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 The City of Portland's Future of Large-Scale Performing Arts team recently announced the selection of 11 members to serve on the projectās steering committee. We were thrilled to receive 67 applications from experts based in Portland, Los Angeles, New York City, and beyond, all with technical and professional experience in fields relevant to the project.Ā
Those selected to serve on the steering committee include:
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Brad Demby, AIA, Brad Demby Architect
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Brianna McCoy, Saturday Academy
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Carl Abbott, author, urban historian
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Carol Mayer-Reed, FASLA, Founding Partner Emeritus, Mayer/Reed
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Christopher McVoy,āÆCo-founder, O'Neill McVoy Architects and Partner Emeritus, Steven Holl Architects
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Edwina Kane, Portland Center Stage
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Helen Ying, community advocate
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Jim Brunberg, Mississippi Studios, Revolution Hall
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Lynda Moss, Moss Consulting
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Nick Schwartz-Hall, independent producer
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Sara Vonde Veld, Oregon Health & Science UniversityĀ
The steering committee will receive reports and progress updates related to the project and provide their perspectives and feedback. Upon review of preliminary reports and findings, the steering committee will make culminating recommendations on next steps and direction for the Future of Large-Scale Performing Arts project to Donnie Oliveira, Deputy City Administrator for Community and Economic Development, in June 2026.
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 MusicOregon is the first statewide organization to create grant programs for the sole purpose of supporting the unique needs of musicians, and their Echo Fund empowers local music-makers to undertake creative, non-performance projects that support new growth and spur creative and career development.
One of three Arts & Culture grantmaking partners, MusicOregon distributes small grants to individual artists on behalf of the City of Portland. We're excited to share that they've announced their newest Echo Fund recipients for 2025-26, a group of 27 incredible musicians and bands who are set to receive a total of $118,000, including $100,000 from the Office of Arts & Culture.
 Photo courtesy of RACC by Macadam Forbes
The City of Portland and its partners have opened a call for artists at the CityFleet facilities on Swan Island. The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC), with CityFleet and Arts & Culture, invite artists to submit their qualifications for the opportunity highlighted below.
Made possible by the City of Portland's Percent for Art Program, which specifies that up to 2% of qualifying infrastructure project budgets be dedicated to public art, this call for artists provides an opportunity to design and execute a mural or low relief artwork to be installed in the designated frieze area of the walls of the CityFleet training room. Artists working in a variety of types of materials are welcome to apply. The budget for this art opportunity is not to exceed $45,000.Ā
Submissions are due by Monday, January 5, 2026.
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 New artworks by Indigenous artists and Grand Ronde Tribal Members Zoey Holsclaw and Nakoa Mercier were recently installed in Downtown Portland's Tom McCall Waterfront Park near the Hawthorne Bridge, and Portlanders are invited to explore these impactful, culturally relevant pieces through spring 2026.
Commissioned by theĀ Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde TribeĀ and the Tribe's Cultural Resources Department, the installation is titledĀ Traveling with Our Ancestors. These works celebrate living Indigenous cultural activities and highlight historic canoes that are still used todayāespecially during the annual Inter-Tribal Canoe Journey.
This project was supported by the City of Portland'sĀ Office of Arts & Culture, through itsĀ Portland Monuments Project, theĀ Mellon Foundation,Ā The Ford Family Foundation, andĀ Lewis & Clark College.
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 Photo courtesy of Literary Arts
In summer 2026, Arts & Culture will launch a series of new funding programs for arts organizations, including new guidelines for organizations to apply for and receive unrestricted operating support. CalledĀ General Operating SupportĀ through the current fiscal year, the new program will be called Operating Support starting in 2026-27.
An early draft of new guidelines for the Operating Support program, created in collaboration with current General Operating Support grantees and organizations that have expressed interest in applying in the future, is now available.
We're asking for art-loving and art-supporting Portlanders to weigh in on them.
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 Portland Bureau of Transportation staff installing street sign toppers along Rosa Parks Way. Photo courtesy of Brian Borrello.
