Noteworthy events

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Dawn Lundy Martin — Photo courtesy of Featherstone

Time to register

In its 15th year, Built on Stilts, the Island’s own community dance and performance festival, is accepting registrations now through July 1. The festival runs August 11-14 and 20-23 at the Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs. For registration forms and more information, visit builtonstilts.org.

School garden thrives

This Friday, June 10, the Edgartown School celebrates its thriving, working garden and greenhouse during Garden Celebration Day. Students will partake in garden activities throughout the day, and hundreds of student-designed clay pots, as well as plants, will be for sale. At 3 pm, the school hosts a greenhouse dedication and celebration in honor of the dozens of families and businesses who have helped make the garden possible.

The Space to close

The Space, a multi-use space formerly Vineyard Fitness Center in Edgartown, announces it will close at the end of June. Having opened in November 2010, The Space housed IMP, MV Glee, Fit with Katryn, Yoga with Emily Phillips, Ballroom Dance MV, and MV Capoeira. Organizers of The Space are currently looking for an alternative building. For more information, contact thespacemv@gmail.com; 508-939-3968.

Featherstone begins poetry series

Poets Dawn Lundy Martin and Ronaldo Wilson begin Featherstone Center for the Arts’ Summer Poetry Series this Thursday, June 9, at 7 pm.

Ms. Martin, current assistant professor of English in the Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh, has a long list of accolades including founding member of the Black Took Collective, a group of experimental black poets; and founder of the Third Wave Foundation in New York, a national young feminist organization.

Mr. Wilson is the author of “Narrative of the Life of the Brown Boy and the White Man,” winner of the 2007 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, and “Poems of the Black Object,” winner of the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry. He is currently a visiting assistant professor at Mount Holyoke College.

For more information, call 508-693-1850 or visit featherstoneart.org.

Juneteenth celebration

When President Lincoln freed the slaves by signing the Emancipation Proclamation, all states except Texas freed their slaves. It took Texas two and one-half years after the signing to free their slaves, and the day they did is called Juneteenth.

The Martha’s Vineyard NAACP hosts its Juneteenth celebration on Saturday, June 11, at the Tisbury Senior Center, from 2 to 4 pm. The organizing committee has asked several Islanders to share their interracial experiences, and for the Martha’s Vineyard Youth Leadership Initiative to make a presentation on Student Health. There will be music by Allie and the Krunch, games, door prizes, and more.

The event is free if you bring a potluck dish, or $5 if not. For more information, call 508-627-8850.

Also, the Unitarian-Universalist Society’s Sunday, June 12 service is “Why Juneteenth: From Slavery to Independence” with the Martha’s Vineyard Spirituals Choir. The service starts at 11 am, at the UU Chapel in Vineyard Haven. For more information, call 508-693-8982.