Lewiston: Checking in on the school and art communities [Video]

How do you pay proper respect to a great loss while people are still raw from the pain?

The Maine Museum of Innovation, Learning, and Labor in Lewiston took on the task of honoring, teaching, and healing in the years that follow the Oct. 25, 2023, mass shooting, during which 18 people were killed and 13 more were injured.

Rachel Ferrante is museum’s executive director. I visited her on a day in September at the Canal Street space, where she and artist Tanja Hollander were putting together an installation coinciding with the one-year mark.

“This is the most important work I’ve ever done,” Ferrante said. “I know it’s helping lots of people, and that’s all you can really hope for if you’re running a museum.”

In December, we followed Ferrante and Hollanderas they and volunteers collected …