Arts & Culture

Mailbag: ‘Why Are You Shilling for Residential Infill?’

(📸: Mark McClure) “Your constant spewing of YIMBY talking points is too much. The Residential Infill Project was designed by those who will profit off it. The fact that you are shilling it, as though it will actually help with affordable housing, is shameful.” —S.A.  And so the debate begins!  ICYMI, we wrote in Monday’s […]

/ December 17, 2019

How the Alberta Arts District is Trying to Keep its Artists

How do you keep an arts district from losing its artists? That’s an age-old question in gentrifying neighborhoods like the Alberta Arts District, but the nonprofit Alberta Art Works and its executive director Maquette Reeverts think they have an answer — pay artists to do their craft. “That’s how we keep the folks here,” Maquette […]

/ September 18, 2019

Meet the “Minister of Loud Noises” at The Old Church Concert Hall

The Old Church Concert Hall in downtown Portland is known as “a sanctuary of sound” — and organist Michael Barnes is its “minister of loud noises.” Michael is the artistic director behind the Lunchtime Concert Series, which brings local musicians to The Old Church every Wednesday at noon to perform a free concert. The concert […]

/ August 30, 2019

How Hip Hop Soulsation Academy Advanced to the World Dance Championship

The competition dance team from Hip Houl Soulsation Academy has won a “golden ticket” this summer — but they might need a little help to redeem it. At their last competition, the local teens earned a chance to represent Oregon at the World Dance Championships in New Jersey. Now the challenge is getting there. The […]

/ July 25, 2019

From Peru to Portland: Andina Serves up Authentic Cuisine in the Pearl

THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The Pearl District THE PLACE: It all started with a a Peruvian chemistry teacher and a Peace Corps volunteer from Portland. After John S. Platt and Doris Rodriguez de Platt fell in love in Peru, they moved their family to John’s hometown of Portland. Decades later, they collaborated with their son Peter to […]

/ March 19, 2019