10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. | Free Admission for All
Join us for Indigenous Peoples’ Day at the Portland Museum of Art with free admission all day. Explore the galleries, join special tours, take part in hands-on artmaking, and experience programs and films highlighting Indigenous art and artists.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day honors the heritage and ongoing contributions of Native peoples and the histories of their many nations and communities. The PMA is pleased to partner with Spinning Wampum, who aims to create arts events that center Wabanaki experiences, stories, and perspectives to engage communities around the state with the Treaty of Casco Bay, and its place in the continuing story of the Dawnland. www.spinningwampum.org
Sarah Sense (Chitimacha/Choctaw, born 1980), Hinushi 9, 2023, woven archival inkjet prints on Hahnemühle bamboo paper and Hahnemühle rice paper, beeswax, and tape, 79 1/2 × 40 inches. Portland Museum of Art, Maine. Museum purchase with support from Friends of the Collection, 2025.1.
Make your own nature scene with Spinning Wampum | 10:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.| Free
Join art collective Spinning Wampum for a hands-on artmaking experience that invites visitors of all ages to reflect on the interconnectedness of nature and its creatures. Use various colors of felt to cut and layer to create your own symbolic landscape to take home. Come connect, reflect, and create!
Spotlight Talks on Wabanaki Art and Artists | 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. | Free
Drop in for gallery talks highlighting and celebrating Wabanaki art and artists. Explore works in the collection and their ongoing cultural significance.
Meet in the Great Hall. No registration necessary.
Staged reading of “Once Upon a Time in New England” by Spinning Wampum | 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. | Free (no registration required)
Join us for a live reading of “Once Upon a Time in New England,” a satirical play by Maliseet artist Mihku Paul and the Spinning Wampum collective. Through humor, history, and Wabanaki storytelling, the play reimagines the 1727 Treaty of Casco Bay and its legacy. This is a preview event—a chance to hear the play in development and engage with the artists behind Spinning Wampum.
FREE PMA Film
2025 Sundance Film Festival Indigenous Film Tour | 1 & 4 p.m. | Free
The 2025 Sundance Film Festival Indigenous Film Tour is a 98-minute program featuring Inkwo for When the Starving Return by Amanda Strong, Tiger by Loren Waters, En Memoria by Roberto Fatal, and more. Experience a celebration of life and identity through Indigenous film. Screenings supported by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The Portland Museum of Art, located in Portland, Maine, stands on the land of the Dawn—a region encompassing present-day Maine and the unceded homelands of the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Wolastoqiyik, Mi’kmaq, and Abenaki nations. Together, these nations represent the Wabanaki Confederacy; they have stewarded these lands and waters for thousands of years before the establishment of national borders and state lines and continue to do so today.
The PMA is committed to building sustainable and responsible relationships with Wabanaki communities to ensure intentional and meaningful dialogue and action is continued. If you have any feedback or questions about this process, please reach out at learning@portlandmuseum.org