PICA's 2024 Impact Report

Portland Institute for Contemporary Art

Olivia Cam

mfield, Celeste Camfield, and Woodrow Hunt, Osten Cetto : Four Snakes | Credit: Ali Gradischer

JJJJJerome 04 Ellis, Aster of Ceremonies | Credit: Robert Franklin

Table of Contents

Impact Report

PICA

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A Letter from Reuben Roqueñi

Call for Donations

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Mission Statement/ Land Acknowledgment

Limited Edition Prints by Alfredo Jaar

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2024 at a Glance

2024 Highlights

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Programs & Grantmaking Breakdown

Residencies & Commissions

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Programs at a Glance

Thank You

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Impact Report

A Letter from Reuben Roqueñi Has it been a year already? Time is elusive that way. It flashes by in an instant, and yet, when I look back on the past twelve months, it seems like I’ve been working at PICA all along (not just a year).

One of the greatest gifts in my life has been the opportunity to experience awe and wonder. It’s the infinite universe, it’s love, it’s beauty, it’s magic—and it’s our lives at PICA. Awe and wonder is artists that take tremendous risks, artists that motion for us to join them, to be seekers, to peer over the precipice, to take courage, to be amazed, and to see behind the curtain. As I look back at our work, it’s been just that. It’s been a year of awe and wonder, filled with the long hours of practicing and preparing, retooling and refining, and ultimately opening our doors to you to experience it all.

We started the year boldly! The success of Policing Justice stands as a testament to our commitment to addressing critical sociopolitical issues through creative practice. PICA became a space for much-needed healing, a place for the community to be heard and cared for, to be honored and celebrated. This exhibition was surely a testament to the power of alliance between many institutions and organizations, artists, and community members.

In June, we hosted our annual gala on a riverboat! I might not normally mention a fundraiser, but wow, a boat floating down the river? I can’t tell you how creative our marketing team is. Brilliant seaworthy costumes and campy ‘80s execu-fashions? What a combo! I just could not resist telling you.

Most recently, TBA was back and on fire! Three weeks overflowing with performances and exhibitions. You’ll see it all laid out in this report: a breadth of compelling artists and personalities, the broad array of works that considered neurodivergence, the prison industrial complex, colonial constructs, grief, and the joy of yelling. Queer humor, queer tragedy, queer horror, and club positivity. Murder investigations, acts of nothingness, and bingo. What a curatorial wonder! The Artistic Directors created a schedule that had us hopping from show to show but moving at just the right pace. We held formal toasts with guest speakers, we celebrated often, and we talked and talked and talked about all the remarkable work we were seeing. The energy was back!

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In this first year of my tenure, I have been truly blessed by an amazing staff, who, through and through, are all so incredibly talented, strongwilled, collaborative, intentional, care-full, and creative beyond belief.

They are the true backbone of PICA. When we hear an artist say, “PICA is the gold standard of artist care!” it is its own reward.

Mic drop. Success. PICA’s staff sets the bar for what it means to be responsive to an artist’s creative aspirations and embrace them as whole people. Can we talk about meals? When artists come to PICA, they are fed on multiple levels.

To our board: I am so grateful to each of you, who bring so much talent and energy to our organization. We could not do this work without you.

And to you, our audiences and supporters: all of this work is for our community. And, in the miracle of reciprocity, none of it could happen without you. Because we are in this together, all of us. You Portland, you our financial supporters, you the ticket buyers, you the businesses, you the arts writers, you our beloved community of artists, and even you our critics—we need each other.

So, this is what our year looked like. I hope you enjoy looking back on it as much as we do. And, if you also felt the awe and wonder, consider giving again. As we end 2024 and step into PICA’s 30th year, your support today will help catapult us into our next decade—one of prosperity, reciprocity, and groundbreaking art. Thanks to everybody for an incredible year, and here’s to more to come!

Cheers,

Reuben Roqueñi Executive Director Portland Institute for Contemporary Art

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Impact Report

Mission Statement

About Portland Institute for Contemporary Art Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) acknowledges and advances new developments in contemporary art, fostering the explorations of artists and audiences. Since 1995, PICA has championed the practice of contemporary artists from around the world, driving vital conversations about the art and issues of today. PICA presents artists from visual and performance backgrounds and embraces those individuals who exist at the borders of genres and ideas. Through performances, exhibitions, community and public programs, artist residencies, lectures, workshops, and the Time-Based Art Festival, our programs catalyze conversations about contemporary culture. More information can be found at pica.org.

