Good Works that Last #150

Deborah Walters:

The opportunity for transforming not just individual lives, not just individual families, but an entire community is very exciting.

Jane Gallagher:

As much as there is that kind of devastation, in many ways, there's also this incredible beauty and love.

Nat May:

What we're trying to do is important for a wide swath of people. It's not just artists or the family and friends of artists. It's a real community interest that we have.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 150 good works that last airing for the first time on Sunday, July 27, 2014. What does it take to keep a good thing going? Nonprofit organizations founded with specific needs in mind need to move and shift in order to evolve successfully. Join our conversations with Deborah Walters and Jane Gallagher of Safe Passage and Space Gallery Executive Director Nat May and learn what their organizations have been doing in order to offer lasting benefits to the community. Thank you for joining us. Listeners of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour know that I am a huge supporter and fan of Safe Passage, which was created by my Bowdoin College classmate Hanley Denning. Today we have with us two individuals who have been long term supporters of Safe Passage to an even greater degree than I have been myself. So I'm pleased to have with me Dr. Deb Walters and Jane Gallagher. Dr. Deb Walters is on the Board of Directors at Safe Passage. This summer, Deb will be kayaking from Maine to Guatemala to tell the story of the children and families living in the Guatemala City garbage dump. Along the way, she hopes to raise money to build a school in Guatemala. Jane Gallagher is a Program Manager with Deedl Partners, a philanthropic advisory firm. Jane has spent many years volunteering and working for Safe Passage. Her family sponsors two Guatemalan students and she has been part of five support team trips to volunteer in Guatemala. She's the co chair of The Casca Bay Friends of Safe Passage, thanks so much for being here today.

Deborah Walters:

Oh, it's a real pleasure to be here, Dr. Lisa, and to have a conversation with you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, for people who aren't listening, and I'm assuming everybody will want to go back and listen to all the past shows where we've talked about Safe Passage. And they'll also want to buy a copy of Our Daily Tread so they can support Safe Passage. But for those who don't yet know about this wonderful organization, tell us what it is that Safe Passage does.

Jane Gallagher:

Well, Safe Passage was founded in 1999 by Hanley Denning, a young woman from Yarmouth, Maine, who went to Greeley High School and Bowdoin College with Lisa. And the mission is to help children and families who live and work at the Guatemala City garbage dump. The primary goal is to get kids into public schools. Public schools in Guatemala are half day, so Safe Passage enrolls the students in school, helps with uniforms, school supplies, books and entrance fees. And then for the other half the day, they come to the Safe Passage center where they get help with homework, a hot meal. There are social workers that work with every family. And there is an abundance of other extracurricular type activities that students can get involved with, from art and music, drama, break dancing, all kinds of other activities, sports, many of which I've helped with when I was in Guatemala volunteering.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you've been on the board of directors, Deb, is that right?

Deborah Walters:

Yes, I have for the past eight years. I was most recently board chair and now am really looking forward to continuing not being board chair.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, you're continuing not being board chair, but you're taking on this other enormous journey which we were very impressed by when we heard about it. So tell us about that.

Deborah Walters:

Okay, so when I tell people that I'm kayaking from Maine to Guatemala, most people's responses is, you must be completely nuts. And so I like to try and explain why I actually think this is a really good idea. And it really, when I was working as a cognitive scientist and university vice president, I really didn't have enough time to give back. So I decided to retire early, to live very simply, not to spend very much money on myself. And then that gives me the time and resources to reach out, to help others, to follow my passions. One of my passions is safe passage. And that started about nine years ago when I went to Guatemala with a group of Rotarians and I visited the Guatemala City garbage dump and I smelt the methane gas and the rotten garbage and I felt the Choking dust blowing around my face. And I saw the vultures circling overhead. And I had an opportunity to talk with the parents who support their families by scavenging in the garbage dump for food, for clothing, and for items that they can recycle. And in doing that, I was talking with the mothers and. And they were saying, well, it would just be so great if our children would be able to just go to school to learn to read and to have a different future. And that simple dream just broke my heart. And so I felt like I had to do something. And so I started volunteering with Safe Passage. And I've just been so impressed with the many successes there. So, for example, I met a grandmother who makes her living scavenging in the dump. And at the age of 73, she decided that she wanted to learn to read so that she could help her grandchildren with their homework. So she went to Safe Passage for just a couple of hours a week, learned to read. She recently wrote the story of her life using a computer. And so she is one of those people that inspires me that you're never too old to do something extraordinary to help others. So I decided to combine two of my passions, the passions for the children at Safe Passage, with my slightly unusual passion for long distance kayaking and then kayak. From my home in Maine to their home in Guatemala.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Not all of it will be actually spent on the water.

