Randi Small (he/they/it) is a multiply disabled nonbinary trans person. Born, raised, and residing in Belfast, they chose to participate in the fellowship out of an abundance of curiosity and a deep desire to reconnect with his local community. Randi believes that a community can only be strong if those who live in it take the time to foster the connections that make it special, which is a big reason for his participation in the fellowship as well. 

He feels very lucky to call himself a rural queer person and believes that the unique qualities of the queer community in Maine are important to celebrate. He is forever grateful for the experience of the fellowship and for the connections it has allowed him to foster and hopes to continue to grow them!

Leaning into Weakness: A Community Roundtable and Maker Space was a community discussion and crafting event held in the Abbott room in the Belfast Free Library. The discussion focused on the intersections and interactions between creativity and disability.

The goal was to provide a space for disabled creatives, along with their friends, loved ones, and community allies, to have an open dialogue about what it means to be creative while dealing with illness and disability. Additionally, the makerspace aspect functioned to allow space for creating something during the event, either for fun or in response to the discussion. 

This is an event which will be reoccurring in some form or another before the end of 2024, maybe not in the same place or in the exact same format, but with the same vibes and goals!

Deb is a first generation queer Latine person currently living in unceded Penobscot territory known as Waldo County. They came to Maine for college and stayed after falling in love with the beautiful rural settings that abound. Deb is a community organizer and enthusiast for joy while being in an oppressed body. As an organizer and community weaver, they strongly advocate for social and environmental justice for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities, anti-colonialism, indigenous rights, sustainability, and intersectionality and equity within each of these causes and beyond. Deb came to the fellowship to explore rural community power dynamics and queer rural organizing in Maine. They find they feel most at home when they have the spaciousness to be themselves and when they feel supported in their activism work. Deb loves the amount of queer joy that is abundant in Waldo Co and is excited to continue digging deeper within community.

Deb's project was an Art Market-Teach-in event, held in December 2023 and centered around education about the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine. We discussed the history of the occupation from the Balfour Declaration, the UN Assembly of 1947, al-Nakba, and more all leading up the modern day Israeli apartheid state continuing their legacy of violence today onto Palestinians. The event also featured 3 different components throughout the duration of the event all relating to the crisis in Palestine. One component was the art market itself, where part of the proceeds went to local organizing efforts and on the ground medical relief funds in Palestine.

The Market featured a variety of local majority queer artists selling their wares, from hand woven blankets to smithed jewelry! As the art market proceeded we held an Occupation 101 teach-in, where Amy Smith, PHD and Deb Paredes will be facilitated and held space for a conversation and education piece detailing important things to know when learning about the occupation of Palestine. The final piece consisted of a screening of Gaza Fights for Freedom, following a debrief of the movie in a conversation circle.

The purpose of the event was to introduce a wider array of rural residents to the Palestinian genocide and discussed different action steps folks can take. The event was highly collaborative with partnerships with a local event team from Liberty Tune Co., Pottles Pub, Out in the Open, organizers from the Maine Coalition for Palestine, and local artisans.

Teach-ins are expected to continue in rural Waldo county and potentially beyond March onwards.

Devon says:

I am an interdisciplinary artist, friend, and instigator of collective experiences. My practice is devoted to expanding interpersonal and collective creative capacity, which is necessary for liberatory world-building. This devotion is expressed through traditional media such as printmaking, cut-paper, installation; design, illustration, and art direction; event production and facilitation; performance; education; and cultural organizing. I orient towards collaboration and interdependence, curiosity, deep care, queerness in all it’s forms, casual mysticism, connection to more-than-human neighbors, and beauty as a tool for accessibility.

I live in Knox in Waldo County, where I have been for two years, and my art studio is in downtown Belfast. While I have lived in Wabanaki, the Dawnland, my most of my life, this is my first time living in Penobscot Territory. I have lived in big cities (Brooklyn/Oakland/Austin) as well as small communities such as Eastport, Maine. I moved to the midcoast with the intention of being in more interconnected relationship to community and chosen family. I plan to be here for a really long time.

I love that rural community is small and interconnected and it can be challenging for those same reasons. As beautiful and fallible humans, we will all hurt or be hurt by those that we care for. I was drawn to the fellowship to do more exploration around creative practice and generative conflict, and to explore ways to feel less alone, more skilled, and more loving within relational rupture. My (always outdated) website iswww.devonkelley-yurdin.com and you can find me (infrequently) on Instagram @____dky____

Sorry, Not Sorry: An Apology Lab* was an opportunity to practice the skill (and art!) of apologizing. It was (and is!) a place to be curious, reflective, playful, and to reach for transformation and repair. We are asking – how does improving our capacity to give a genuine apology benefit our relationships and community? What support do we need to turn towards each other after conflict and rupture?

My collaborator Moriah Helms and I invited the public to co-creating the space for five consecutive Wednesdays in January and February. This lab was born from a need for collective skill-building felt and observed by us as co-creators, who are both committed to exploring creative ways to tend to complex ecosystems of relationships within small, rural community, through this Lab and beyond.

Participants were invited to join for one, some, or all of the sessions, and helped shape how the project unfolded. We are excited to continue to meet, and to develop the Apology Lab concept further. We see our gathering as an incubation space, and hope that other such projects and ideas will bloom from the seeds that get planted there.

The event was hosted at The Rockweed Center in Belfast, and we received support from Left Bank Books to fill out our growing reference library. Those who want to be kept in the loop about future events can email me at devon.kelley.yurdin@gmail.com or follow me on Instagram @____dky____

*Note from Out in the Open: We recently learned that Mia Mingus and Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective used the term "Apology Lab" in 2019 when facilitating an event focused on practicing communication skills and talking through the components of a good apology.