Performing arts & civic dialogue
Open Waters is a performance collaborative that aims to create opportunities for effective communication and cultural exchange through the production of theatrical events. Emphasizing participatory research and interdisciplinary approaches, Open Waters projects are grounded in arts-based civic dialogue and take place in diverse communities across the state of Maine.
Both an independent practice and a collaborative entity, Open Waters is administered by artist Jennie Hahn. It functions as a vessel to hold a collection of creative collaborations, both continuous and finite, between and among artists, community organizations, civic leaders, and individuals.
in kinship collective
In Kinship Collective is Lilah Akins, Devon Kelley-Yurdin, Emilia Dahlin, Cory Tamler, Jennie Hahn, Darren Ranco, Tyler Rai. The collective emerged from the In Kinship Fellowship (2019-2021), a research and creation process that followed the tradition of Wabanaki Guiding. Connecting Native and non-Native people to place through experience, language, and story, In Kinship Fellowship activities were led by Penobscot Nation partners, our group learning situated to center Indigenous knowledge and experience. Fellowship members are now collaborating to create new interdisciplinary works in conversation and relationship with Wabanaki guides and watersheds.
*Banner image: In Kinship Fellowship Performance Gathering, September 11, 2021, pαnawάhpskewtəkʷ. Photo by Robyn Nicole Film and Photo.
“IN KINSHIP is not designed to address a single facet of environmental harm or manifestation of climate change for this river. Rather, it is an arts-based effort to help increase the resiliency of the system and everyone who is a part of it, to tell its many stories, to invest in recovery, and to shift the consciousness of its communities toward justness.”