Deborah Walters:

Well, yes, because in a kayak, while I have slept in the kayak before, it's not very comfortable. So I'll be coming ashore every night and then at many places every week at least, I'll be stopping and talking to groups, sharing the story of the Safe Passage children and helping to raise funds to add additional grades to the school. And then in the larger metropolitan areas, we actually have larger events planned and opportunities for people to come out on the water and join me, paddling in short stretches, etc. So I'm really looking forward to it. But it is going to take. I'm leaving in mid July, but it's going to take about a year for me to get down to Guatemala and

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

it's not going to be all through safe waters.

Deborah Walters:

This is true, yes. So I've got over 30 years of experience with kayaking and paddling, both leading expeditions, and then going on a number of solo expeditions myself in the Canadian Arctic, along parts of the Northwest Passage, down the coast of several countries. But this expedition is actually going to have more exposed water than other expeditions that I've done. So yes, it's definitely going to be a challenge.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Deb, you're doing this as an individual. You're doing this as a solo trip. That doesn't concern you in any way.

Deborah Walters:

A lot of people ask me that. I mean, because, you know, all the kayak guides say never kayak alone. But while I enjoy kayaking with a group, I also enjoy kayaking alone. And one of the reasons is because if you kayak alone, you're taking along less of your own cultural baggage. So especially like when I'm up in the, in the Arctic, by traveling alone, it's easier for me to meet the local Inuit, to have interesting interactions. So, for example, you know, one woman invited me to join in. Her son had killed his first seal. And so they had this ceremonial skinning of the seal. And then as the outsider and the honored guest, they offered me, you know, what they considered to be the best part of the seal, which is the partially digested contents of the intestine. And, you know, you can't say no, but that's one of the reasons I enjoy traveling alone. Another reason is when you're traveling alone, you can get more connected with the land, with the sea, and it's almost the kind of sort of mental, spiritual exercise. And another reason is you get closer to the wildlife or as my husband says, gives the bears an opportunity to get closer to you. But it's also kayaking with other individuals can be a liability as well. And so for me, I feel like I can do this more safely doing it by myself. But of course, I have a whole support team of people that are helping to organize this, helping us to get corporate sponsors. People have volunteered all along the coast to host me. So I won't always be camping. Occasionally I'll take. Take the opportunity to sleep in a bed. And people are also signing up their youth groups to participate in our art workshop. And this is exciting because the students at Safe Passage will be participating as well. And it's helping the students to think about some experience in their life where perseverance has been a real value. And they. And then creating a piece of art around that. And then at the end of the expedition, we'll have a traveling art exhibit with art from the students in Guatemala and the students all along the coast.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

In addition to worrying about your familiarity with bears, what else does your husband think about all this?

Deborah Walters:

Well, actually, my husband shares a similar passion for going out and doing physical things. So during my six week paddle across parts of the Northwest Passage, he was actually riding his bicycle across the U.S. and so we tell people we like to take vacations together. Well, meaning at the same time, but not necessarily together. And fortunately, he doesn't worry about me. He says he worries about me most at the end of the trip when I say, okay, I'm finished now I'm going to drive home or fly home. So I'm lucky and my children are the same way.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Jane, I know that when you and I worked together on our daily tread, we continued on with this theme that was so important to Hanley, which is that everybody should do what they can. And Deb is able to do this kayaking trip as a result of where she is in her life. And you have been able to host children, sponsor children for 11 years and also be part of five support teams as a result of where you are in your life. You have. Your youngest child is now in high school, is that right?

Jane Gallagher:

Yes, he is junior. Well, he's taking a gap year, but he's technically a junior in high school.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And then your other children are out of high school, so. But you've been able to do what you could for safe passage while you were the mother of young children and then slightly older children, and now children are even getting older, but you did what you could.

