Willamette Week

Take a Tour of Recent Portland Street Art

In April, the nonprofit Portland Street Art Alliance put out a call to local businesses interested in having a Portland artist create temporary murals on their property—a way to both beautify the urban landscape, and give artists some much-needed work. Here’s a look at some of the standouts so far.

The Portland Street Art Alliance Wants to Connect Artists With Boarded-Up Businesses to Create Temporary Murals

Of course, many of those boarded-up businesses aren’t officially dead—most of them are just waiting to reopen, and hoping to ward off burglars in the meantime. The Portland Street Art Alliance wants to give them a splash of life. The nonprofit has put out a call to local businesses interested in having a Portland artist to create temporary murals on their property.

Portland Art Museum and NW Film Center to Place 80 Percent of Their Staff on Unpaid Leave

After the Portland Art Museum and Northwest Film Center closed nearly a month ago to prevent the spread of COVID-19, most of the staff are now facing a foreseeable future without a regular paycheck. About 80 percent of the workers at both facilities will be placed on unpaid leave on April 16.

Portland Art Museum Says It Will Lose $1 Million for Every Month It Is Shut Down

Less than a week after it was declared a pandemic, COVID-19 has destabilized many of the country’s most prominent arts organizations—even the Met has taken a major hit. Now, one of Portland’s largest arts organizations has issued a cry for help.

Portland’s Leading Arts Organizations Hate the Arts Tax, Too

What was supposed to be a long-sought infusion of cash has turned out to be just a trickle, accompanied by bad PR.

Whenever Gum Ends Up on a Work at the Portland Art Museum the Museum, Samantha Springer Is the One to Very, Very Carefully Remove It