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Banner Image above: (from left to right):
Totontepec, Southern Mexico: Linguist Margarita Melania in a video feedback session with Ana; Oaxaca, Mexico: MariaElena, video instructor, presents her own work to trainees in the TAVICO community self-documentation workshop; TAVICO trainees filming a musical performance in Oaxaca; New Brunswick, Canada: Ben and Julia documenting natural conversation in Maliseet with speakers Imelda and Raymond.

 
 

In February 2020 Speaking Place sponsored this language-forward mural, designed and created by the Blaseños, an artist and filmmaking collective based in San Blas Atempa, in the Isthmus of Oaxaca State, in Southern Mexico. The idea for the mural, with its message: “I speak Zapotec”, arose after a Speaking Place video feedback public event in the town.

The documentary Language of America by Ben Levine revived a 50-year-old cold case murder and sexual assault against Native people setting it on a path to justice.

A scene from Schizophrenia describing a radical community mental health treatment process now part of a training program used internationally.

October 2024: The Speaking Place Board of Directors celebrates recent changes in membership. Founding Members Ben Levine and William McFarlane have stepped down. The Board thanks them for their vision, dedication, and service to the organization. And two new Board members have been elected to the Board: Lynn Mitchell and Brianna Smith. Welcome! Read more about Lynn, Brianna, Ben and William in their biographies on the “Who We Are” page.

 

October 2024: In collaboration with sponsor Maine Media College in Rockport, Maine, Speaking Place Board member Brianna Smith will be Co-Instructor for Passamaquoddy Community Self-Documentation Training. Lapomosine (Let’s Look at Ourselves) is an ongoing series of video workshops with cell phones using methods originally developed by Speaking Place with Indigenous filmmakers in Oaxaca, Mexico. While the Fall 2024 Maine workshops are now fully subscribed, future training sessions will be scheduled.