Jane Gallagher:

Yes. It's interesting when I think back on it, that and the lessons that I take from this experience come from that sort of looking back and reflecting. There were days when the kids were little where I would see them off to the school bus in the morning, run upstairs to my computer, start emailing with Hanley and others, making phone calls, working on the computer, and all of a sudden I'd hear the. The bus come back at 3 o' clock in the afternoon and I was still in my pajamas, still in that chair, hadn't really budged all day. And if I had thought about it at the time and thought about what was a rational thing to be doing with my time, it probably would have involved some type of paid employment or some kind of other balance in my life. But when you hear a story like Hanley's and have the opportunity to connect with, with the people in the program through sponsorship or trips to Guatemala, it sort of shifts that thinking a little bit and takes it out of the rational mode into the heart mode. And so for me, it's been an incredible opportunity to grow and to learn about myself and to get to know incredibly wonderful people like Deb and so many others like you, Lisa, who have come into my life because of safe passage. I think when you start off and you talk about someone doing something crazy, like what Deb's doing. It might seem crazy to most people, but not to those of us who actually know Deb. It's kind of okay. Okay. This is what she's doing now. So it's been an incredible journey.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You've had a chance to actually see a result. You had a child that you sponsor graduate.

Deborah Walters:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And make it all the way up through the system.

Jane Gallagher:

An incredible story of an incredible young man. Anderson and all of the kids we sponsor are incredible for different reasons, but have overcome incredible obstacles in their lives to stay in school and learn the skills that they need to move to a better, more dignified life than what they were brought into when they were born. But Anderson, we started sponsoring him when he was about 8 years old. He's 19 now. He has done everything that was asked of him. He has been an incredibly diligent student. He's very bright, he's driven, he wants to be a doctor. And I'm positive he'll get there. But he graduated from high school, received a scholarship to go to a private high school in Guatemala City, graduated, and is now working at a company where he had to be bilingual. So after graduating from high school, he had to really push himself to get the English. And he went back to the Safe Passage Center. Long term volunteers there worked with him. And when I was there in November, just everyone who found out I was Anderson's padrina had incredible stories to tell about this hard work he did to learn the English well enough so that he could get this job. And he's now working in customer service at this company, answering phone calls in English. And he will probably do that for a couple of years. But he wants to go to medical school, and I believe he'll do it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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Nat May:

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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Nat May:

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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Nat May:

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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Nat May:

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Nat May:

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

i don't think that we can emphasize enough the distance there is between living in a home that doesn't necessarily have running water or electricity or really any of the comforts, you know, having. When I visited Guatemala, it is a city, it is a community, but it is very temporary feeling. You know, the corrugated roofs and, you know, the things that people brought together to make their homes. There's a big difference between growing up there and trying to go to school while you're living there and getting to a place where you're answering phones in a different language and going on to medical school eventually.

Jane Gallagher:

It's huge. And one thing that Safe Passage did that just, I just levitated off the ground when I heard about this, was to establish Proximo Paso, which is the program that's sort of like guidance counselors for the students who are coming up in the program and on the verge of graduating from high school and working with them, providing clothing for interviews, you know, some simple, practical things like that, but also talking with them and working with them on all the cultural differences that they're going to find when they have to take buses to different neighborhoods and communities and integrate into a workforce that's very different from the community where they grew up. And it is heartbreaking to think about Anderson and some other students going back into the barrio and having to live with homes that don't even have a floor, that when it rains, the water comes, you know, in gullies of water just comes flying under the corrugated metal sides of their homes and onto the floors, and their mattresses are on the floor. And it's pretty devastating to think about that. One image I'll never forget is after we took Anderson out, we were visiting Guatemala and we had our sponsorship visit with him, and we had taken him out for ice cream and into a bookshop and picked up a few books for him. And I watched him sort of clutching his bag, walking back into the barrio and just worrying, did we do the right thing? Should he be carrying those books? Does that make him a target walking back to his home? You know, so conflicted, but, you know, like, my heart went with him as he was going back to his home.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That's an interesting point you raised, because it's not simply that there is poverty and the fact that this is a dump that is acres and acres long, but there's also violence. I mean, it's not a safe place to live in. I mean, when I was in Guatemala City, I think I took my iPhone out to take a picture and somebody immediately said, no, don't do that. And while I was there, and this is not, I don't think that this is anything that shouldn't be said, there were Safe passage workers who had been robbed and robbed not that far away from where these children get their education and where they live. I mean, this is not. This is not an easy place to be.

