Highlights and Official Visits

A visit to Maine and Boston of the Minister of the Aegean, Elizabeth Papazoi, the highest level Greek official to ever visit Maine. She was in Portland to express continuing support for the USM/Aegean Arts & Cultural Exchange. She also held a number of meetings and attended an official dinner for her at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA in cooperation with the Kokkalis Program at the Kennedy School of Government. Mrs. Papazoi later served as Minister of Culture, and Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece.

The first visit by any Mayor of Mytilene — Mayor Nasos Yiakalis and his wife, and the Governor of Lesvos, Demetrios Vounatsos came to Portland accompanying the Municipal Orchestra of Mytilene, (DEPTAM) that gave a performance of Greek music at USM. The Mayor of Mytilene and a representative the City of Portland, councilor Nikos Mavodones, met and first discussed a Sister City relationship.

A four-member delegation and members of the City Orchestra from Mytilene (DEPTAM) came for a four-day visit in March. Included were the Mayor of Mytilene, Nassos Yiakalis and his wife; and several Mytilene City Council members who held meetings with the director of the International Trade Center, and the Mayor of Portland at which time they agreed to a Sister City relationship. During this visit, HSoM and the USM School of Music hosted the lecture/concert on a style of music born of the Greek diaspora – rembetika. Greek music expert Gail Holst-Warhaft from Cornell University gave a lecture; and the concert featured an eight-member ensemble direct from Greece. The musicians also performed for music students in recital class and gave an informal workshop. The event drew a bus of Greek-Americans from New York City who came to Maine specifically to attend. The lecture and concert was repeated a few days later at the University of Connecticut at Storrs, and again that summer in Mytilene, Lesvos.

The official delegation visit in October included Mayor Aristidis Chatzikomninos and wife Maria; City Council members Gerasimos Vevetas, and daughter Sapfo, Nikolaos Katranis, Ilias Kouniarellis; plus artist Sophia Tata. They and members of HSoM attended the official adoption of the Sister City Relationship Resolution, then a reception in the State of Maine Room where speeches were given and gifts exchanged.

Ms. Antonacos performs in Mytilene.

a visit in collaboration with the USM/Aegean Arts & Cultural Exchange

Jeff Badger, an artist, curator, and chair of the Art Department at the Southern Maine Community College, has developed an idea to share Portland’s vibrant art scene with its international Sister Cities. Badger has attracted some of the greater Portland areas best artists who have agreed to submit works on paper for such a traveling exhibit through his Maine Art Exchange (MAE) program.

The first Exchange took place in Mytilene, Lesvos. Hellenic Society of Maine and MAE arranged for the exhibit to travel to Mytilene in June 2012 as part of the island’s celebrations for 100th anniversary of the annexation of Lesvos to Greece. HSoM board member Judith Allen Efstathiou and her artist daughter, Eirene of Athens, joined Badger in having works in the show.

The works were exhibited for a week in the upper gallery area of the Mytilene Public Theater on the quay in Mytilene, with an opening reception on Friday, June 8, 2012.

It was a great evening! Our annual Holiday Social on December 5, 2013 at Cinque Terre in the Old Port, was combined with a 10th anniversary party – an event to mark the milestone in the Sister City relationship between Portland, Maine and Mytilene, Lesvos, Greece. Preceding this event, letters of congratulations were exchanged (with the help of HSoM member Nicos Provatas in Mytilene) between Mayor Michael Brennan and the Mayor of Mytilene, Dimitrios Vounatsos, who also sent gifts of books and copies of Mytilene City medallions to Mayor Brennan and HSoM president, Mary Snell.

For the anniversary social we were honored to have as our special guests Mayor Brennan, and Portland City Council members Nick Mavodones and Ed Suslovic, as well as Neale Duffett, a representative of The Archangel Committee for our Russian Sister City. Sister City relationships are an important way for ordinary citizens of a city to come in contact with the people of another country and, through continual engagement, learn about their society, their politics, economics and culture. These kinds of friendships, we believe, promote world understanding and thus peace on a most basic level.

The Hellenic Society of Maine celebrated the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Sister City relationship of Portland, Maine, with Mytilene, Lesvos, Greece on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023 with a reception at the University of Southern Maine. More than 60 guests attended, including a special guest, the Consul General of Greece in Boston, Symeon Tegos, who was greeted by the President of USM Jacqueline Edmondson, and the Mayor of Portland, Kate Snyder. In addition to speeches, USM music faculty pianist and HSoM member, Anastasia Antonacos, performed musical interludes which were enthusiastically applauded. Also attending were City council member Andrew Zarro, State Rep. Samuel Zager, Fr. John Chryssavgis and members of the the four Greek Orthodox parishes in Maine. Plans are being made to hold a similar celebration in Mytilene in May or June 2024.

On Wednesday May 29 in the Old City Hall of Mytilene there was a formal recognition ceremony of the Sister City’s 20th Anniversary hosted by the Mayor Panagiotis Christofas. Thirty people attended including staff, former mayors, councilors who had visited Portland as part of delegations, plus several citizens who had helped, over the years to keep the program going. Both Mayor Christofas and HSoM president Mary Snell made official remarks; other guests made brief comments. A lovely, framed print of the Portland Observatory was given to the city from Portland Mayor Mark Dion, and a bag of personal gifts were given to Mayor Christofas from HSoM (donated in part by Bournakel, Hollander, Snell). Mayor Christofas then hosted the Maine group for a luncheon by the sea in the Old Harbor of Mytilene. The end result was a warm reception by all, plus promises to reinvigorate the relationship. Mayor Christofas spoke about coming to Portland in October of 2025.