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PICA acknowledges the Native nations across the Americas upon whose land we live. We recognize their sovereignty and denounce broken treaties. All told: seek truth in education, be guided by Native wisdom, and contribute to Native causes, political efforts, and organizations as much as possible. Please consider the ways in which you can support Native artists and communities wherever you call home.

Land Acknowledgement

Ahamefule J. Oluo, The Things Around Us | Credit: Robert Franklin

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Impact Report

2024 at a Glance 130

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Artists & Collaborators

Public Programs

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9

Artists in Residence

SPACE Program Partners

$187,975 Artist Grants Awarded

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Artists

Projects

PICA

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6,000+ Audience Members

1,170 Ticket Bank Tickets* *PICA’s Ticket Bank is a fund that offers deeply discounted or free tickets to help make contemporary art more accessible to wider audiences.

30,800+ Social Media Followers

17,500+ Instagram

13,300+ Facebook

~19,800 # of French Fries Served

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Impact Report

Programs & Grantmaking Breakdown We are proud that so much of PICA funds directly support diverse artists, arts workers, and the creative economy of Portland and beyond. From commissions and grantmaking to our staff and contractors, the vast majority of our resources go to the people that move forward, produce, and present outstanding contemporary art. In 2024, we gave:

$633,564 Art Workers (Our People)

$399,609 Production Costs

$398,893 Artists’ Fees

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$187,975 Regranting

$58,820 Travel & Hospitality for Artists

$97,215 Benefits & Taxes

$34,563 Occupancy

Kye Alive, Afterparty Club Alive | Credit: Fiorin Ballerini

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Impact Report

Grant Funding Going Directly to Artists & Artist Projects

100% National Endowment for the Arts

89% The Ford Family Foundation

72% Mellon Foundation*

61% The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

*In support of Creative Exchange Lab

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Anna Martine Whitehead, FORCE! an opera in three acts | Credit: Robert Franklin

PICA’s Gala, Executive Venus, Mother of Pearl | Credit: Mario Gallucci

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Programs a Impact Report

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

• SPACE Program — Black Arts Ecology of Portland (BAEP) • SPACE Program — Elbow Room weekly activities begin • Reuben Roqueñi at First Nations Performing Arts Annual Convening, Lenapehoking (New York, NY)

• Policing Justice exhibition opens • Policing Justice artist panel discussion • Lecture by American Artist, copresented with the Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies at PNCA • Policing Justice lecture series, co-presented with U of O and PNCA: Alfredo Jaar, Sandy Rodriguez, and Robert Trafford

MAY

JUNE

• MMIR: Keeping Us Safe: Community Safety Strategies, organized by Mick Rose • San Cha In Residence at PICA • SPACE Program — Collage workshops with dee bustos • Erin Boberg Doughton and Pepper Pepper at caravan assembly, Brighton, UK

• PICA’s Annual Fundraiser — Executive Venus, Mother of Pearl • “Epistemics for Artists” by Bean Gilsdorf, co-presented with Oregon Contemporary • Risk Reward Festival at PICA • Autumn Knight and Justine Chambers In Residence at PICA

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

• Time-Based Art Festival • 26 days/nights of programs • 50+ artists, collectives, and creative collaborators

• NOTHING#15: a bed by Autumn Knight • SPACE Program — Cinema Project • Reuben Roqueñi at Portland Monuments Symposium

at a Glance PICA

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MARCH

APRIL

• Policing Justice film series with Clinton Street Theater • Symposium — Policing in Portland: A Community Conversation, organized by Laney Ellisor • Workshop — Artist: Power and Practices by Don’t Shoot Portland and M. Martinez Photo

• Creative Exchange Lab • Mapping the Pipeline Education Series by Buddy Terry and Master Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr. • Podcast launch for Fight the Power, Do No Harm: The Story of the Black Cross Healthcare Collective • Barely Fair with ILY2, Chicago, IL • Kristan Kennedy and Reuben Roqueñi at EXPO CHICAGO • Reuben Roqueñi and Erin Boberg Doughton at NPN Partner Convening, Chicago, IL

JULY

AUGUST

• Ahamefule J. Oluo In Residence at PICA • Boom Arts + PICA Passholder Party • SPACE Program — VOLUMES

• Precipice Fund applications open • SPACE Program — Friends of Noise

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

• NOTHING: all at once by Autumn Knight • NOTHING#15: a bluff by Autumn Knight • SPACE Program — Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble (PETE)

• Precipice Fund award ceremony • Year-End Celebration

Policing Justice, installation view | Credit: Mario Gallucci

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Impact Report

Maxx Katz, Yelling Choir | Credit: Robert Franklin

Call for Donations PayPal @picapdx

pica.org/support/donations

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More than anything, the 2024 Impact Report reveals the importance of you.