Jane Gallagher:

No, I think that there's a couple of things to say about that. First and foremost is that Safe Passage is extremely careful about where volunteers, long term and service team, support teams can go. So there is a very serious effort to keep everybody in the program safe. That being said, the kids go home at the end of the day and they live in that reality. The other response I have to that is that as much as there is that kind of devastation in many ways, there's also this incredible beauty and love and generosity and kindness of spirit that exists in that community. And I remember standing outside of the Safe Passage center in, I don't know, June or July 2007, the year Hanley had died. And I stood outside and I kind of froze before I could go into the building. And just tears, just. I was like a water faucet, just crying, standing outside the building. And about three or four moms who were dropping their kids just surrounded me, handed me tissues and like hugged me and soothed, you know, brushed my hair and were just, what's wrong? You know, what can we do for you? So here I am coming down there to try and help. And I stood there and had all these lovely women who have nothing coming to offer me help. It was incredible.

Deborah Walters:

And I think one of the things about the community there is Proxima Paso also looks at the students after they graduate. And some people might have the idea that, you know, once you have an education, once you have a wonderful job like your sponsor child, then you can move out of the community and move somewhere else. All of our students, all of our graduates have stayed in the community. And so what's Happening is an opportunity to transform the community. Because as you say, there's so much, there's so much that's positive there. And one of the things that I keep being struck by in Guatemala, there is no safety net that's organized by the government. So the parents that are working in the garbage dump are entrepreneurs and they have figured out business models that work. So instead of collecting plastic and selling it at the gate to the person who's willing to give them a small price for it, they take it home, they wash it, they sort it, they form a cooperative. They will not sell when the price is low. They wait until the price is high and then sell it. So all of the skills, all of the creativity, all of the business sets that people have, it's being unleashed now. And so there are more small businesses being started. The community really has the opportunity to transform now. There's always the danger in all areas of Guatemala from problems with gangs, with drugs, et cetera. But one of the things that I've always felt in visiting the community is how everyone, whether or not they're involved with Safe Passage or not, sees the Safe Passage emblem on my shirt and they look out for you and they will pull you back or they will tell you not to take your camera out of your purse. But just the opportunity for transforming not just individual lives, not just individual families, but an entire community is very exciting.

Jane Gallagher:

I'd also like to tag onto that at Safe Passage. There's now a social entrepreneurship program and that was born of the adult literacy program, which was started by some long term volunteers several years ago. And at first it was all moms coming through the program. And it's still primarily mothers, but there are some dads in the program now. But as some of the first wave of women were coming through and getting their six grade degrees, they started writing stories about their dreams. And one of the dreams was to have a small business. So they long term volunteers help them get started with some microcredit. And one of the first things that was launched was this jewelry business called Creamos, which means we create, we believe. And so Deb and I are both wearing examples of the jewelry. But there are moms, quite a few moms now who don't have to go back into the garbage dump anymore to scavenge through the trash, but who make a better living by selling, making and selling this jewelry. And I can say my second trip to Guatemala happened to meet a bunch of the parents. When we were there for their monthly meeting where the families come to meet the social Workers and get hear announcements and things like that. And my impression of the mothers was that they were completely shut down. Not a lot of energy, very low self esteem, wouldn't look us in the eye. Just a very, very withdrawn group of women. And if you fast forward 5 years to my trip in 2011, I was invited to go to the Monday morning meeting for the Creamos cooperative. And this 24 women blew into the room like energy, fresh air, laughing, talking, smiling, looking me in the eye, full of good energy. And I got goosebumps standing there just because Hanley wasn't there. And I kept thinking she could only see this. But it really reinforced to me my gut feeling from the beginning, which was, you know, it's wonderful that we're educating these kids and it is transforming lives. But when you trust transform the mothers, you're going to transform this whole community. And I can't even describe how different it was in such a short period of time. But to give women these tools to learn to read and write, some of them who didn't recognize their own child's name in writing before they went through the adult literacy program, to see how that has transformed so many women, grandmothers, mothers and others, it's an incredible thing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I think what I come back to as you're talking is that, you know, there is no denying that this is dangerous and smelly and challenging. But I think in the face of all of this, there is this great beauty. So, you know, it is both, it's a both and, and situation. And in fact, in some ways you're able to see this great beauty, whether it's emotional beauty or physical beauty, you know, the artwork that's created by the students because it's so starkly contrasted. And when my son was there for a year after high school and before college, you know, when he went down and he was 17 years old, he turned 18 as he was starting the year. I think this is something that really, really struck him that the contrast was the, was what made it possible to grow really in a very strong and significant way. So I appreciate that both of you are spending time in your lives making this possible for the children and the families of safe passage to do this

