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Between funding cuts, a volatile economy and an increasingly brutal political climate, it’s not an easy time to be in the arts, especially in Portland.
But there’s another story to be told about the state of the arts in 2026, and Andrew Proctor is helping to write it. The longtime executive director of Literary Arts has, in recent years, overseen a major transformation of his organization that includes the purchase of a new building in the Central Eastside (that includes office space as well as a bookstore and cafe), the creation of a writer’s residency and continued growth of the Portland Book Festival.
Proctor is quick to shout out organizations like Albina Vision Trust and the Portland Art Museum that are investing in the city and have real vision for what it can be. And, he says, Portlanders themselves deserve credit: they’re turning out for arts events in higher numbers than ever before. Notably, last fall, the Portland Book Festival sold out for the first time in its history.
And, Proctor says, the festival and other literary events that have drawn the most public interest have been challenging ones: A talk by author Timothy Snyder, who researches authoritarian governments, sold out the Schnitzer in October; PBF’s most popular event was a conversation between Karen Russell and Omar El Akkad, whose recent works center on the difficult topics of, respectively, climate change and the occupation of Gaza.
“To have eight and a half thousand people downtown sell out is a huge estimate to what our community cares about, what they want,” Proctor says. “I feel like people are also underestimating the intelligence of our community, which is very high. I don’t think people want saccharine right now, and I don’t think they want to be told a lullaby about Portland. They’re actually really interested in real conversations. And I find that very energizing.”
