Friday, Sept. 12th – Sunday, Sept. 14th
Welcome to year 4 of SeaCHANGE! A conference like no other.
We gather creators of different identities, races, and ages. We recognize there are far more stories, ideas, and experience in the audience than we could possibly put on a stage. At SeaCHANGE, we invite the “the audience” to participate.
There’s space for conversations on big questions… workshops with amazing artists… an open mic night and dancing… and relaxed time to make genuine human connections and cross-pollinate ideas in a beautiful setting. This year, we’ll discover answers to this question:
How can the arts become a haven for healing, peace, dignity, and community resilience?
Day 1 looks at arts as a haven for our personal path.
Day 2 explores how making or experiencing art creates powerful experience of community—opening hearts, building collective care, and restoring dignity.
Day 3 invites ideas on how to bring this experience back home to seed havens of creative community and new futures.
The ripple effects of the community we experience for three days go far beyond the conference: new friendships, inspiration and ideas, and collaborations among participants.
Join Theater for the People, Green Acre, and Kinship on September 12, 13 & 14 at Green Acre in Eliot, Maine.
Hosts & Guides
Hosted by Najee Brown, Robert Sapiro, Beth Tener, and Frank Graham Robinson, Jr., our artistic guides will inspire us with stellar workshops and stimulating engagement: Diannely Antigua (Creative Writing & Poetry), Gordon Arzu (Painter), Elae Weekes (Performing Artists), Victoria Carrington (Creative), JacQueline Marie Ward (Community builder, Eco-economist, Futurist writer, Educator), Nailah Randell-Bellinger (Choreographer/Educator), Lauren Grace Williamson (Artist, End of Life Doula), LaToya Olson LaMonda (Inspirational Movement Guide), Jeryl Palana Pilapil-Brown (Dancer/Choreographer), Ridvan Idara (Founder, New Era Creative Space), Stephanie Robinson (Grant Writer), Cecilia Ulibarri (Positive Street Art), and Manuel Ramirez (Positive Street Art).
Last Year’s Highlights
Hi, this is Najee Brown and I’m just so excited about this weekend we had three Incredible days at Green Acre Bahá’í Center of Learning doing the SeaCHANGE conference.
I just can’t begin to say how excited and how proud and like over the moon I am of what I experienced this weekend—people just opening up and being vulnerable and showing their humanity like never before, simply because they felt like they were in a safe space.
Testimonials
“I grew up in a creative environment of a black church where the arts are the center… When I moved to the Seacoast, I saw there was a lot of creativity going on but it felt there was no central place for me to do that as an artist of color. The spirit of SeaCHANGE was making a home and a place like that for people of color, and providing a space for me where I can be myself and create with people or engage with other artists.” —Najee Brown, Theater for the People
“One of the greatest parts of this gift, the little bit that I’ve been able to be here, was the diversity of the people, of different ages and different backgrounds, but the warmth—the warmth that was felt here the minute and I walked in the door, and the motivation behind the themes to help one another.”
“There were so many elements of how we were able to weave the creativity and the gifts of the artists, and the musicians, and the dancers here, and then seeing how the young and the old and people from so many identities and backgrounds came together. It’s so rare to be in that space, so it really exceeded my expectations.”
“At many conferences, we are going through the motions. People’s incredible gifts, truths, aliveness, and creative gifts stay dormant because people sit and listen 95% of the time. With SeaCHANGE, we create a dynamic space where everyone is participating and connecting, engaged in creative arts and encouraging each other’s expression. I love watching people relax into the space and come alive creatively.” —Beth Tener, Kinship
“It was beautiful to sit, feel the summer breeze, look out on the river and have these in-depth conversations and process what we had had learned. Those questions, guided, and opened those conversations. I also felt such kinship and connectivity.”
“I saw the dance instructors that were going to be leading workshops and I was really looking forward to, as a disabled person, some of the benefits and knowledge those people would bring to me through SeaCHANGE conference and I got that.”
“I’m a firm believer that the arts can be used for healing and social change. It’s how I survived. It’s how I’ve learned to heal, and it’s been my life’s mission to help create that space for other people, especially in places where that space hasn’t been made for them.” —Diannelly Antigua, Poet Laureate, Portsmouth, NH
“SeaCHANGE is a space of gathering of different minds, different communities, different walks of life. I think that that was a magic that I kept hearing from people who attended. They said “I walked into the space and felt that I belonged and was equal amongst everybody there.” —Victoria Carrington Chavez, Lilac & Aspen
“SeaCHANGE is rooted in what Green Acre is all about, which is to be a gathering place where people of all backgrounds, families, friends, and people who want to just work together for peace and justice and the oneness of humanity and the nobility of every human person. It’s an attempt to create a community and ultimately create a society that’s both diverse and united.” —Robert Sapiro, Green Acre Administrator