Jane Gallagher:

for me, I could calculate in hours and dollars, probably what I've given, and I suspect you could too, Deb. But what you get back can't be calculated. It's not something you can translate into hours or dollars. It's in the spiritual, whatever that increment of growth is, it's a growth in faith. It's a growth in spirit, and it's incalculable.

Deborah Walters:

And for me, I just get so inspired by talking with the women, what they've been through, what they're going through. And this last time I went down and I could have told exactly the same story that Jane told about seeing the difference in the women. It's just marvelous to see now these confident women. But I asked one of them who actually started working in the dump when she was 8, and now she has a child who wants to be an accountant and another child who wants to be a vet. And they're going to do it. They're going to achieve that. And I asked her what her dreams were when she was a child working, and she said, you know, I really didn't have any dreams. I wasn't really living. I was just surviving. And so now she's so pleased that her children have these dreams. So I was telling her about this kayaking expedition from Maine to Guatemala. So I asked her what could be a tough question to ask people. I said, okay, Myrna, what's the message that you want me to give to people from you as I kayak from Maine to Guatemala? And she just looked thoughtful for a minute. And then she said, well, there's been a quote that's been very meaningful in my life. And I can't remember exactly who said it, but it goes like, if you believe you can do it, you can do it. And I was just so inspired. So here I'm getting my inspiration from Myrna and she's saying, and spread that inspiration all along the coast so that if I believe I can kayak from Maine to Kualamala, I can do it. But tell other people all along the coast, if they believe they can do something, they can do it. I get blown away. You're right. We get so much more out of it, I think, than what we give.

Jane Gallagher:

Such an important lesson there, though, that lesson about belief. I've had so many people say to me over the years, it's so good that you go there. I could never do that. And I look at them and say, no, that's my line. I'm a born worrier. I like my backyard. But the truth is, if you believe you can do it, you can do it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How do people find out about the kayaking journey that you'll be taking, Deb?

Deborah Walters:

Well, we have social media, and you can find links to the social media on our website, which you can find from the Safe Passage website or www.kayakforsafepassagekids.org

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

and if people would like to sponsor a child.

Jane Gallagher:

Jane same place safepassage.org There's a link for sponsorship. And if anybody wants to talk about the immense benefits of sponsoring a child, I'd be happy to chat with them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We've been speaking with Dr. Deb Walters and Jane Gallagher, both of whom have spent time working with Safe Passage for many years and the children of Safe Passage and continue to do great work. So thank you so much for continuing the legacy of Hanley Denning and for coming on the radio show.

Jane Gallagher:

Thank you.

Deborah Walters:

Yeah, it's great to have a chance to talk with you. Dr. Lisa

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As a physician and small business owner, I rely on Marcy Booth from Booth, Maine to help me with my own business and to help me live my own life fully. Here are a few thoughts from Marcy when was the last time you took a break from what you were doing? From the work that was piled up on your desk and just looked up?

Jane Gallagher:

I know that during the course of

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

my days I often forget to take a moment or two to just breathe,

Jane Gallagher:

look up at the sky and dream. Terrible that I have to remind myself to breathe.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

But when I do, I feel energized because in those moments I'm able to

Jane Gallagher:

let go of the daily grind and

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

think more about what I want to accomplish, how I want my business to grow. Sometimes those are the aha moments.

