Get some culture in your life! Head out and explore Portland's visual and performing arts scene -- sometimes fabulous, sometimes just...interesting. There's a lot to see here.
Dance
Literary Arts
Music
Theater
Visual Arts
White Bird Dance
www.whitebird.org
White Bird brings a wide variety of innovative, regional and international dance companies to Portland throughout the season (autumn through spring). Recent visitors have included the Merce Cunningham, Alvin Ailey and Martha Graham companies, as well as lesser-known artists. Check out their current performances online.
Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT)
www.obt.org
OBT is your best bet for traditional, yet unique, ballet performances. Performance and class schedules are available online.
Monster Squad Dance
www.monstersquad.org
Monster Squad is a small but innovative contemporary dance company headed by local choreographer Tahni Holt. Look out for any events at their home base, the Water Street Project, located at 1010 SE Water Avenue.
Literary Arts
224 NW 13th Ave, Suite 306
503-227-2583
www.literary-arts.org
Literary Arts is responsible for Portland Arts & Lectures, the Oregon Books Awards, Oregon Literary Fellowships, Writers in the Schools, Poetry in Motion (on public transportation), the Oregon Book Awards Author Tour and Poetry Downtown, among other things.
IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center)
917 SW Oak St. #218
503-827-0249
www.iprc.org
IPRC is an excellent resource for all things bookarts-related. Want to learn about bookbinding, letterpress printing or marbling paper? Interested in perusing the history of independently-published books and magazines from the Pacific Northwest and beyond? IPRC is your place. Check out their listings of workshops and open hours on their website.
Chamber Music Northwest
Box Office – 503-294-6400
Business Office – 503-223-3202
www.cmnw.org
Chamber Music Northwest began as a summer festival and now also provides a standard-season concert series. This is where you can see ensembles like the Emerson String Quartet or the Daedalus String Quartet, and hear music commissioned by CMNW from composers like Joan Tower, Peter Schikele, and local composer David Schiff.
Portland Baroque Orchestra
503-222-6000
www.pbo.org
The Portland Baroque Orchestra has a well-founded reputation for quality performances. They perform on period instruments, achieving a different sound than one would hear from other orchestras.
Oregon Symphony
503-228-1353
www.orsymphony.org
The Oregon Symphony, under director Carlos Kalmar, performs a wide variety of music, from pops concerts and children’s concerts to traditional classical offerings with a sprinkling of the unfamiliar.
Portland Opera
Administrative: 503-241-1407
Box office: 503-241-1902
www.portlandopera.org
The Portland Opera's season generally contains a mix of the traditional (Mozart, Verdi, Puccini) and the more modern (Adams, Weill). The Opera also runs a program called the Portland Opera Studio, which auditions young opera singers and provides a bridge between conservatory and the performing world.
Third Angle
www.thirdangle.org
503-331-0301
Third Angle is a new music group based in Portland that revolves around the idea of collaboration. Their programs, which feature recently-composed music, often involve dance, film and spoken word, among other performing arts.
Portland Taiko
www.portlandtaiko.org
503-288-2456
Portland Taiko combines traditional taiko compositions and choreography with modern ones, extending Japanese tradition and bringing into today's world. On top of that, a taiko performance involves people banging on really huge drums, which fulfills that childlike desire to make really loud noises that still lives in many of us.
Portland Center for the Performing Arts (PCPA)
503-248-4335
www.pcpa.com
PCPA is the venue through which Broadway musicals, Oregon Children’s Theatre, and the Oregon Symphony (as well as other companies) organize their performances. Check the web site for events, venues and ticketing information.
Portland Center Stage
503-445-3700
www.pcs.org
Portland's largest professional theater company, PCS is housed in the historical (and now eco-friendly) Armory Building downtown. Their current season includes plays by George Bernard Shaw and August Wilson on the main stage, with productions from lesser-known playwrights on the second stage. Tickets available online.
Artists Repertory Theatre
503-241-1278
1516 SW Alder Street
www.artistsrep.org
Theatre Vertigo
www.theatrevertigo.org
Oregon Children's Theatre
www.octc.org
Sojurn Theatre
www.sojourntheatre.org
Sojurn Theatre is "an award-winning, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual ensemble based in Portland, Oregon. The non-profit theatre company develops innovative original work and bold adaptations through a process that is community-engaged, and with an aesthetic that is history conscious, politically inquisitive, and strikingly physical." (from web site) They aim towards creating civic dialogue, and recently have been working with Vision PDX to initiate dialogue about the future of the city.
Miracle Theater/Teatro Milagro
www.milagro.org
425 SE 6th Ave.
503-236-7253
The Miracle Theater group has made a goal of presenting "works that express the multicultural Hispanic experience." The Miracle Mainstage presents works in English, while Teatro Milagro, the touring company, performs in English and Spanish. Bellas Artes is more of a multimedia experience, incorporating dance, music and literary readings along with theater.
First Thursday
www.firstthursdayportland.com
From about 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month (check times with individual galleries), you can wander between galleries downtown enjoying wine and music and checking out the new art exhibits. This web site links to each gallery’s individual site, where you can preview upcoming exhibits.
Last Thursday/Art on Alberta
www.artonalberta.org
Last Thursday is organized by Art on Alberta as an East side version of First Thursday. While this version is more laid-back and funky than the West side, the principle is the same. Galleries generally open around 5. The web site has a map of the art walk, which mostly takes place on NE Alberta Street. Art on Alberta is “a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the Alberta Art District’s distinct cultural identity through art and educational activities.”
PICA (Portland Institute for Contemporary Art)
www.pica.org
PICA's website explains that the organization "features emerging regional, national, and international artists in all disciplines, bridging the gap between historically-focused collecting institutions, commercial galleries and performing arts presenters.”
The annual Time-Based Art Festival, sponsored by PICA, takes place in September, and features a wide array of dance, performance art, theater, music, film, and multimedia offerings.
Portland Art Museum
1219 SW Park Ave.
503-226-2811
http://web.pam.org
Sunday noon-5p.m., Tues & Wed 10-5, Thurs & Fri 10-8, Sat 10-5
$10 adults, $9 seniors/students, $6 children 5-18, free for children 4 & under
The Portland Art Museum is the oldest art museum in the Pacific Northwest. It is known for its collection of the arts of the native peoples of North America and its center for artists from the Pacific Northwest.
PORT
www.portlandart.net
PORT is a group-written blog “dedicated to catalyzing critical discussion and disseminating information about art as lensed through Portland, Oregon.”
