ABOUT

We launched Freeport Speech during the global COVID crisis at the end of 2021, in the face foundering community spirit and a sense of helplessness. We did so as a means to bring our community together and to inspire thoughtful conversation. We are thankful to our growing group of Season Supporters who allow us to bring you our speaker series. We are also proud to recognize our Community Sponsors and Lead Sponsors who enable contributions to local charitable organizations. We look forward to continuing these important conversations next season. We encourage you to take a look at our prior events, all of which have video recordings to enable access to those who aren't able to attend in person. Read more about those prior events below.

Fourth Season

February 27, 2025: Amy Walter, political analyst and award winning forecaster of national U.S. elections joined Calvin Mackenzie, former Chair of the Colby College Government Department, to discuss what the elections of 2024 foretell about the world we live in and the future of national U.S. elections.
April 24, 2025: Ann McKee, MD, is a neurologist & neuropathologist at the VA Boston. Her career focuses on Alzheimer's disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). She discussed her groundbreaking work on the effects on the brain of both repetitive head impacts and concussions in sports and Alzheimer’s with Dr Carol Leary, President Emerita of Bay Path University.
May 29, 2025: Dr. Ross Greene is a bestselling author and clinical psychologist, who’s been working on behavioral issues with children for over 30 years. Dr. Nirav Shah has worked at the highest levels of public health at the state and national level. Together, they discussed the epidemic of mental health disorders in youth.
June 26, 2025: Retired US Navy Admiral Gregory Johnson, retired diplomat Susan Thornton and Robert Gelbard, American diplomat who led US policy in the Balkans through wars and post-war recoveries, discussed the potential turmoil in Ukraine in 2025.
July 15, 2025: Cullen Ryan, Executive Director Community Housing of Maine, Deborah De Santis, President and CEO of CSH, a national organization on homelessness, Dr. Jim O’Connell, President of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and subject of renowned author Tracy Kidder’s book Rough Sleepers about his work with Boston’s homeless community, and Tracy Kidder himself had a conversation about the homelessness crisis nationally and in Greater Portland and proposed alternatives to how we currently manage this issue.
August 27, 2025: Jeffrey Brown, journalist and senior arts and literature correspondent for the PBS News Hour, led a conversation with AO Scott, former chief film critic for the New York Times and now critic at large for the New York Times Book Review, and novelist Richard Russo about the many ways in which art and literature impact our lives.
September 25, 2025: Dr. Fiona Hill, formerly an official at the U.S. National Security Council specializing in Russian and European affairs, held a conversation with former diplomat and Russia expert Susan Thornton and non-profit community builder Barrett Takesian about strengthening grass roots organizations as a means to alleviate domestic dysfunction that can lead to national security crises.

Third Season

March 21, 2024: we joined MIT professor, physicist and author Alan Lightman on a journey melding the spiritual and the scientific in search of meaning.
May 30, 2024: we learned about the use of art as therapy in humanitarian crisis across the globe as a means of establishing resilience in children who are the victims of war.
June 24, 2024: Maine's public advocate challenged the status quo structure of rate payer subsidies for alternative energies, inviting us to design a model that promotes sustainable energy while not driving up energy prices for those least able to afford it.
August 27, 2024: an extraordinary panel of journalists and a diplomat guided us through the landmines surrounding the question of whether there can be peace in the Middle East in our lifetime.
September 19, 2024: a former presidential press secretary and political journalist who covered the White House took us behind the Oval Office door in a look at presidential politics.
October 17, 2024: former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick took us through his storied life in an intimate conversation with former Bates president Clayton Spencer.
November 13, 2024: marine biologist Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and chef Barton Seaver pointed us toward a more sustainable relationship with our oceans, enumerating ways we can be part of the sustainability solution.

Second Season

The second season of our Freeport Speech Speaker Series was, in a word, extraordinary:

April 25, 2023: we welcomed a panel of asylum seekers, refugees fleeing hardship at home, who shared their experiences leaving home to resettle in this corner of the world called Maine;
May 30, 2023: we revisited the war in Ukraine, ten months after we first addressed the conflict, with our state department and military experts;
July 18th, 2023: in a foreshadowing of days to come, we heard stories of global stories of resilience from the former NBC News Tel Aviv Bureau Chief;
August 22, 2023: we reflected on the potential impact of the Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative action in college admissions with past presidents of USM, Bates and Colby;
September 19, 2023: we felt as if we were sitting across the kitchen table from accomplished Maine authors Lily King and Susan Conley, as they revealed the secrets of their creative process and their years long friendship;
October 10, 2023: we educated ourselves and our communities by hearing from both sides of the debate on public vs. private ownership of Maine's power company; and
November 16, 2023: we welcomed Maine’s good friend, Dr. Nirav Shah, back to our state from the CDC in a conversation with Chris Costa about what climate change means for public health.

First Season

We began our series with our inaugural speaker, Heather Cox-Richardson, speaking about "Arts and Agency in History." Maine Senator Angus King spoke in May about "The Art of Politics." Also gracing our stage was Dr. Nirav Shah and Prof. Kara Palamountain, who talked about global health in a pandemic world; Admiral Gregory Johnson and Diplomat Susan Thornton, who gave their views on the Ukraine from a Pentagon and State Department perspective; Drs Iain Kerr and Susana Hancock and Don Perkins shared their work to protect our environment; and Colin Woodard, a New York Times bestselling historian, challenged us to formulate a more unifying theme for America in its third century.