Artist Alexandra Bell, holding the microphone, speaks during the “Power of Creativity” panel discussion Saturday at Indigo Arts Alliance in Portland. Ray Routhier/Staff Writer

Natalie Hill says she was drawn to Indigo Arts Alliance in Portland on Saturday by two powerful forces: grief and food.

The Welcome Table – in honor of both Juneteenth and Pride month – was a daylong event featuring panel discussions and workshops focused on the cultural and culinary traditions of social justice movements and oppressed peoples around the world. Hill said she was interested in the focus – at lunch and during a workshop – on traditional African and Black foods and food history. But she also signed up for a workshop about “grieving in marginalized communities” through movement and meditation.

“It’s been a heavy few years. Having a communal space for grieving sounds interesting and important,” said Hill, a librarian at Colby College in Waterville. She cited the pandemic, the killing of George Floyd and resulting protests, and wars around the world as some of the traumatic events in recent years. “Working in education with students and families, it’s been exhausting.”

Indigo Arts Alliance’s programs are focused on supporting Black and brown artists while advancing the cause of social justice. The event Saturday was held partly in observance of Juneteenth – the annual June 19 holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in this country – but also in honor of Pride Month and the LGBTQ+ community, said Jordia Benjamin, executive director of Indigo Arts Alliance.

“We are acknowledging communities that have felt disparity, that have faced injustices and are currently facing injustices,” Benjamin said. “So how can we bring communities together that acknowledge this, to ensure that peoples’ histories, their struggles and their cultures are being highlighted and emphasized?”

The event began in the morning with a panel discussion titled “The Power of Creativity,” which featured four artists from around the country, including three who have been or are currently artists in residence with Indigo Arts. The artists talked about their work specifically, including poetry, painting, sculpture and media deconstruction. But they also talked about strengthening our multiracial democracy, and reconciliation and justice.

One of the panel members, Alexandra Bell, of Brooklyn, New York, studied journalism at Columbia University before beginning to create art that looks at ways to deconstruct the language and imagery found in media. Bell, who was an artist in residence with Indigo Arts in 2022, said being part of the event and hearing from other artists “gives me renewed sense of mission around my own work. ” She praised Indigo Arts for its work in Portland.

“I think it’s really important when you can bring all of these different artists from different states and countries together to talk about what our missions are as artists,” Bell said. “I know it makes me think more about what contributions I can make.”

While lunchtime at the event was designated as a “break,” it also had cultural and social significance. Several Afro-Brazilian dishes were served, and a chef and food scholar gave a talk on “traditional Black and African foodways.”

After lunch, there was a panel discussion titled “Rest is an Act of Resistance,” focusing on ways to sustain and nourish places to heal, both in a community and in one’s self.

Later in the afternoon, people could break into sessions on specific topics, including movement and meditation to deal with community grief; exploring themes of body, identity and community through art; the African Diaspora melting pot in the Americas; and Afro-Latin dance.

New York-based artist Abigail DeVille created a lunar capsule, coated with gold leaf, that people could sit in and share stories. Some of the stories will be used in an audio installation as part of DeVille’s upcoming exhibition “In the Fullness of Time” at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick, which will run from June 29 to Nov. 10.

The idea of art and artists effecting society change was a theme throughout the event Saturday.

“It’s the power of creativity,” said Benjamin, adding that, through their work, artists can “reconstruct and also deconstruct our current systems that continue to marginalize and keep people isolated from one other.”