she spent five months teaching at the Vilnius Pedagogical University and conducting research with local folk ensembles and choirs. At Northwestern, Dr. Bartolome serves as the Co-Director of the Music for Childhood Wellness Initiative, an interdisciplinary research effort investigating the impact of group singing for children. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses at Northwestern University, she also serves as the Associate Director of the Evanston Children’s Choir.

Event Details
Parking
Reserve Your Parking
Alternatively, payment kiosks are available both in the parking lot outside Bailey Hall and within the Corthell Hall lobby.
Disability Access and Accommodations
If you have questions about disability access or need to request disability accommodations (e.g. sign language interpreters, materials in electronic format, etc.), please contact the USM Music Box Office, (207) 780-5555, usm.music@maine.edu, TTY 711 (Maine Relay). Requests should be made as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the accommodation process.

Visiting Artist: Masterclass with Conrad Tao
2025-03-10 11:00 - 13:00 | Corthell Hall, 13 University Way, Gorham, ME, 04038, United States
Join us for a piano masterclass with Conrad Tao!
Presented with Portland Ovations.

Conrad Tao has appeared worldwide as a pianist and composer and has been dubbed “the kind of musician who is shaping the future of classical music” by New York Magazine, and an artist of “probing intellect and open-hearted vision” by The New York Times.Tao has performed as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Boston Symphony. As a composer, his work has been performed by orchestras throughout the world; his first large scale orchestral work, Everything Must Go, received its world premiere with the New York Philharmonic, and its European premiere with the Antwerp Symphony, and he was the recipient of a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award, for Outstanding Sound Design / Music Composition, for his work on More Forever, in collaboration with dancer and choreographer Caleb Teicher. He is also the recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and was named a Gilmore Young Artist—an honor awarded every two years highlighting the most promising American pianists of the new generation.
In the 2023-24 season, Tao makes his subscription debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing Gershwin’s Concerto in F major with James Gaffigan. He also re-unites with the New York Philharmonic to perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17, following his curated program for them last season as part of the Artist Spotlight series. Meanwhile, he celebrates the 100th anniversary of Rhapsody in Blue with multiple performances of the work and a new companion piece commissioned from him by the Santa Rosa Symphony. His return engagements include performances with the Cincinnati Symphony alongside Matthias Pintscher, the Oregon Symphony alongside David Danzmayr, and the Seattle Symphony, whom he play-directs in Conrad Tao’s Playlist, weaving Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 into an adventurous program of Stravinsky, Purcell, Linda Catlin Smith, and Morton Feldman. As part of the celebration of Rachmaninoff’s 150th birthday, Tao brings Rachmaninoff Songbook to the 92NY and Germany’s Klavierfestival Ruhr, presenting a direct line from Rachmaninoff to the music of Billy Strayhorn, Harold Arlen, and Stephen Sondheim.
In a concert curated by Tao himself, Tao invites UK-based new-music collective Distractfold to make their NYC debut at Kaufman Music Center with the world premiere of Andrew Greenwald’s A Thing Made Whole VIII along with music by Jürg Frey, Hanna Hartman and Mauricio Pauly. This season also includes performances with dancer Caleb Teicher in the duo’s Counterpoint program, which synthesizes the two seemingly disparate artforms of piano and tap dance. More collaborations include a multi-city tour throughout the season with the Junction Trio, including a program of John Zorn, Ives, and Beethoven at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the trio’s Detroit debut, among many others.
In the 2022-23 season, Tao performed Mozart with the New York Philharmonic, for whom he also curated a program for their Artist Spotlight series, featuring collaborations with vocalist Charmaine Lee, and wind ensemble The Westerlies. Tao also made an appearance with the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom and the San Francisco Symphony, both as a soloist in Gershwin’s Concerto in F major at Davies Symphony Hall, and as a curator for their SoundBox series. In Washington, DC, he made his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra performing Shostakovich with Dalia Staveska, and, following Atlanta Symphony’s premiere of his Violin Concerto with Stefan Jackiw in 2021, he appeared as soloist with the orchestra performing Ravel with Ryan Bancroft. After their successful collaboration with the Finnish Radio Symphony, Tao further re-united with Hannu Lintu to perform Tchaikovsky with the Naples Philharmonic, as well as returned to Finland to open the season with the Tampere Philharmonic and Santtu-Matias Rouvali.
A Warner Classics recording artist, Tao’s debut disc Voyages was declared a “spiky debut” by The New Yorker’s Alex Ross. Of the album, NPR wrote: “Tao proves himself to be a musician of deep intellectual and emotional means”. His next album, Pictures, with works by David Lang, Toru Takemitsu, Elliott Carter, Mussorgsky, and Tao himself, was hailed by The New York Times as “a fascinating album [by] a thoughtful artist and dynamic performer…played with enormous imagination, color and command.” His third album, American Rage, featuring works by Julia Wolfe, Frederic Rzewski, and Aaron Copland, was released in the fall of 2019. In 2021, Tao and brass quartet The Westerlies released Bricolage, an album of improvisations and experiments recorded in a small cabin in rural New Hampshire in June 2019.
Tao was born in Urbana, Illinois in 1994. He has studied piano with Emilio del Rosario in Chicago and Yoheved Kaplinsky in New York, and composition with Christopher Theofanidis.

Event Details
Parking
Reserve Your Parking
Alternatively, payment kiosks are available both in the parking lot outside Bailey Hall and within the Corthell Hall lobby.
Disability Access and Accommodations
If you have questions about disability access or need to request disability accommodations (e.g. sign language interpreters, materials in electronic format, etc.), please contact the USM Music Box Office, (207) 780-5555, usm.music@maine.edu, TTY 711 (Maine Relay). Requests should be made as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the accommodation process.