Jane Gallagher:

If we all took a few moments out each day to stop what we were doing and dream a little about

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

our business futures, not only would we

Jane Gallagher:

feel a great sense of calm, but we may come to realize that these dreams can in fact, come true.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I'm Marcie Booth. Let's talk about the changes you need. Boothmaine.com

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour has been a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase nonprofits in Maine and specifically in the Portland area. One of my favorite things to do is to talk with people who have had some long term impact on their community because their nonprofit has been in place for a while. One such individual is Nat May. He is the Executive Director of Space Gallery in Portland, which is a non profit contemporary arts venue. Nat was one of the founders of the Bakery Photo Collective and has served on the boards of the Portland Arts and Cultural Alliance, Portland's downtown district and Creative Portland. He is a founding board member of the Hune Oaks Artists Colony. Thanks so much for being here today.

Nat May:

Thanks for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Nat, you founded space gallery in 2002. So you're coming up on your 12 year anniversary as a nonprofit. That's a big deal.

Nat May:

It is. And actually I'm not a founder. I started helping out about six months after Space opened and the friends who founded the gallery knew about my work with the Photo Collective and asked if they if I could help them out a little bit. But yes, I've been there. I've been the executive director there for 10 years and it's lasted much longer maybe than we thought it might.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, tell me about the Space Gallery for people who haven't had a chance to visit here in Portland.

Nat May:

The idea with Space is to have a bunch of different kinds of art culture and ideas happening in the same physical space. So we have visual art exhibitions, we have two rooms, and within the context of those exhibitions we have live music, performance, artist talks, literary readings, film screenings, community events, etc, etc, lots of things that you can't categorize. And the purpose of combining those things is sometimes topical. We'll try to have a film that addresses a topic that might be brought up in the exhibition, for example, but it's also a way of leading people towards something else that they weren't looking for. So, for example, a lot of our filmgoers come because they're interested in film, but we've sort of tricked them into coming into a gallery setting and they have to look at the work that's on the walls while they're waiting for the film to start. And I think over the last 12 years we've helped people feel more comfortable looking at something that they weren't looking for originally.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I had the opportunity to watch Gibson Faye LeBlanc give a reading. He's a poet, he's been on our show a couple of times and it was very interesting to be within that kind of social setting because there were all sorts of different people. It wasn't just poets or writers or artists or photographers. There was just a really broad range of individuals who were coming together to experience something that they may or may not have had a chance to experience otherwise.

Nat May:

Yeah, it's true. We have a varied audience and it's a good blend of kinds of people and ages. And I think the fact that the space is an intimate space, if we have a reading, for example, we've got the chairs out and we've only got 130, 140 people in the room. And so you have close proximity to the person who's on stage and close proximity to the people sitting with you. And you never know if it's going to be a high school student or a retiree or someone in the middle. And we provide these shared experiences where people are laughing together or having a strong feeling about something the reader is talking about together. And it really creates a pretty magical experience.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I can definitely relate to that. I'm not sure what event it was, but I believe it was either the principal or the superintendent in the Portland school system describing his own background as being basically a high school dropout and coming from that place all the way over to his current position in education. And you could just feel the energy in the room and how it really opened up people's minds to the possibility that life isn't necessarily a straight path.

Nat May:

It's true. I remember that event. And it was. That story had a lot of tension to it, but also some relief, I think, when he got to the end and talked about where he was and everybody in the room was on the edge of their seat listening intently to what he was saying and really, like, close with him, I think, through his. Through his trust journey. And it's a really great thing to be able to share that with somebody who's opening themselves up.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That does speak to something that I think many people don't always associate with art, and that is discomfort. That sometimes we like to believe that art is always going to make us feel inspired or feel awe, or there's the beauty of a Monet or a Picasso and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. But sometimes it makes us feel strange or off.

Nat May:

That's true. Or it makes us confused, even. And I was talking with a friend last week who doesn't know much about our work and asked me if I considered us to be at space to be in the entertainment business. I bristled at the word entertainment a little bit. And she was teasing me and asking me why. And it's because I think, of course, we have lots of arts and culture that is entertaining. You know, you go to the movies, you want to be entertained. And we're looking for something that is sometimes entertaining, but sometimes challenging the ideas that we came in with or making us think a little bit differently about a social issue, perhaps teaching us about something we didn't know much about. And we really want the content of our programming to give the audience their own experience without us framing things too much for people. You know, if somebody comes in and they see Something in the gallery, and they ask me, what is this? Or what am I supposed to be looking at?