The City of Portland's Office of Arts & Culture and theĀ Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), in collaboration with the Piedmont Neighborhood Association, are excited to announce that the highly anticipated installation of commemorative street sign toppers along Rosa Parks Way was recently completed. In all, 100 sign toppersādesigned by renowned local artist, painter, educator, and Piedmont residentĀ Arvie Smithāwere added to shine a light on the civil rights icon.
This project's history dates back to October 2006, when Portland's City Council adopted Ordinance No. 180549, which renamed N and NE Portland Boulevard to Rosa Parks Way. In 2024, when the Office of Arts & Culture was created, it partnered with the Piedmont Neighborhood Association and neighbors across North and Northeast Portland to design artist-made sign toppers to reflect the street's renaming and honor the legacy of Rosa Parks.
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 In alignment with Creating Together's goal of connecting and creating partnership pathways between community arts organizations, teaching artists, and schools in Portland, the City of Portland has created and launched a Teaching Artists Directory. In addition to being published on this website, the directory will be shared with educators across Portland's six school districts and charter schools, all of which receive disbursements from the Arts Access Fund.
The second application period for teaching artists interested in being featured in the directory will open on January 15, 2026. In the meantime, you can learn more about the directory's first group of educatorsāan incredible group of artists and experts at their craft across dance, music, theater, and visual arts.Ā
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 On October 23, Arts & Culture's Director Chariti Montez joined KATU Anchor Wesleigh Ogle to talk about our recent General Operating Support announcementāwhich will provide more than $2.8 million to 79 Portland-based arts organizations for 2025-26āand DĆa de los Muertos events from Oregon Muertos and Milagro that wrapped up earlier this month.Ā
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 Prosper Portland recently announced its second round of grants from the Reimagine Oregon Economic Opportunity Investment Fund, which are funded with cannabis tax revenue. The organization's Board of Directors approved more than $1.3 million in grant funding for 25 businesses, all of which received individual investments ranging from $17,000 to $100,000.
Arts & Culture Small Grants Program partner Friends of IFCC and several of our General Operating Support grantees, including Friends of Noise and Portland Playhouse, were among those who received funding.
 David Rice's Window 7 (2021), photo courtesy of RACC
The goal of David Riceās work is to create environments that exist beyond the parameters of our physical world. He often focuses on themes of identity, how we see ourselves and as we are perceived by others. His work creates a new sense of nostalgia for the viewer. Something that seems familiar, but has yet to happen.
Window 7 (2021) is part of a series of photo-realistic paintings on paper examining the subject of windows throughout Portland neighborhoods. As Rice walked through the mostly empty streets of his neighborhood during the COVID-19 pandemic, he was curious about what people were doing during this period of being confined indoors. Often Rice would see a reflection of the view from across the street in the window of glass, making the windows appear as mirrors. Rice found symbolism in the act of trying to see into a space and only being able to see a reflection of the outside world.
This piece is one of 21 artworks by 11 artists recently acquired for the City of Portland's Visual Chronicle of Portland, a collection of works on paper that serve as an eclectic view of life in Portland and a record of artists working in the city dating back to 1985. The Collection features 463 works by 270 artists, which are displayed in City-owned spaces throughout Portland.Ā
Arts & Culture contracts RACC toĀ curate, manage, and maintain the City of Portlandās public art collection, including the Visual Chronicle of Portland.
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Add it to your calendar šļø
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November 25-December 31
This timeless holiday classic returns to the Portland Playhouse, relating the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a wealthy and miserly businessman who ultimately experiences redemption.Ā
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November 28-30
Combining British propriety with an unabashed love for the unexpected, Londonās 3-time Impresario Award-winning duo steep an outrageously funny and brilliantly inventive show reminiscent of classic British pantos at the Newmark Theatre.
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December 4-7
Meet some of Portlandās best makers and creators. With almost 200 makers, the Portland Night Market offers food carts, drinks, clothing, lifestyle goods, home goods, body care, and art.
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Grant opportunities and open calls š£
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Translation and Interpretation: Ā 311
The City of Portland ensures meaningful access and reasonably provides: translation, interpretation, modifications, accommodations, alternative formats, auxiliary aids and services. To request these services, call 311 for Relay Service or TTY: 711.
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