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To commemorate Juneteenth, Indigo Arts Alliance (IAA) is bringing back one of its founding programs, The Welcome Table, an intergenerational symposium celebrating the cultural and culinary traditions of worldwide historical social justice movements.

It will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 15 at Indigo Arts Alliance, 60 Cove St., Portland. This free gathering will feature art workshops, movement and meditation, cross-cultural history, community-building and cooking led by local and national activists and cultural workers.

“The welcome table” is a phrase originating in southern African-American culture that describes a foundational spiritual value: an ethic of hospitality and a space where no one is turned away and the abundance of life is shared and enjoyed by all. The concept embodies a resistance to the persistent realities that have delimited the range of possibilities for Black and brown lives. 

As IAA honors its fifth anniversary — a half decade marked by programs that support Black and brown artists, as well as foster cultural exchange and promote social justice through the transformative power of the arts– — t felt appropriate to bring back The Welcome Table, a gathering that Indigo first sponsored in 2019. Then, as now, participants are invited to eat, talk, enjoy, give thanks, and just BE–all in a healthy, healing multiracial setting that creates space for everyone, and for the personal narratives that have informed, and continue to inform, our lives across continents and cultures.

RSVP va Givebutter.

Indigo Arts Alliance hopes that not only will this program serve as a moment to reflect and review our impact but also present an opportunity for us to envision what the future of our community will be through an Afro and 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 with a view to greater international social justice. A full schedule of events is available on request.