Deborah Walters:

At.

Nat May:

I always like to ask them to look at it first and then tell me what they think they're looking at before I'm trying to give them some secret answer. And actually, the secret is I have my own experience. You have your own experience, but they're both valid.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Is that something that is hard for people to understand? I think about something like opera, which I don't know very much about, and there's. There are all these layers of critique about opera, and there's all this knowledge about opera, or just really pick any artistic idea. That if you're somebody who's just to say you're a doctor who's never had a photography or an opera course, that it would be hard to go in and understand it because there's something magical or special about that that all the other opera and photography critics understand. But you do you feel like that's something that happens?

Nat May:

Yeah. I think we're, as a culture, we're oversensitive to our own understanding about things, and that gets in the way of our experience at times. And I think we are capable of critical thinking and perception. And if we allow ourselves the time to look and to experience, then we can draw our own conclusions about what we're looking at or identify our own feelings about what we're looking at. And then our feelings are our own and they're valid. I remember we had an exhibit at one point that had some sound art, and there was a video piece that had this kind of screechy sound component that we all were a little bit annoyed by, especially working in the office and hearing it day after day after day. But none of us wanted to admit that it was slightly on the annoying end of the spectrum. And we had this class from Southern Maine Community College come in. It was like an Intro to Visual Arts class. And they came in to look at the show, and one of the students said, oh, my God, that is terrible. That is so annoying. And I just really appreciated her naming what we all kind of felt, but didn't feel like it was appropriate to say. You know, and of course, we want people to have more positive experiences, too. But her read on what was happening with that, there was more to it. But her read was just as valid as someone who has a long history, art history background or who understands the context that that piece was made in, that kind of thing.

Jane Gallagher:

Well, I think you're right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I mean, I think that maybe there is something to the kind of different levels of understanding or different understanding things from different perspectives. It doesn't make the things any less valid if they're from one person's perspective versus another. It's just, you just know things differently because of your own paradigm.

Nat May:

Right, right. And we. We really try to create a variety of experiences and a variety of content that we're sharing with people at the gallery. And one thing people don't always understand about space is that everything's fairly highly curated. Like, we put a lot of thought into what we're presenting to people. We're not just sitting there in the office waiting for somebody to show up with their thing to share. Like, we're out in the world looking for what we think is good and what we think is worth putting time and energy towards. So when people want to know what we're doing or what they might like. I always feel pretty confident handing someone a calendar of what's going on for the month, for example, and saying, I don't know what you're into or what your interests are, but I'm fairly confident that of the 20 events we're doing this month, something here will interest you. You might not like it, or it might not be your favorite thing in the world, but you won't leave regretting that you came. And if people give us a chance and get to know what we're trying to do in terms of the things that we're presenting, I think that's when they start to trust our judgment. And people have looked to us for what kind of films they should be watching. Even if they're not coming to the gallery, if they're later, they're looking for something to watch on video. They'll look back at our schedule and see what did space pick. Or if someone wants to go to the record store and buy a new record, they'll look back at our calendar and say, who are the new bands that were playing at Space in the last few weeks, months? And that's a level of curation that extends through and helps people, you know, figure out what they're. What they might like.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We've spent time on this show talking with the founders of the Camden International Film Festival and various other members of I'll call it that generation. But it's interesting to watch the maturity that occurs over time when you actually are with a project that you feel really passionate about but that needs to move and shift. Have you experienced that yourself over the 10 years you've worked there?

