Wabanaki REACH

11/02/2026

Join us Wednesday at 530pm at Jillian Kerr shares about Wabanaki REACH and Indigenous Theater. Register here for the webinar: https://bit.ly/WSWautumn26
Purchase Bear Grease tickets here: https://www.collinscenterforthearts.com/event/bear-grease/
Special school show registration here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1SB-bnHlyEvDIwFFmbw7QdBJmwxXKBXXpfWbO1e_no5c/viewform?ts=6aa7fc84&edit_requested=true

11/02/2026

In the Mi’kmaw calendar, the November moon is known as Keptekewiku’s (geb-deg-gay-we-goos), the rivers freezing over moon. We hope you are finding warmth and comfort as the days get shorter and the lists of things to do get longer. Please remember to take time to rest, reflect and just be. Whether in your own company, with loved ones or with community, it is important to create space to relax and “feel the ground beneath your feet to know you are supported”

We have been busy preparing for the Bear Grease performance, getting as many Wabanaki community members to the show and workshop as possible. We can hardly wait to see you at Bear Grease at the Collins Center for the Arts in Orono on Tuesday, November 17, at 7:00 PM!

Don’t hesitate to purchase your tickets to the show, they are going fast! Visit the Collins Center website at collinscenterforthearts.com

Photo by Maya Attean

11/01/2026

This month, we offer the essay “Wabanaki Studies Summer Institute 2026”, by Fiona Hopper.

“Rivers are not resources, they are kin,” Jennifer Neptune explained to an audience of twenty-six curriculum directors and teachers from across the state of Maine on the opening day of the Wabanaki Studies Summer Institute. Jennifer is an accomplished Penobscot basketmaker and beadworker as well as a Registered Maine guide. Carrying on cultural traditions is what she does every day in her creative work…”

Continue reading : https://www.wabanakireach.org/wabanaki_studies_summer_institute_2026

10/30/2026

🪶✨ TICKET GIVEAWAY!

Do you want to join us for a night of laughter and Indigenous theater like you've never seen it before?
Enter to win 2 tickets & Bear Grease merch on us!

TO ENTER:
follow us on facebook: Wabanaki REACH & Bear Grease LIVE
or instagram: &
& tag a friend that you would bring in the comments!

Winner will be drawn November 13th.

Bear Grease Live | presented by Lightning Cloud & Wabanaki REACH
Tuesday, November 17th, 2026 7 pm | Collins Center for the Arts, Orono ME.

"Bear Grease reimagines the iconic 1971 musical Grease through a bold and comedic native lens. This all-Indigenous musical parody infuses hip-hop and comedy into a pow wow-powered love story that's equal parts hilarious homage and cultural celebration."

To support Wabanaki attendees, donate here: www.wabanakireach.org/donate
*The performance and workshop are appropriate for ages 7th grade & up*

✨TICKETS: https://www.collinscenterforthearts.com/event/bear-grease/. ✨

10/30/2026

10/19/2026

🪶 Now uploaded to the WERU archive: Dawnland Signals Episode 9 🪶

Tune into to listen to hosts Nick Bear and Nolan Altvater talk with
Crystle Lightning & Henry Cloud Andrade, co-creators of Bear Grease Live!

Listen as they talk about the origins of this unique indigenous musical, how indigenous contemporary theater is breaking down barriers, how laughter is medicine, and the intertribal connection that Bear Grease creates. We can’t wait to see you at Bear Grease Live on November 17th at the Collins Center for the Arts in Orono, Maine. Get your tickets today by visiting
https://www.collinscenterforthearts.com/event/bear-grease/ !

Bear Grease is all indigenous musical parody that infuses hip-hop and comedy into a pow wow-powered love story. Bear grease reimagines the iconic 1971 musical grease through a native lens. It is the only 2nd all indigenous musical to ever debut off-broadway and has had over 200 performances over the last 4 years.

