A Look at the Turmoil Behind PNCA's Gilded Doors

Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is in the spotlight this week. The college is getting the most attention it has since opening its new, gilded doors over a year ago. As they say, when one door opens…

Issue number one: the Museum of Contemporary Craft (est. 1937) is closed. MoCC officially shuttered its Northwest Davis Street location this week, following an announcement in February that the PNCA will absorb the museum, its 14,000 square foot space will be sold, and the three employees who aren't laid off (seven will be) will transfer to PNCA.

How does one "absorb" a museum? Well, MoCC will change its name to the Center for Contemporary Art & Culture (CCAC?) and continue to put on shows. Only the shows will be at galleries in PNCA's large and swanky new center in the 515 Building bordering the Northwest Park Blocks.

A year ago, PNCA debuted its newly-remodeled home, cementing itself as a mecca for the Portland fine and visual arts scene—the biggest, loftiest and most blinged-out architectural space in the city. Now, the museum absorption will add to that status.

Valued at over 1 million dollars, the museum's collection will be split into display pieces for PNCA's galleries and things to go to storage.

Meanwhile, PNCA's students, faculty and local artists are protesting unfair faculty treatment and requesting a $6333 tuition reimbursement per student. As of Thursday, April 21, the protesters agreed to stop marching for a week while PNCA accepts complaint letters from faculty and decides how to proceed. But barbs from protesters—like "I used to work at this intellectual sweatshop called PNCA," from local filmmaker and PSU professor Julie Perini—will probably sting for a while.

Willamette Week