Location: 60 Cove St, Portland, ME 04101, USA

In 2019, Indigo Arts Alliance launched The Welcome Table. The Welcome Table is a term used in southern African American culture to describe a spiritual value; an ethic of hospitality; a space where no one is turned away and where the abundance of life is shared and enjoyed by all. It is a concept that was created by Black people in resistance to a society that often violently delimited their range of possibilities.

The Welcome Table represents the ideal of a place of gathering – to eat, to talk, to enjoy, to give thanks, to just BE – in a healthy, multiracial nation where there is room for all of us and all of our stories. This year, Indigo Arts Alliance celebrates Juneteenth, bringing The Welcome Table back to Maine. Taking place on Saturday, June 15th 10am - 5pm, at Indigo Arts Alliance, the gathering will feature art workshops, movement and meditation, cross-cultural history, community-building, and cooking led by local and national activists and cultural workers.

This intergenerational symposium celebrates the cultural and culinary traditions of worldwide historical social justice movements. As Indigo Arts Alliance enters our 5th year; not only will this program serve as a moment to reflect and review our impact but it presents a moment for us to envision what the future of our community will be through an Afro + Indigenous multicultural and multigenerational lens. We will be bringing together scholars, activists, religious leaders, artists, culinary specialists and members of the public to explore the links among food, culture and spirituality in national and international social justice organizing.