International Women's Day Event - Transnational Health Initiatives: A Dialogue
2025-03-12 18:00 - 20:00 | McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success, 35 Bedford Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Partners for World Health and the School of Nursing present International Women’s Day 2025 – Transnational Health Initiatives: A Dialogue on March 12th, 2025 from 6-8 pm in the McGoldrick Center 2nd floor

La Francophonie in Maine... Qu'est ce que c'est?
2025-03-19 18:00 - 20:00 | Franco-American Collection — LAC, 51 Westminster St, Lewiston, ME, 04240, United States
The Franco-American Collection at the University of Southern Maine and the Alliance Française du Maine invite you to La Francophonie in Maine…Qu’est ce que c’est? Join us at the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston campus, 51 Westminster St. in Lewiston, on March 19, 2025 at 6 pm for the event. There is no fee for our programs, which are made possible by the Québec Delegation in Boston and by TV5MONDE.
This collaboration between the USM Franco-American Collection and the Alliance Française du Maine is our second panel event under the same name–the first took place in March, 2022. This time, we will feature panelists representing Burundi, Canada, Chad, France, Haiti, the Ivory Coast and the US. Panelists will discuss: how the French language has influenced their lives, their hopes for the future of the French language in Maine, and passing French on to the next generation.
Each panelist will give a short presentation, with a Q&A to follow.

For more information or to register, contact the FAC archivist, Anna Faherty at anna.faherty@maine.edu or by phone (207) 753-6545. If you have questions about disability access or need to request disability accommodations (e.g. sign language interpreters, materials in electronic format, etc.), please contact Anna. Requests should be made as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the accommodation process.

"Everyone Has a Story to Tell" Artist Lecture + Reception
2025-03-27 17:00 - 19:00 | University Events Room, 7th floor — Glickman Library, 314 Forest Ave, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
ARTIST LECTURE & RECEPTION:
When: Thursday, March 27th, 5 p.m. –7 p.m.; lecture starts at 5 p.m.
Where: University Events Room, 7th Floor, Glickman Library
314 Forest Ave, Portland, ME 04101
About: Lecture presented by the Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts Critique Group Members Gretchen Halpert, Cynthia Marsh, and Angel Simoneau. Free and open to the public. Join the Facebook event page and invite your community!

Join the Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts in celebration of the group exhibition, “Everyone Has a Story to Tell”. “Everyone Has a Story to Tell” is the KCCCBA Critique Group Members Exhibition on view from January 21, 2025 – April 26, 2025 in the Great Reading Room (7th Floor) of the USM Glickman Library.

A lecture will be presented by the Critique Group Members Gretchen Halpert, Cynthia Marsh, and Angel Simoneau along with a reception with refreshments and community gathering. Please join us in celebration!Free and open to the public

2025 O'Brien Poetry Event
2025-03-27 18:00 - 19:00 | ME
2025 O’Brien Poetry Event
Sponsored by:
Department of English
The Office of Equity, Inclusion, & Community Impact
Office of Student Engagement and Belonging
Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing
The O’Brien Poetry Event with Terrance Hayes will be held on Thursday, March 27, 2025 in the McGoldrick Center, Salons A/B/C, Portland. There will be an informal Q&A session from 4:30-5:30 pm and the reading will begin at 6:00 pm. Refreshments will be served.

Stop the Deportation Machine
2025-04-10 18:00 - 20:00 | Talbot Lecture Hall — Luther Bonney Hall, 85 Bedford St, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Police sweeps. Mass raids and deportations. Revoked green cards. A new and expanded travel ban. The dismantling of watchdog agencies meant to oversee the immigration system. These are just some of the weapons in the Trump administration’s escalated war on migrants. Stop the Deportation Machine brings together scholars, activists, and immigration lawyers to critically assess the crimmigration system and the broader machinery of racialized state violence. We’ll connect national policies to local realities—like ICE’s use of the Cumberland County Jail to detain immigrants and reports of local police calling ICE during traffic stops. Part of the Campaign to End Cumberland County’s Cooperation with ICE, this panel calls for urgent, abolitionist action to shut down the deportation machine—here and everywhere. Sponsored by Criminology, Sociology, and the Scontras Center for Labor and Community Education.
Panelists:
Arianna Efstathiou (she/her) Immigration Lawyer with Metis Legal
Brendan McQuade (he/him), associate professor and chair, criminology department, University of Southern Maine
Adriana Mercedes Ortiz-Burnham (she/her/ella), Presente!’s Senior Director of Operations
Chair:
Jenna Wolfinger
Speaker Bios:
Arianna Efstathiou is an immigration lawyer and a graduate of the University of Maine School of Law. She has worked in the immigration legal field since 2015 and has also experienced the system personally. Arianna has a three-year-old and therefore very little free time, but she loves reading, baking, and, recently, boxing.
Brendan McQuade is an associate professor and chair of the criminology department and sociology department at the University of Southern Maine. He is the author of Pacifying the Homeland: Intelligence Fusion and Mass Supervision. He is also a member of the anti-security collective and one of the co-authors of The Security Abolition Manifesto. Brendan has published on policing, surveillance, abolition, and other topics in a variety of academic and non-academic publications, including Qualitative Sociology, Surveillance & Society, Jacobin, The Portland Press Herald and The Bangor Daily News. Has also worked with movement organizations in Illinois, Maine, and Massachusetts to produce collaborative, grassroots shadow reports on policing and surveillance.
Adriana Mercedes Ortiz-Burnham grew up in Maine, on unceded Wabanaki land, and in Chihuahua, on unceded Rarámuri land. Adriana’s indigenous heritage is Rarámuri (often called Tarahumara), a cousin tribe of the Chichimeca. She currently lives in Portland with her cats and wishes she read more. Before this, Adriana worked with youth of color doing leadership development and juvenile diversion. She has admired Presente’s work since its inception as the Food Brigade in 2020 and was thrilled to join the staff in the spring of 2022. Through this work she continues to widen and transform her own understanding of, and capacity for, solidarity and liberation. Loves include Aston Villa FC, true crime podcasts, and lilac season.

