Friends,

“If Not Us, Then Who?” is the title and the core question at the heart of Maine Inside Out’s latest original play. The play was created by twelve artists incarcerated at Mountain View Correctional Facility in our first theater workshop inside a correctional facility since the COVID-19 pandemic. MIO members inside the facility advocated for the opportunity to do this work together because they wanted to start a conversation with each other, with the facility, and with you.

Two groups of 8th grade students at Lewiston Middle School are asking the same question - if not us, then who? - as they create plays to share in the first week of December. They are exploring themes of trust, racism, bullying, school discipline, friendships, and violence. It is a huge act of courage and leadership to initiate these conversations with peers, teachers, and family.

Maine Inside Out creates art, builds culture, and develops leadership to realize a world where everyone matters and belongs. Our theater method shifts power dynamics to create forums for dialogue and social change. The play creation process weaves together real life stories into a universal, collaborative performance followed by a community dialogue. “If Not Us, Then Who?” is an invitation to you - our community - to show up for the performances and in ongoing work for community change. Together, we can create a new way forward and we invite you to join us. Attend an event this Fall and consider investing in this vision alongside us by making a gift today.

With your support, Maine Inside Out will scale our work in Maine schools, prisons, and communities and continue catalyzing change. In 2023, together we can:

- Facilitate workshops, led by MIO artists, at Lewiston Middle School with students to create and share original plays

- Support the creative work and leadership of MIO members inside Mountain View Correctional Facility

- Promote creative work, panels, performances, workshops, and coalitions in communities across the state; and

- Focus on personal advocacy, peer support, and transformative justice practices within our community to pause and tend to grief, celebration, hurt, harm, conflict, exhaustion, personal crisis, and more.

MIO artists courageously offer us creative visions and forums to draw on the wisdom and strengths of our collective experience, building connection and leadership across boundaries, across identities and generations. Your support is an investment in the leadership of youth and young adult activists and artists working for racial justice, criminal justice reform, economic justice, and community health. Together, we can build a better future. “If Not Us, Then Who?”

In Community,

All of us at MIO

“If Not Us, Then Who?”

Team Members