Nat May:

Yeah, definitely. And when you're starting out, you have some clear visions in your mind about what you want it to be, but it's maybe hard to verbalize and you haven't seen it in action enough to be able to explain it to people. And you haven't done it enough for people to have confidence in you. And as you do more and you have more things to point to, more people see the success and want to get involved and the more confidence you have doing your thing and the easier it is to ask people for help. So when we were, when we were starting with space, I remember the first grants I was writing, even to the Maine Arts Commission. Their grant form required that you check a box naming one discipline that you worked in. You know, was it dance, was it film, was it theater, was it music, was it visual arts? And I would always write at the bottom of this list, I would draw a little box and I would write multidisciplinary and, and I would check the box and I would write a little note saying, you have to change your form because we're working in a different paradigm. And eventually they recognized that that was a valid way of working. But it was hard in the beginning to explain what we're doing. And even today, people come in and they say, I don't get it. Are you an art gallery or are you a film venue or are you a music venue? Because we're not used to that blend. And if you experience how that works together a few times, it becomes obvious that it's a workable system. So it took us a few years, I think, to try to get people to understand what we were doing. And that took us. The effect of that was that people started validating our efforts by giving us good feedback and supporting us with donations. And we started getting more grants. And we've learned, I think, how to ask for the help that we need. Because we are a nonprofit, we do require significant sources of non earned income, you know, grants and donations to be able to do what we're doing. And it's. It's never easy to ask for that help, but it becomes maybe less hard than it was back in the beginning.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You've continued to expand the work that you're doing beyond the state of Maine. You've started now reaching out and working with individuals and groups across the country that are trying to do something similar to what you're doing.

Nat May:

Yeah, we were really lucky in 2006 to be invited into a program run by the Andy Warhol foundation for the Visual Arts. And they were giving grants purely for capacity building for visual arts organizations. And capacity building, meaning support for infrastructure, for physical improvements, for technology, for consulting, not program dollars, not staffing dollars. And we ended up getting about $150,000 from them over the course of a few years towards those things. And I always explained it as money that if you were running a business, you would have found that money at the beginning, before you opened your doors so that you could open the correct way. But we just opened without any resources and then eventually had to kind of catch up. And as a member of this group in the initiative, we made connections with our peer organizations all around the country with art spaces in San Francisco and New York and Chicago, but also in York, Alabama and Tulsa, Oklahoma, and, and places that you don't think of as art centers. And through that I've been able to develop a connection to my peers who are running these spaces. And we've decided we really need a more formal way of communicating with each other. So we're trying to start a national network of artist centered spaces and projects. That, that is a real connection point. We'll have some conferences, different kinds of gatherings. We'd like to work together to commission research about the kind of work that we do and maybe put out some white papers that explain the value of the level of arts engagement we're working with. Everyone understands why museums are important, but not everybody understands why the artist centered alternative spaces are important. And we want to band together maybe to talk about what we're doing and have some of the larger national funders pay attention to what we're doing. We've actually already gotten some funding interest for it, even though we're just at the very beginning stages of what we're trying to do. But it's really been helpful for me to make these connections with these other people because because there isn't another space quite like us in Maine. So it's been hard to have the right reference points along the way to know if we're doing things well. And even still within this national group, no one's quite got the blend that we have. No one else is doing 200 events a year and 20 exhibitions with the size staff that we have or the size space that we have.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I'm impressed with what you've managed to achieve, and I'm excited to see what Space Gallery is going to continue to achieve over time. Nat how do we find out about the Space Gallery for people who would like to learn more about donating money or watching a show or getting involved in some way?

Nat May:

Sure. The easiest thing to do is to go to our website, which is space538.org and there you can look at our calendar of events and see what our exhibitions are. You can make a donation online, you can sign up for our mailing list, you can learn about volunteering, and if you want to just pop by. We're at 538 Congress street right between the Maine College of Art and Rennies and we love having people pop in and ask us what's going on.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We've been speaking with Nat May, who is the Executive Director of the Space Gallery in Portland and also one of Maine magazine's 50 people in the July issue. Thanks so much for the work that you've been doing and for bringing arts to this part of Maine and the world. Keep up the good work.

Nat May:

Thanks so much for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have been listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 150 good works that last. Our guests have included Deborah Walters, Gene Gallagher and Nat May. For more information on our guests and extended interviews, visit drlisabelisle.com read about Nat May on the July Maine Magazine's 50 People List. The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is downloadable for free on itunes. For a preview of each week show, sign up for our e Newsletter and like our Dr. Lisa Facebook page. Get Twitter updates by following me as Dr. Lisa and see my daily running photos as bountiful1 on Instagram. We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. We are privileged that they enable us to bring the doct Dr. Lisa Radio Hour to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. I hope that you have enjoyed our good works that last show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.

Nat May:

Sa.