Dawnland Signals is a monthly radio talk show that holds space for critical conversations of Truth, Healing, and Change in the Dawnland. Dawnland Signals is a partnership between Wabanaki REACH and WERU FM and highlights Indigenous topics not immediately represented in mainstream media. The show features guests involved in various aspects of truth, healing, and change work in an effort to share, inspire, and inform. The Dawnland Signals team consists of co-hosts Nolan Altvater and Nick Bear, technician Scarlett Tudor and producer Esther Anne.

Access the archive of episodes online at the link in our bio or https://archives.weru.org/category/dawnland-signals/
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10/15/2026

Submissions wanted! We are looking for artists and writers to submit to our monthly blog, Voices of Decolonization. Does your work engage in truth, healing, and change in Wabnakik? We’d love to share it with our audience!

Click the link in our bio to submit visual or written work. Please note that we may not accept all submissions, and we will email you only if we plan to publish your submission.

If you have any questions about our blog and submission process, please email [email protected] and write “blog question” in the subject line.

Featured Artwork by Tomah Joseph

10/12/2026

Celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day today and every day!!

Across turtle island, individuals, organizations, and governments are celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day. What does it mean to honor Indigenous people?

One way we can honor Indigenous Peoples’ Day is to continue our learning about the impacts of colonization and what we can do to promote healing and change. Some ways that we can do this:

- learning about the collective histories and current relationships of Native and non-Native peoples through workshops, presentations, sermons, readings, films, and conversations.
- connecting deeply with the land and waters and the responsibility we have to protect and restore the health of the earth
- taking action for the land and waters
- taking action to stop the state from continuing to take away territory, health and opportunity from Wabanaki people.
- learning about tribal sovereignty and what it means to honor it

- Donate to our work to help support our restorative justice and healing practices in the community. Today we are fundraising to ensure Elders have transportation and access to the Bear Grease showing on 11/17. https://www.wabanakireach.org/donate

- The REACH website includes a few key resources to deepen our knowledge and understanding: https://www.wabanakireach.org/educational_resources

- Tune into Dawnland signals for conversation on truth healing and change in the dawnland: https://archives.weru.org/category/dawnland-signals/.

& Support other Wabanaki organizations doing amazing decolonization and healing work:
Niweskok: https://www.niweskok.org/donate
Nibezun: https://www.givenative.org/story/nibezun2026
Wabanaki Public Health & Wellness: https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/2S7OXFGAn0v6gtIlqF0EGA
Bomezan Land Trust: https://www.bomazeenlandtrust.org/donate
Wabanaki Alliance: https://wabanakialliance.com/donate/

🪶♥️

10/09/2026

🪶 Now available on the archive: Dawnland Signals: episode 8 🪶

Listen to hosts Nick Bear and Nolan Altvater talk with Charlene Huerth, Penobscot citizen, Nibezun Co-Director, Jazz Thompson-Tintor, Penobscot citizen, Nibezun Program Coordinator and Co-owner of Katahdin Kitchen, & Seneca Love, Penobscot citizen, Nibezun Program Coordinator.

Listen as they have a conversation about: The importance of food as connection to the land and our wellbeing, the critical task of language revitalization and Wabanaki life ways, and the importance of community and kindness.

Dawnland Signals is a monthly radio talk show that holds space for critical conversations of Truth, Healing, and Change in the Dawnland. Dawnland Signals is a partnership between Wabanaki REACH and WERU FM and highlights Indigenous topics not immediately represented in mainstream media. The show features guests involved in various aspects of truth, healing, and change work in an effort to share, inspire, and inform. The Dawnland Signals team consists of co-hosts Nolan Altvater and Nick Bear, technician Scarlett Tudor and producer Esther Anne.

Access the archive of episodes online at the link in our bio or https://archives.weru.org/category/dawnland-signals/

🪶
Nibezun


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10/06/2026

We hope you are warm and well as we ease into the crisp mornings of bejeweled leaves and all things autumn. We are in Amilkahtin, or “Harvest Moon’’ in the Passamaquoddy language. We have been busy preparing for the Bear Grease performance, getting as many Wabanaki community members to the show and workshop as possible. We can hardly wait to see you at Bear Grease at the Collins Center for the Arts in Orono on Tuesday, November 17, at 7:00 PM! More info & ticket link is in our bio.

🪶 💜