Couldn’t Have Done It Without Us: How Franco-Americans Saved the US Economy with David Vermette
2025-04-14 18:00 - 20:00 | Franco-American Collection — LAC, 51 Westminster St, Lewiston, ME, 04240, United States
The Franco-American Collection at the University of Southern Maine invites you to Couldn’t Have Done It Without Us: How Franco-Americans Saved the US Economy. Join us at the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston campus, 51 Westminster St. in Lewiston, room 170, on April 14, 2025 at 6 pm for the event. There is no fee for our programs, which are made possible by the generous sponsorship of the Québec Delegation in Boston and TV5MONDE.
Textiles were the country’s largest industry in the 19th century, and after the Civil War it was French-Canadians who powered it. They made up nearly a quarter of the United State’s cotton textile employees and 44 percent in New England at a time when more than one half of all cotton textile workers lived in that region. Some scholars have written that there was a change in the source of textile labor in the early 20th century which favored immigrants to the US from southern and eastern Europe. This presentation shows that French-Canadians were by far the greatest factor in the textile industry labor pool from immediately after the Civil War until the industry’s decline in the mid 20th century. And in saving the textile industry in the post-Civil War period, French-Canadians made an enormous contribution to economic history. There will be a Q&A session following Vermette’s presentation.
David Vermette is an author and an independent researcher. He is the author of the book A Distinct Alien Race: The Untold Story of Franco-Americans (Baraka Books, 2018) (French translation: Une race d’étrangers: Le récit méconnu des Franco-Américains, Septentrion, 2024) and the blog French North America. His writing has appeared in Smithsonian and Time, and he has authored articles and reviews published by Histoire sociale/Social History, Résonance, and Le Forum (University of Maine). He wrote a chapter in the book French All Around Us (New York, CALEC-TBR, 2022) and also contributed to Franco-Amérique: Nouvelle édition revue et augmentée (Quebec, Septentrion, 2017). He is also an editor and ghostwriter for academics, consultants, and businesspeople. Originally from Massachusetts, he is a frequent speaker on the topic of Franco-American history.
Unable to join us in-person? Here’s a link to register to attend on Zoom: https://maine.zoom.us/meeting/register/hX1HnMY_TMabP1SKuYh6jA

For more information or to register, contact the FAC archivist, Anna Faherty at anna.faherty@maine.edu or by phone (207) 753-6545. If you have questions about disability access or need to request disability accommodations (e.g. sign language interpreters, materials in electronic format, etc.), please contact Anna. Requests should be made as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the accommodation process.

The Monhegan Wildlands: Art, Ecology, and the Resilience of a Maine Island - Annual Ball Lecture
2025-05-01 16:45 - 18:45 | Abromson Community Education Center, 88 Bedford St, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Rockwell Kent, Sun, Manana, Monhegan, 1907/ca.1950, Courtesy of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art

The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education Annual Ball Lecture
Join the Co-Curators of The Monhegan Wildlands: Art, Ecology, and the Resilience of a Maine Island (on display at the Bowdoin College of Art until June 1st) for an evening of learning and discussion. With its rugged shoreline, magnificent Cathedral Woods, and rustic fishing village, Monhegan Island in the Gulf of Maine has long been a haven for artists drawn to the splendor of its ocean vistas and picturesque wildlands and for ecologists fascinated by its complex natural history. Over the last two centuries, artists and photographers have observed pastureland recolonized by white spruce, those white spruce devastated by parasitic dwarf mistletoe infestation, and, today, deciduous trees—birch, aspen and maple—coming to dominate declining white spruce woodlands. Scientists, too, have documented change on Monhegan, drawing upon the methodologies of forest ecology to describe what came before and to elucidate mechanisms shaping the trajectories of forest succession.Monhegan’s history offers lessons for us all. This lecture, drawn from the exhibition, brings together artworks, objects and representations of ecological inquiry, and historical documents (including maps) and photographs to chart forest conversion and recovery on the island, and to document decades of remarkable conservation and stewardship.
Date & Time: Thursday, May 1st, 2025 from 4:45 PM to 6:45PM
Reception: 4:45pm-5:15pm (Light refreshments will be served)
Lecture and Q & A: 5:15pm-6:30pm
Location: Hannaford Hall, Abromson Center – University of Southern Maine (Portland Campus)
This event is FREE and all are welcome!
Speakers:

Frank Goodyear, Co-Director, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, and Co-Curator of The Monhegan Wildlands exhibition
Jenn Pye, Director, Monhegan Museum of Art & History, and Co-Curator of The Monhegan Wildlands exhibition
Barry Logan, Samuel S. Butcher Professor in the Natural Sciences, Bowdoin College, and Co-Curator of The Monhegan Wildlands Exhibition.

Image Credit: Rockwell Kent, Sun, Manana, Monhegan, 1907/ca.1950, Courtesy of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Strengthening Democracy Through Pluralism: A Conversation with Eboo Patel
2025-09-03 17:00 - 18:30 | Hannaford Hall — Abromson Community Education Center, 88 Bedford St, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Civic leader, speaker, and author Eboo Patel.
Join us as we launch our USM Forum on American Democracy with a keynote from Eboo Patel, one of the nation’s most influential voices on interfaith cooperation and civic engagement. Founder of Interfaith America, Patel will explore how pluralism — the respectful engagement of diverse identities — can help revitalize democracy and build more resilient, inclusive communities.
In this timely and thought-provoking talk, Patel will reflect on the role that campuses, communities, and individuals can play in bridging divides and turning diversity into a civic strength. Drawing from decades of leadership in public life, he invites us to reimagine democracy as a space where everyone belongs — and where cooperation across difference is essential to our shared future.
The event will be followed by a book signing from 6:30 to 7:00 PM with Patel for his book We Need to Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy.

This event is free and open to the public, and registration is required in advance.
Register now

Meeting friends for the event? Wander over the street to the Husky Brew in the McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success for a drink, coffee, or bite before or after the event!

About Eboo Patel
Author, Speaker, Educator, and Founder and President of Interfaith America
Eboo Patel is a civic leader, speaker, and author advancing the notion that diversity is a treasure and cooperation across our difference is the key for everybody to thrive. Recognized as “one of America’s best leaders” by U.S. News and World Report, he is the Founder and President of Interfaith America, the nation’s leading interfaith organization.
Under Eboo’s leadership, Interfaith America has grown into a $20 million-per-year organization that partners with governments, universities, businesses, and civic organizations to transform faith into a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division.
Eboo’s impact extends to serving on President Obama’s Inaugural Faith Council, delivering hundreds of keynote addresses, and authoring five influential books, including We Need to Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy. A Rhodes Scholar and Ashoka Fellow, Eboo earned a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University.

