LEWISTON – A three-day political and social forum seeks to bring hundreds of people to the Bates Mill complex this weekend.
The Friday-through-Sunday event will include discussions of progressive issues and a film festival featuring socially topical movies made by Maine activists.
The forum will include 50 discussions, seminars and workshops on social and political topics such as conservation, free trade and racism.
“We’re trying to keep everything relating to Maine or the Northeast in some way,” said Natalie Washburn, one of the planners of the forum. “The whole idea is that another Maine is possible. We can change the world if want, but we start here.”
They are hoping for as many as 600 people from Maine and beyond to attend some part of the forum, which is free and open to the public. However, organizers are asking for donations to help defray costs.
“We have posters up as far south as New Hampshire, on up into Canada,” Washburn said.
The local forum is an informal outgrowth of the Boston Social Forum held last July. A group of Mainers who attended that event decided they needed to do the same thing here.
“It was a good way to get the discussion going,” said event planner Larry Dansinger. “We all know that problems exist and we know what they are. This is a way to look for some of the solutions.”
Dansinger said organizers picked Lewiston for the event because the empty mills offer an appropriate space.
“The Bates Mill is perfect for this,” he said. “Not only does it have wide open areas, but its status sort of mirrors the change in the Maine economy. We went from mills to something else and that change is very evident right here.”
Most of the seminars and workshops will be on the fourth floor of the mill complex, the former Creative Photographic Arts Center space. Organizers also will set up exhibits and displays on the second floor of the mill.
Organizers are accepting donations to help with set-up and are especially in need of fans, Washburn said. The Bates Mill is not well-ventilated.
Maine films
The event includes a two-day film festival, with short features and documentaries by Maine filmmakers. It kicks off at 5 p.m. Friday with “Black Fly Remedies,” an 8-minute film about how residents in Lincoln, Maine, deal with the annual black fly infestation.
“It’s a funny film,” said Craig Saddlemire, organizer of the film festival. “It sort of lightens the mood before we move on to the tougher stuff.”
Most of the other films tackle serious topics such as the effect of global free trade on Maine, egg farming in Turner and domestic abuse. All but one were made by Maine filmmakers.
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