John Bear Mitchell
John Bear Mitchell, Penobscot
207-581-1432
John Bear Mitchell is a citizen of the Penobscot Nation from Indian Island in Maine. He presently serves as the University of Maine System Office Native American Waiver and Educational Program Coordinator, University of Maine’s Wabanaki Center Outreach and Student Development Coordinator, as well as a Lecturer of Wabanaki Studies and Multicultural Studies at the University of Maine in Orono. He has served on numerous museum and educational boards throughout the state with missions based on Maine’s Wabanaki people. For 15 years John visited schools in Maine as a Maine Touring Artist delivering an Arts in Education program. During that time, he visited over 150 schools. While working his way through college, he toured with the Native American Storytellers of New England. He presented a traditional and contemporary program in Native American Stories and Song. His singing and storytelling can be heard in many Maine PBS, tribal-sponsored awareness videos, independent film, HBO Lionsgate TV, and many documentaries with topics on Maine’s Native People.
John is a Wabanaki Storyteller/Singer and drummer and provides Educational Development in Wabanaki Studies. He works with schools, does public performance utilizing Wabanaki stories and/or songs and dance. He also has extensive experience working with school districts in helping them develop appropriate Wabanaki Studies teaching tools for their classrooms.