Learn more about Eboo Patel

🎥 Building bridges — religions’ role in our societies, TEDxChicago TEDx Talks
🎥 To narrow toxic divides, students build bridges between faiths, PBS NewsHour
🎥 Eboo Patel at The Obama Foundation’s 2024 Democracy Forum, Interfaith America
🎥 Bridging Identities, Strengthening Pluralism, UW-Madison
🎥 What Inspires Eboo Patel to Bridge Differences, Greater Good Science Center
🎥 2024 University of Utah Commencement Address
🎥 Introduction to Social Change — Eboo Patel, Founder, Interfaith America, Deseret News

About the Forum
The USM Forum on American Democracy is a year-long public series designed to engage the University of Southern Maine (USM) and the broader community in thoughtful conversations on the foundations and future of a democratic society. Hosted by President Edmondson, the Forum invites multiple perspectives on timely civic topics through keynote speakers, panel discussions, and campus-wide engagement.
Check out the full event series

Special Thanks
This event is made possible by the generous support of the Pond Family Foundation.

The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne: A Book Talk with Ron Currie
2025-09-15 18:00 - 19:30 | Franco-American Collection — LAC, 51 Westminster St, Lewiston, ME, 04240, United States
The Franco-American Collection at the University of Southern Maine invites you to a book talk with Ron Currie about his new novel, The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne. Join us at the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston campus, 51 Westminster St. in Lewiston, room 170, on September 15, 2025 at 6 pm for the event. There is no fee for our programs, which are made possible by the generous sponsorship of the Québec Delegation in Boston and TV5MONDE.
Ron Currie is the author of four novels and one collection of short stories. He has won the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Award, the Addison M. Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Library Association’s Alex Award, and the Pushcart Prize. His books have been translated into fifteen languages, and his short fiction and nonfiction have received recognition in Best American anthologies. As a screenwriter he worked most recently on the Apple TV+ series Extrapolations and has developed projects with AMC Studios, Amblin Television, and ITV America. He lives in Portland, Maine and teaches in the University of Southern Maine Stonecoast MFA program.
His newest book, The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne follows the life of fictional female Franco-American crime boss Babs Dionne in Waterville, ME. According to Library Journal: “Award-winning screenwriter and novelist Currie doesn’t pull any punches in this brutal character-driven mystery. Violence, heartbreak, sorrow, and a dash of grim humor are splashed across the pages with abandon as Currie carefully chronicles the fascinating, unforgettable life of a woman who will do anything for her family, her French American heritage, and her town. Fans of Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River, as well as readers who appreciate their crime fiction served straight up with no chaser, will be mesmerized.”
For more information or to register, contact the FAC archivist, Anna Faherty at anna.faherty@maine.edu or by phone (207) 753-6545. If you have questions about disability access or need to request disability accommodations (e.g. sign language interpreters, materials in electronic format, etc.), please contact Anna. Requests should be made as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the accommodation process.

Link to register using Zoom https://maine.zoom.us/meeting/register/arJUR_xbQaur-UwMAmuNZg

Summer Book Arts Student Exhibition Reception + Lecture
2025-09-17 17:00 - 19:00 | University Events Room, 7th floor — Glickman Library, 314 Forest Ave, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Join the Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts (KCCCBA) and community for an exhibition reception and lecture at the Glickman Family Library on the University of Southern Maine Portland campus.

Celebrating the KCCCBA Summer Book Program, join us on Wednesday, September 17th, 2025, from 5 – 7 PM at the University Events Room on the 7th Floor of the Glickman Library (314 Forest Ave.).

A lecture will be presented by one of the Summer Book Arts instructors, Lucky Platt starting at 5pm.
Visit the link to learn more about Lucky Platt’s work: https://www.luckyplatt.com/solucky

This event is free and open to the public, refreshments will be served.

The Summer Book Arts Students Exhibition runs from September 2, 2025 – October 25, 2025 at the USM Special Collections on the 6th Floor of the Glickman Library. Visit today!

Event Details
Parking is available in our University of Southern Maine Portland Garages 1 and 2 at a rate of $4.15 per hour. You may reserve your parking ahead of time via the USM Parking Interface. Additionally, the Portland METRO Husky Bus and the METRO #4 pickup/drop-off about a five-minute walk from the Glickman Family Library. An updated bus schedule can be found on the METRO website and bus fair is $2 each way.

Why We Walk: A Conversational Hike on the Frazier Preserve Trail
2025-09-20 11:00 - 12:00 | Frazier Preserve Trailhead, 41-99 Access Rd, Gorham, ME, 04038, United States
Why We Walk brings together artist Lin Lisberger (featured in the University of Southern Maine Art Gallery’s upcoming exhibition, 20 Walks) and author Miles Howard for a conversational hike. Howard and Lisberger will discuss the place of urban trails in our lives as they traverse the Frazier Preserve Trail. Stopping at natural discussion points, Howard and Lisberger will reflect on the trail’s infrastructure, its role in the Gorham community, and on the creativity and divergent thinking that walking engenders.

The walk will take place over the course of one hour on light terrain. Participants should plan to depart from the trail entrance located behind the Gorham High School baseball field and are encouraged to wear close-toed walking shoes, bring water, and a small trail snack if they like. Leave no trace principles will be observed. Please, no pets. In the event of light showers, the walk will still take place; if rain is heavy, it will be postponed to September 21st.

Capacity is limited to 20 participants! Please register via the Eventbrite link to reserve your place.
About the speakers:
Lin Lisberger has been a sculptor and woodcarver since the 1970s. She taught sculpture, drawing, and design at the University of Southern Maine from 1981 until her retirement in 2017. Lisberger has an MFA in sculpture from the University of Pennsylvania (1980) and a BA in Literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz (1973), and she lives and has a studio in Portland. Her exhibition experience is widespread, and she has work in several private and corporate collections. Her attention to form has been consistent, creating a foundation upon which an abstract narrative can be built, using narrative to emphasize her interest in humans and their journeys.
Miles Howard is an author, journalist, and urban trail builder based in Boston. In the summer of 2022, he founded the Walking City Trails; a network of walking trails visiting over 70 Boston parks and green spaces across 23 city neighborhoods. When he’s not in the field scouting new trail routes, he writes about public access to the outdoors. His work has been featured in National Geographic, Mountain Gazette, The New Republic, and The Boston Globe. He’s also the publisher of Mind The Moss, a weekly newsletter about the modern renaissance of walking and how traveling on foot can brighten our lives.
For more about 20 Walks, click here.

PARKING DETAILS
Parking on-site is free on a first-come, first-served basis. Limited parking is available directly outside of the Frazier Preserve Trail entrance located behind the Gorham High School Baseball Field. Once full, parking is available about a five-minute walk away in the Gorham High School Parking lot.

