Newburyport, MA – The PEG Center, A Creative Hub for Social Change, kicks off its 2025 calendar with renewed vigor and commitment to human and climate justice.

Following a successful year-end fundraiser made possible by generous local support, the PEG Center will focus 2025 programming, art, and events on immigration, gun violence, LGBTQ+ and women’s rights, anti-racism, and the environmental crisis. Our theme for the year is “And Justice for All.”

“The recent upheavals in national policies and the growing federal dismantling of basic human rights are sowing chaos and causing personal and civic harm. The PEG Center’s mission is to offer a three-part approach to activism through an educational perspective on the challenges; action, advocacy and allyship with justice causes; and art to creatively illuminate those issues,” said Paula Estey, Executive Director of the PEG Center. “We do this with the goal that each of us get involved in actions. There is a rapidly growing list of critical issues, and we want to be a hub for gathering and organizing people into action. Together, we work toward changing our understanding and together, we create pathways for equity. We organize by gathering. We gather to organize.”

For all events and programs, attendees must pre-register at www.thepegcenter.org. A suggested donation of $10 per registration is welcomed.

EVENTS AND PROGRAMS

- Thursday, February 20, 2025, from 6-8 p.m., at the First Religious Society Unitarian Universalist (FRS UU) First Parish Hall, 26 Pleasant St., Newburyport, MA, “Huddle Up: To Begin Again.” The Huddle resumes monthly meetings on the third Thursday of the month to talk and brainstorm, motivate, and support. This 2025 kickoff meeting is an opportunity to be heard, to share concerns, ideas and hopes about several areas of human and climate justice, and to set a course for the months ahead. Our Program Team will facilitate, and we will have break-out tables to discuss our strategic plan.

- Thursday, February 27, 2025, from 6-8 p.m. at FRS UU First Parish Hall, 26 Pleasant St., Newburyport, MA, Community Art Project Launch: “And Justice for All.” The public is invited to participate in our tenth Community Art Project (no art experience necessary, all ages invited). The creative input meeting to draw out key topics for the mural, will be led by the Artist in Residence for this project, artist/ecologist Jenn Houle. This Community Art Project (CAP) has received funding from the Local Cultural Councils of Newburyport, West Newbury, Newbury, and Salisbury.

Houle will lead activities to help us envision the subject matter of this aspirational project. She will then synthesize our ideas and provide a sketch on the canvas panels. The public will then be invited to paint the mural over two dates in March. All ages are invited to participate. When the mural is completed, it will be shared locally at gathering places such as libraries, senior centers and city halls.

- Saturday, March 1, 2025, from 9-10:30 a.m. at FRS UU First Parish Hall, 26 Pleasant St., Newburyport, MA: Activist Book Club. The PEG Center is launching its first new Book Club in 6 years. The book group will meet once a month (days and times at 1st meeting), and will be focused on activism, spirit and progressive values. The first book is “We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons for Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruption” by Kaira Jewel Lingo. The March 1 gathering will be a meet and greet, short discussion about the first chapter of the book, and a schedule for reading.

- Beginning Tuesday, March 4, 2025, from 1-3 p.m., “The Activists Are In” at NU Kitchen, 19 Pleasant St., Newburyport, MA. Come, chat, have tea, talk activism with Paula Estey and Julie Cook. These office hours will be held every Tuesday and Thursday.

- Thursday, March 13, 2025, from 6-8 p.m. “Fighting for Home: Immigration in a Hostile Era” at The Barn in West Newbury, MA. The PEG Center and Huddle will present an educational panel on issues currently facing immigrants. There will also be art on display and an artist talk. The public is invited to attend and must pre-register at www.thepegcenter.org.

“There is no home unless all of us have one,” said Estey. “In an era of emergency in human rights across our country, who gets to call the U.S. home and who doesn’t has become a reality of otherness and demonizing. Immigrants and refugees in our communities are frightened and uncertain, and we want to lend our hearts and efforts to an understanding of the current state, and to resist, push back and fight for human rights. The time is now. The stakes are enormous. Change happens when we join our energies into a strong force for right actions.”

- Thursday, March 20, 2025, from 6-8 p.m. at FRS UU First Parish Hall, 26 Pleasant St., Newburyport, MA, Huddle Up Monthly Meeting. We will implement actions gleaned from immigration panel.

Here is a recap of events:

- First Huddle Up meeting of 2025, Thursday, February 20, 6-8 p.m. at FRS UU First Parish Hall, 26 Pleasant St., Newburyport, MA.

MONTHLY HUDDLE DATES moving forward: Thursday, March 20; Thursday, April 17; Thursday, May 15

- Community Art Project Launch, Thursday, February 27, 6-8 p.m. at FRS UU First Parish Hall, 26 Pleasant St., Newburyport, MA, with muralist and ecologist Jenn Houle leading the conversation

- Activist Book Group Launch, Saturday, March 1, 9-10:30 am. at FRS UU First Parish Hall, 26 Pleasant St., Newburyport, MA.

- PEG Center “The Activists Are In,” Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-3 p.m. starting March 4, 2025 at NU Kitchen, 19 Pleasant St., Newburyport, MA. Come have tea, talk activism with PEG Center staff.

- Immigration Program, Speakers, Art, Artist Talk: “Fighting for Home: Immigration in a Hostile Era,” Thursday, March 13 from 6-8 p.m. at the Barn in West Newbury, MA

- March Huddle Up, Thursday, March 20 from 6-8 p.m. at FRS UU First Parish Hall, 26 Pleasant St., Newburyport, MA. Discuss and undertake local actions to assist immigrants.