How we gather is how we citizen

We head to Eliot, Maine, where a multiracial, multidisciplinary group of artists have reimagined what a conference can be. At SeaCHANGE, creativity isn’t an afterthought—it’s the starting point. The gathering opens with movement and dance. It invites deep connection through shared meals, collaborative workshops, and artistic expression. And it creates space for belonging, especially for artists of color.

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🎙️ This story series is a collaborative effort by Shira Abramowitz, Jon Alexander, Elizabeth Stewart, and Baratunde Thurston. Video produced by Tess Novotnoy.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Was up April twentieth, story seven of our Week of Citizening.
This time we going to New England to the Great
State of Maine. The Maniacs. This is this is a
story about gathering. UH. If you if you wanna really
get deep into to gathering, UH, check out our episode

(00:24):
with Pria Parker and and talking about uh how we
citizen through our gatherings, whether it's uh a church meet up,
a house party, or or a conference. And and today's
stories about the conference experience and trying to use that
experience to gather people well to get the most out

(00:46):
of it. And we're living through some real harsh times
and a lot of unnecessary hardship is falling on folks.
And UH, we're also very isolated from each other, for
we have a crisis of loneliness. And so whenever we
we actually get together, it becomes even more important because
it's increasingly rare. It's important that we do it with

(01:06):
intention and with purpose and with consideration and respect. And
I like this story out of Maine, the Sea Change Conference,
because it is a truly embodied experience, because they weave
the arts in and dance and movement, cause there's a
lot of joy and it's this multi racial, multi everything

(01:28):
and like a little town in Maine, So it's defying
a lot of expectations of what Maine is, of what
small towns are, and of what a conference can be,
and how we can turn these moments of gathering into
something deeply meaningful healing recharging and who among us doesn't
need a recharge right now? Just not a Tesla superstation

(01:53):
charge because we're not doing that anymore. All right, stories
how to sitizen dot com. That is where we encourage
you to sign up for the mailing list to give
us some feedback and raise your hand if you have
more stories to share. We are approaching the end of
this sprint to test this out, and UH, and we

(02:16):
wanna hear how this was for you. Uh. It's been
great for us, little little tiring to like do this
daily thing. But it's a good commitment to uh to
test out. We will need to be testing lots of
commitments together in the coming months and years and and
probably decades, uh, in the United States and around the world,

(02:37):
cause we're all going through some big transitions right now. Okay,
have a great day. We're dropping this on Sunday, but
you're listening to it right now in a world being
ripped apart, how do you make bringing people together truly count?
This little known multi racial conference in small town Maine

(02:57):
figured something out.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Why can't we start a conference with movement and dance?
We could be doing so much more with the amount
of time and energeering people put into gathering conferences that
just barely get the plane flying of human interaction right?
What happens if we design for human interaction and creativity
and art. I think that's a lot of what Sea

(03:19):
Change is about.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
My name is Naudie Brown. I'm a playwright. I'm also
a photographer, I direct, I choreograph, and I created along
with Robert Sapiro and Beftannor, the Sea Change Conference that's
located in Elliot, Maine. Our focus was really how to
use the arts to heal.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
In the way we do it. There's so many different
workshops and small groups and big groups and extended casual
meals and so that members attending the conference are talking
in meaningful ways, dancing together, doing creative work side by side.
You know, when you watch other people who are confident
in their creativity or other people trying things, it just

(04:02):
creates an environment of true warmth, safety, and belonging.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
I honestly feel like the impact for a lot of people,
especially artists of color, is connecting them to other people
who are just like the in terms of spirit