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Artist Talk with Janna Ahrndt and Christine Bruening
2025-10-03 13:00 - 14:00 | Arts Lab — Crewe Center for the Arts, 111 Bedford St, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Join exhibition artist Janna Ahrndt in conversation with fellow artist and collaborator Christine Bruening on memory’s digital trail. Ahrndt and Bruening together consider how technology fosters recollections and encounters obstacles of its own design. Their discussion will consider the limitations faced by digital replicas in any attempt to recreate the embodied recollections of an heirloom, and how corporate influence overshadows contemporary personal archiving. The conversation will at once expose the silliness of digital life and offer hopeful opportunities for the amelioration of technologically-induced malaise.

The artist talk will last approximately one hour in the Crewe Center Arts Lab. This event is part of the University of Southern Maine ArtsFest programming. Join us for a full day of art, music, and creative public activities.

What: Artist Talk with Janna Ahrndt and Christine Bruening
When: Friday October 3rd, 1pm-2pm
Where: Crewe Center for the Arts | Arts Lab
111 Bedford St. Portland 04103
Cost: Free

Event parking
Park for free in the University of Southern Maine Parking Garage (88 Bedford St., Portland, ME 04101) by selecting “Crewe Center Ribbon Cutting Day” when you start a parking session.
Get full parking details for October 3

Additionally, the Portland METRO Husky Bus and the METRO #4 pickup/drop-off are about a five-minute walk from the Glickman Family Library. An updated bus schedule can be found on the METRO website, and bus fare is $2 each way.

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Open Rehearsal with the Alumni Brass Quintet
2025-10-04 10:00 - 11:30 | Arts Lab — Crewe Center for the Arts, 111 Bedford St, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
The Alumni Brass Quintet invites you to an open and interactive rehearsal of Robert Greenlee‘s “Flat Seven” including discussions on how to approach challenging works as a group, and individual/group preparation for reading sessions.

Performers include:Alan Kaschub ’91, trumpetTrevor Lavenbein ’08, trumpetDr. Andrew Pelletier ’95, hornSGM Samuel Woodhead ’96, tromboneScott Vaillancourt, tuba

This is a free event, open to the public.

Event Details
Parking
Due to limited resources, parking is not free on our Portland and Gorham campuses. You must purchase a parking permit or paid parking session to park on campus. We recommend reserving your parking in advance at https://events.parkengage.com/usm.
For easy access to the Crewe Center for the Arts, choose either Parking Garage 1 (attached to the Abromson Community Education Center), Lot P1 (off of Bedford St. by Luther Bonney) or Lot P6 (off of Exeter St. or Deering Ave by the former Maine Law building).
Disability Access and Accommodations
If you have questions about disability access or need to request disability accommodations (e.g. sign language interpreters, materials in electronic format, etc.), please contact Hanna Flewelling at (207) 780-5256 or hanna.flewelling@maine.edu. Requests should be made as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the accommodation process.

Subscribe to our patron newsletter to stay up-to-date on all Osher School of Music events.
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Wandering Book Artists: Making Books By Hand in the Digital Age Lecture
2025-10-08 17:00 - 18:00 | University Events Room, 7th floor — Glickman Library, 314 Forest Ave, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Please join the Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts (KCCCBA) community in welcoming Peter and Donna Thomas for a public lecture titled Wandering Book Artists: Making Books By Hand in the Digital Age. This lecture is co-sponsored by the Baxter Society and is free and open to the public.

The lecture takes place on Wednesday October 8th, 2025 from 5pm – 6pm at the University Event Room (7th Floor) in the Glickman Family Library (314 Bedford St.). Refreshments will be served.

About the Artists:Peter and Donna Thomas are book artists from Santa Cruz, California. They work collaboratively, making both edition and one-of-a-kind books. They make the paper, print, illustrate, and bind their books, combining the precision of the fine press aesthetic with the structural creativity found in contemporary artists’ books. Between 2009 and 2019, they made four cross-country road trips, traveling in their artistic tiny home on wheels as the “Wandering Book Artists,” teaching classes and giving talks about the book arts as they visited universities and community-based book arts centers around the country. They are authors of More Making Books by Hand, and editors of 1000 Artists’ Books, and in 2021, The Legacy Press published a descriptive bibliography of their work: Peter and Donna Thomas: Bibliography, 1974–2020. Learn more here: http://wanderingbookartists.blogspot.com/
This event is free and open to the public, refreshments will be served.

Peter and Donna Thomas will be giving a public workshop on October 11th following the lecture. To learn more about their workshop, Making Miniature Books, please visit: https://usm.maine.edu/book-arts/workshop-series/

Event Details
Parking is available in our University of Southern Maine Portland Garages 1 and 2 at a rate of $4.15 per hour. You may reserve your parking ahead of time via the USM Parking Interface. Additionally, the Portland METRO Husky Bus and the METRO #4 pickup/drop-off about a five-minute walk from the Glickman Family Library. An updated bus schedule can be found on the METRO website and bus fair is $2 each way.

Masterclass with Gideon Forbes
2025-10-09 17:30 - 20:15 | Arts Lab — Crewe Center for the Arts, 111 Bedford St, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Osher School of Music alumni, Gideon Forbes, presents a masterclass and performance with his band, the Gideon Forbes Quartet. This masterclass is free, and limited to the University of Southern Maine community only.

Event Schedule:
Masterclass from 5:30–6:30 P.M.
Performance at 7:30 P.M.

Gideon Forbes is a saxophonist, nay player, composer, and improviser in Brooklyn, New York. He has shared the stage with notable musicians such as Angelica Sanchez, Joe Lovano, Abeer Nehme, and Nibal Malshi. Gideon performs with the New York Arabic Orchestra, Big Beat Big Band, Takht al-Nagham, The Brooklyn Nomads, Habibi Gün, Firas Zreik, Sami Abu Shumays, and Karim Nagi.
Gideon co-leads Nortonk, which released its eponymous debut album on Biophilia Records in May 2021. In 2023 he started Orchestra Farha, an acoustic-electric ensemble that focuses on 1970’s Arabic music from Egypt and around the Arab world.
As a writer, Gideon’s compositions and arrangements have been performed by Joe Lovano, The University of Arizona Jazz Studio Ensemble , The William Paterson Jazz Orchestra, OURBIGBAND, the Fogcutters, the University of Southern Maine Jazz Orchestra, and Big Beat Big Band. Other highlights include multiple performances on Maine Public Radio’s Friday Night Jazz with Rich Tozier.
Gideon holds a master’s degree from William Paterson University in Jazz Arranging & Composition, where he studied with Jim McNeely, Pete McGuinness, Cecil Bridgewater, and Rich Perry. As a student of Arabic music, he has studied with Bassam Saba, Layth Sidiq, Sami Abu Shumays, and Johnny Farraj. He was also an artist at the 2018 Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music.
Gideon is available for lessons & workshops in saxophone, improvisation, and composition. He has taught workshops around the United States and abroad. In July 2018 Gideon taught at the Edward Said National Conservatory in Ramallah, Palestine, sponsored by the Muna & Basem Hishmeh Foundation.

