Skip to main content
This week brings the second printing of the Cultural Corridor Art Map, a map of Portland’s public arts spaces produced by the Oregon Alliance for the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA Oregon).
It’s a colorful and informative bird’s eye view of the city’s sprawling arts scene, locating 73 of the city’s galleries, museums, art-centric bookshops and more—up from the 59 venues included in the original map, which was printed in 2024.
“First and foremost, we’re interested in bringing Portland’s arts organizations and community together,” said Brooke Willow, steering committee member of NMWA Oregon. “With the new art map, we wanted to put organizations of all sizes on peoples’ radar, including those situated along the Cultural Corridor”—the art and cultural spaces along Portland’s historic park blocks—“as well as in North and Northeast Portland, Beaverton, Lake Oswego, and so on.”
While it highlights the usual suspects like museums, galleries and private institutional collections, the map also also includes businesses, including the longstanding Stumptown Coffee Roasters cafe in Old Town-Chinatown, which features a commercial gallery space, as well Chess Club, the downtown magazine shop independent periodicals and art books.
“A lot of the interesting things happening in Portland operate at a smaller scale, in independent spaces, artist-run projects, bookstores—places that don’t have a big marketing budget,” said Chess Club co-owner Andrew Simon. “This project helps visualize that ecosystem and connect the dots.”
Chess Club is in the process of moving its operation from the Pearl District to 1111 Washington Street, which opens in late October. The new art map will include this updated address, as well as more than a dozen new arts and culture venues, including the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts in Beaverton and Portland State University’s new Jordan Schnitzer School of Art + Art History + Design.
“It’s becoming part of the DNA of the city,” said NMWA Oregon founder Elizabeth Leach. “For tourists, it’s a kind of treasure hunt of hidden gems; but it’s also creating opportunities for smaller organizations and newer galleries to connect with Portlanders.”
The NMWA Oregon will officially launch the second edition of its Cultural Corridor Art Map at a press event Wednesday. It is available as a physical map at participating venues and elsewhere in town and as a downloadable PDF.