Event Details
Parking
Due to limited resources, parking is not free on our Portland and Gorham campuses. You must purchase a parking permit or paid parking session to park on campus. We recommend reserving your parking in advance at https://events.parkengage.com/usm.
For easy access to the Crewe Center for the Arts, choose either Parking Garage 1 (attached to the Abromson Community Education Center), Lot P1 (off of Bedford St. by Luther Bonney) or Lot P6 (off of Exeter St. or Deering Ave by the former Maine Law building).
Disability Access and Accommodations
If you have questions about disability access or need to request disability accommodations (e.g. sign language interpreters, materials in electronic format, etc.), please contact Hanna Flewelling at (207) 780-5256 or hanna.flewelling@maine.edu. Requests should be made as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the accommodation process.

Subscribe to our patron newsletter to stay up-to-date on all Osher School of Music events.
Join the Osher School of Music as a volunteer usher.

Book Talk: Here to Stay: Lives in 17th Century Canada
2025-10-15 18:30 - 19:30 | ME
Denis Ledoux
Denis Ledoux is known for writing his family stories (his mother’s, We Were Not Spoiled/A Franco-American Memoir; his spouse’s, A Sugary Frosting/Life in a New
England Parsonage; and his own, French Boy/A 1950s Franco-American Childhood). He has now taken his family writing into the far past with Here to Stay/Lives in 17th
Century Canada. In this latest book, he writes of four early family members from the 1660s, and by placing them in a carefully delineated historical context, has
created a glimpse into the first century of French Canada as our ancestors struggled against odds to maintain a foothold on the continent. Here to Stay is a
book filled with heroic effort, profound tragedy and perilous survival. “They were not like us,” he concludes. “They were epic heroes!”

Louden Family Lecture Series Event: What Will It Take To Fix Social Media
2025-10-23 12:30 - 13:45 | University Events Room, 7th floor — Glickman Library, 314 Forest Ave, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
What Will It Take to Fix Social Media?

Professor Karen Frost-Arnold will present a talk entitled, “What Will it Take to Fix Social Media?” for the third annual Louden Family Lecture Series event. Social media is plagued with problems of disinformation, harassment, censorship, and digital colonialism. Decisions about what kinds of speech are permitted and who can speak online are made with very little input from marginalized people, especially those in the Global South. There is a moral and epistemic imperative for us to collectively imagine alternative futures for our social media communities. This talk investigates the promises and perils of decentralized, non-corporate alternative social media platforms.

Professor Karen Frost-Arnold of Hobart and William Smith Colleges is the author of the forthcoming book, Who Should We Be Online? A Social Epistemology for the Internet, (New York: Oxford University Press). Professor Frost-Arnold’s scholarly interests include Trust, Social epistemology, Philosophy of the Internet, Ethics, Philosophy of Science, and Feminist Philosophy. You can read more about Professor Frost-Arnold here

The Don Nicoll Memorial Lecture Series Inaugural Event
2025-10-28 16:30 - 18:30 | McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success, 35 Bedford Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
The Don Nicoll Memorial Lecture Series Inaugural Event
Public Service in Challenging Times
In today’s increasingly complex world, what is public service? What is its role and value in Maine? When divisiveness dominates the headlines, how are communities meeting the moment to address shared challenges?
Join us at the USM Muskie School of Public Service Don Nicoll Memorial Lecture Series for our inaugural panel of Maine community leaders, who will address these questions and share their insights in the context of their work to end homelessness in Maine.
Dr. Richard Maiman will provide an introduction to Don and his life’s work. Panelists Terry Sutton is the board president of Preble Street and Charles ‘Wick’ Johnson is the chair of Augusta Homelessness Task Force. They have both dedicated much of their careers to public service and community building in Maine. Jennifer Hutchins will moderate the discussion. Jennifer is Executive Director of the Maine Association of Nonprofits, the state’s leading organization for Maine’s charitable nonprofit sector with more than 1,200 members from all 16 counties.
This series is in honor of Don Nicoll, a long-time advisor to Maine state government and other public institutions, including the University of Maine System and former U.S. Senator Edmund S. Muskie. Don also served both as Chair and member of the Muskie School Board of Visitors.
Program:
4:30 – 5:00 pm Reception
5:00 – 5:30 pm Introductions and remarks from Dr. Richard Maiman
5:30 – 6:30 pm Panel discussion & Q&A
This event will be live-streamed for those wishing to join at a distance. Please register to receive a link prior to the event.

Le petit rassemblement des artistes Franco-Américain: A celebration of modern expression
2025-11-01 13:00 - 16:00 | LA Arts, 168 Lisbon St, Lewiston, ME, 04240, United States
The Franco-American Collection at the University of Southern Maine invites you to join us at LA Arts, 168 Lisbon Street in Lewiston on Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. for a half day event featuring a panel discussion of Franco-American creatives led by Charles Gargiulo, Abby Paige, Robert Perreault and Susan Poulin. To begin the event, Dr. Paul Buck from the University of Maine Fort Kent will present a talk on borders and boundaries. The event is free and open to the public, thanks to our generous sponsors, Hilton Garden Inn Auburn Riverwatch, Schooner Estates, TV5MONDE, and the Quebec Delegation in Boston.
Dr. Buck’s presentation will open the event at 1 pm. Following the presentation there will be time for a Q&A as well as a break to mingle and enjoy refreshments. At 2:30 p.m., the panelists will present about their creative processes and how their Franco-American identity and heritage informs their craft, and about crossing cultural, linguistic and other borders and boundaries in their writing.
Paul Buck is a Professor of History and Education at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. He has a doctorate in U.S. and Canadian history from the University of Maine, which he completed in 2008. Paul is proficient in English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, and Wolof. He has either studied or taught over the course of four academic years in French Canada (Québec City), Russia (Voronezh), and Senegal (Dakar). Paul enjoys participating in his adopted community of St. Agatha, particularly in local organizations that promote and celebrate the French language and the Acadian and Franco-American culture of the St. John Valley.

Paul will speak about different perspectives of Maine statehood and of Maine culture as seen through the prism of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842, which definitively established the boundary between British North America and the United States. Paul will explore the treaty and its impact on the singular Acadian and Francophone community of the St. John Valley, which found itself split into two countries. Paul will give historical context as well, most certainly commencing with the long-standing Maliseet and Mi’kmaq communities of the region, along with Scots-Irish and, by the 1820s, of Maine Yankee residents.

Our panelists are:

Charles Gargiulo is the author of Legends of Little Canada, a memoir told through the voice of his 13 year old self in the 1960’s as he watched an urban renewal plan destroy his world by forcibly displacing his family and friends from their poor but tight-knit French-Canadian neighborhood in Lowell. The book gives witness to the final days of the community around Moody Street that Jack Kerouac recalled in many of his Lowell stories. His writing has appeared in Resonance, Merrimack Valley Magazine, the Lowell Review, the New Lowell Offering and the book compilation “Atlantic Currents: Connecting Cork and Lowell.” Following the destruction of Lowell’s Little Canada, Charlie grew up in public housing. After serving in the military, he graduated summa cum laude from University of Massachusetts Lowell. He became a legendary community and human rights activist and stopped forced displacement efforts like Little Canada from happening to others. In 2019, he was honored by the International Institute as one of the 100 most important figures in Lowell history who has worked on behalf of the city’s immigrant population. About his book, Legends of Little Canada, Kevin Ring, the publisher of Beat Scene Magazine, says: “I can put my hand on this old heart of mine and safely say Kerouac himself would have laughed and cried and absolutely loved this book.”

Abby Paige is a writer and theater artist whose work often explores the influence of French-Canadian culture in northern New England and the shifting borders between places, languages, and identities. Her book Piecework / Travail à la pièce, published by the University of Maine Press in 2025, collects in a single bilingual volume her two solo shows, Piecework: When We Were French and Les filles du QUOI?. Abby is Drama and Book Review Editor for the Franco-American literary journal Résonance, and her poems and other writing have appeared in publications in Canada and the U.S., including the 2020 Best Canadian Poetry Anthology. She currently lives in Vermont, where she was born and raised.

Since 1973, Manchester, N.H. native and lifelong resident Robert B. Perreault has worked in various capacities to promote Manchester’s history and New England Franco-American culture. His works of nonfiction and fiction, written in French, in English or in both languages, include seven books and more than 175 articles, essays, short stories, etc., published in the U.S., French Canada or France. He is the author of a French-language novel, L’Héritage (1983), whose setting is Manchester’s Franco-American community; Postcard History Series: Manchester (2005); and Franco-American Life and Culture in Manchester, New Hampshire: Vivre la Différence (2010). His most recent book featuring his original photos of Manchester from 1971 to 2005, entitled Images of Modern America: Manchester, was published in 2017 by Arcadia Publishing in Charleston, S.C. His eighth book, a forthcoming novel (11/7/25), is entitled Courtship in Purgatory. In addition to his writing, Perreault conducts sessions in conversational French in the Native Speaker Program at St. Anselm College and lectures on various topics related to local history and Franco-American history and culture with N.H. Humanities.

Selected by Portland Magazine as one of the “Ten Most Intriguing People in Maine,” award winning writer and performer Susan Poulin is the author of fourteen plays, seven of which feature her alter ego, Ida LeClair, “the funniest woman in Maine.” She writes the popular weekly Maine humor blog and podcast, Just Ask Ida, and is the author of Finding Your Inner Moose: Ida LeClair’s Guide to Living the Good Life and The Sweet Life: Ida LeClair’s Guide to Love and Marriage published by Islandport Press. As well as creating and touring her own work, Susan travels the country as an actor/improviser and facilitator for PowerPlay, a professional applied theatre company based at the University of New Hampshire. In May of 2019, during a joint session of the Maine State Legislature, Susan was inducted into the Franco-American Hall of Fame in honor of her body of work and promotion of Franco-American cultural identity. Check out her popular TED Talk about growing up Franco-American at TEDxPortsmouth.com. She continues to be a leader in bringing a female voice to New England storytelling and humor, and sharing the healing power of laughter with audiences statewide and beyond.

This event will be held at LA Arts’ downtown Lewiston venue on Lisbon Street. Parking is available on the street or in the Canal Street Garage, the Centerville Garage, or the Oak Street Garage. The event will be recorded, and those unable to join us in-person can do so via Zoom. Interested in joining on Zoom? Email Anna for more information!

For in-person attendance, registration is required. We ask that you RSVP one week ahead of the event!

For more information or to register for this event, contact the FAC archivist, Anna Faherty at anna.faherty@maine.edu or by phone (207) 753-6545. If you have questions about disability access or need to request disability accommodations (e.g. sign language interpreters, materials in electronic format, etc.), please contact Anna. Requests should be made as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the accommodation process.

CONVERSATION: Artists and Intentional Walking
2025-11-05 11:00 - 12:00 | Burnham Lounge — Robie-Andrews Hall, 39 University Way, Gorham, ME, 04038, United States
Conversation: Artists and Intentional Walking with Lin Lisberger and Professor Kim Theriault
Artists and Intentional Walking brings together artist Lin Lisberger (featured in the University of Southern Maine Art Gallery’s current exhibition, 20 Walks) and University of Southern Maine art history professor Kim Theriault for a public artist talk. Artists and Intentional Walking is a thought-provoking conversation that explores walking as a creative practice, highlighting examples of artists who have used walking to inform their work throughout history.
The discussion takes place indoors at Robie Andrews Hall, located on the University of Southern Maine Gorham campus. The talk will be held in Burnham Lounge (1st Floor) and is free and open to the general public. So that we may have an accurate headcount for the event, we kindly ask that you please register at the Eventbrite link. Lin Lisberger will be available at the University of Southern Maine Art Gallery following the artist conversation.

About the hosts:
Lin Lisberger has been a sculptor and woodcarver since the 1970s. She taught sculpture, drawing, and design at the University of Southern Maine from 1981 until her retirement in 2017. Lisberger has an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Pennsylvania (1980) and a BA in Literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz (1973), and she lives and has a studio in Portland. Her exhibition experience is widespread, and she has worked in several private and corporate collections. Her attention to form has been consistent, creating a foundation upon which an abstract narrative can be built, using narrative to emphasize her interest in humans and their journeys.
Kim S. Theriault holds a Ph.D. in Modernist and Contemporary Art History from the University of Virginia and is Professor Emerita of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. She is the author of the book Rethinking Arshile Gorky and contributor to the 2009 exhibition and catalog for Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Theriault has been a featured speaker at such institutions as the Library of Congress, Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and Oxford University among others, and, having published articles exploring the seminal significance of the national Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, this is the subject of her next book. Presently a part-time professor of art history in the Art Department at the University of Southern Maine, she is also curating Arshile Gorky: Connections and Community, an exhibition set to open at the Armenian Museum of America in Watertown, Massachusetts on December 11. Having spent a lifetime amongst visual artists, poets, writers, and performers, Theriault is acutely interested in what instigates creative practice, how process translates into product, and how cross-disciplinary approaches manifest new and exciting reinterpretations of art and history.
For more about 20 Walks, click here.

EVENT DETAILS
Parking is available in our University of Southern Maine Gorham campus lots G4, G4, and G6 at a rate of $1.05 per hour. You may reserve your parking ahead of time via the USM Parking Interface. Additionally, the Portland METRO Husky Bus picks up/drops off about a three-minute walk from the University of Southern Maine Art Gallery (Gorhamp campus). An updated bus schedule can be found on the METRO website and bus fair is $2 each way.

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Pluralism in Practice: A Conversation with Raj Vinnakota & President Jacqueline Edmondson
2025-11-05 17:00 - 18:30 | Hannaford Hall — Abromson Community Education Center, 88 Bedford St, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
President of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, Raj Vinnakota.
The USM Forum on American Democracy conversation continues with Raj Vinnakota, President of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, in a public dialogue with USM President Jacqueline Edmondson. Together, they will explore the challenges and opportunities of pluralism in contemporary American society, building on themes introduced in Eboo Patel’s keynote (September 3).
Drawing from his extensive work in civic learning, youth engagement, and public scholarship, Vinnakota will reflect on how pluralism can be practiced at scale — across institutions, communities, and generations — and what it will take to prepare citizens for a thriving, inclusive democracy. The evening will offer a deeper look at how leadership, education, and civic networks can support a more connected and participatory civic culture.

This event is free and open to the public, and registration is required in advance.
Register now

Meeting friends for the event? Wander over the street to the Husky Brew in the McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success for a drink, coffee, or bite before or after the event!

About Raj Vinnakota
Civic Leader. Social Entrepreneur. Advocate for Democracy
Raj Vinnakota is the President of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, where he leads a national effort to cultivate lifelong, effective citizens through civic learning, scholarship, and cross-sector partnerships. A pioneering social entrepreneur, Vinnakota co-founded the SEED Foundation, the first U.S. network of public, college-prep boarding schools for underserved students — work that earned recognition from Oprah Winfrey, Harvard University, and Fast Company.
Before his current role, Raj served as Executive Vice President at the Aspen Institute, where he launched the Youth & Engagement Programs division focused on youth leadership and civic opportunity. He currently co-chairs civic task forces for both the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission and the Partnership for American Democracy, and is a frequent commentator in national media on Gen Z, civic education, and democratic renewal.
A graduate of Princeton University and recipient of its highest alumni honor — the Woodrow Wilson Award — Vinnakota’s career has been dedicated to ensuring that all Americans, regardless of background, are empowered to participate fully in civic life.

Learn more about Raj Vinnakota

🔗 Propelling Society Forward: Q&A with Rajiv Vinnakota, Institute for Citizens & Scholars
🎥 Arguing Joyfully with Raj Vinnakota, Liston on Purpose Podcast, LionTree

About the Forum
The USM Forum on American Democracy is a year-long public series designed to engage the University of Southern Maine (USM) and the broader community in thoughtful conversations on the foundations and future of a democratic society. Hosted by President Edmondson, the Forum invites multiple perspectives on timely civic topics through keynote speakers, panel discussions, and campus-wide engagement.
Check out the full event series

Special Thanks
This event is made possible by the generous support of the Pond Family Foundation.

Concept to Finish Line (or How I Make Books) Lecture + Reception by Rebecca Goodale
2025-11-06 17:00 - 19:00 | Book Arts Studio — Crewe Center for the Arts, 111 Bedford St, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Please join the Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts (KCCCBA) and community for a public lecture titled Concept to Finish Line or How I Make Books presented by artist Rebecca Goodale. The lecture accompanies a book arts exhibition titled Imagining a No-Go Zone with Blue Horses and a Red Forest and other Artist’s Books: Artist’s Books by Rebecca Goodale.

The Artist’s Lecture starts at 5 PM and the reception runs until 7 PM at the new Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts Studio, located in Studio 160 at the Crewe Center for the Arts on our Portland Campus. This event is free and open to the public

The exhibition runs from September 2, 2025 – December 5, 2025. Please visit us at the new Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts Studio at the Crewe Center for the Arts.

Event Details:
Parking is available in our University of Southern Maine Portland Garages 1 and 2, or in Parking Lot P6, at a rate of $4.15 per hour. Use code KCBHALF for a 50% discount on parking. You may reserve your parking ahead of time via the USM Parking Interface. Additionally, the Portland METRO Husky Bus and the METRO #4 pickup/drop-off about a three-minute walk from the Crewe Center for the Arts. An updated bus schedule can be found on the METRO website and bus fair is $2 each way.

The Lavender Scare film screening and discussion
2025-11-13 17:00 - 19:00 | University Events Room, 7th floor — Glickman Library, 314 Forest Ave, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
The Lavender Scare, film screening and discussion on the untold story of a brutal witch hunt and the courageous few who fought back.
Refreshments will be available.
Discussion facilitated by Ashley Towle, Assoc. Dean CAHS and Assoc. Prof. of History and Women & Gender Studies, Univ of Maine
Sponsored by the LGBTQ+ Collection, Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine, Special Collections, Political Science Dept., History Dept., and Women & Gender Studies