You play a vital role in the arts community by supporting PICA. You ensure that contemporary artists have the space and resources they need to thrive. You empower boundarypushing ideas, experiences, and expressions. You make Portland a more culturally vibrant city.

Your contribution to PICA makes a difference. If you believe what we believe—that art can change lives and meaningfully impact the world—we ask you to donate today.

Scan the QR code to make a donation now, or contact Jamie Townsend, Director of Development at jamie@pica.org for more information.

Now Av

Print by Alfredo Jaar 2024 Archival pigment print Edition: 20 + 5 Artist Prints Price: $1,500*

*This print is valued at $1,000 and purchase includes a $500 tax-deductible donation to PICA.

Purchase Here

for Pur

vailable

This is a rare opportunity to own an artwork by one of the most influential artists alive— and support PICA at the same time! We are thrilled to be offering fifteen limited edition prints by the internationallyrenowned artist Alfredo Jaar, with a direct donation to PICA included with purchase. Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness is an edition of twenty, unframed, 10” x 10” archival pigment prints.

Speaking at PICA in 2024, Jaar said of our organization: “I think there are very few institutions like PICA remaining in this country. So we have to support them as much as we can. It is a model of what art and life can do, so we should support this institution more than ever.

Art, for me, has always been the last remaining space of freedom.

There are many threats right now about this conflict, but this is the last remaining space of freedom. So these spaces have to be protected.”

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Alfredo Jaar, Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness | Credit: L Quezada

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2024

Impact Report

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Autumn Knight, NOTHING #15: a bar | Credit: Ali Gradisher

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Impact Report

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ghlights

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Impact Report

February 23 – May 19, 2024 Co-curated by Nina Amstutz and Cleo Davis

Policing

• Black Aesthetic Studio • (Cleo Davis, Kayin Talton Davis, Robert Alexander Clarke, and Kimberly Moreland) • Don’t Shoot Portland (Tai Carpenter and Teressa Raiford)

• Forensic Architecture • Alfredo Jaar • Master Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr. and Blue • Sandy Rodriguez • Carrie Mae Weems

Policing Justice was a major exhibition that examined policing practices in Portland, Oregon, and their relationship to longer local and national histories of oppression through the lens of artists who call Portland their home and those who have witnessed and documented police brutality across the globe.

The extended George Floyd protests in 2020, which lasted longer in Portland than in any other city in America and were met with over 6,000 documented instances of police use of force, serve as a point of departure to explore Portland’s history of policing in relation to racial, environmental, spatial, and juvenile justice.

Local artists and activist groups reflected on these situated histories through a series of commissioned installations, a two-part video installation, and a new work produced for the exhibition. Policing Justice was accompanied by an active programming schedule, including a symposium, film series, workshops, and panel discussions, which centered on locally impacted communities.

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Policing Justice, installation view | Credit: Mario Gallucci

Justice

Policing in Portland: A Community Conversation was a two-day symposium organized by Laney Ellisor that brought together local community leaders for discussions on the history of police violence and racist policing in Portland, ongoing attempts to hold police accountable and reform policing practices, and burgeoning efforts to radically reimagine public safety in our communities.

Held on March 8 and 9, the symposium featured a lecture by Alex Vitale; panel discussions moderated

by Mac Smiff, Candace Avalos, and Amber Boydston; and a performance by Sterling Cunio, and more!

As a key part of Policing Justice, artists were invited to develop self-determined programs, such as workshops or events. These programs included Artist: Power and Practices, a workshop hosted by Don’t Shoot Portland and M. Martinez Photo; Mapping the Pipeline Education Series, organized by Buddy Terry and Master Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr.; a podcast launch for Fight The Power, Do No Harm: The Story of the Black Cross Healthcare Collective, produced by Jodi Darby, Honna Veerkamp, and Erin Yanke; and The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives: We Keep Us Safe, which presented community safety strategies from Chenoa Landry, Alicia Spotted Eagle, and Polimana Joshevama, moderated by Adam Becenti and organized by Mick Rose.

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Impact Report

September 5 – 22, 2024

Time-Based Art Festival “TBA is a time for yelling, laughing, dancing, singing, eating and drinking, telling stories, having conversations, and sharing how it feels to be alive.”

— Erin Boberg Doughton & Kristan Kennedy In its twenty-first year, the Time-Based Art Festival continued its tradition of bringing people together to amplify contemporary art that is bold in its thinking, collaborative, and challenging.

TBA:24 spanned the first three weeks of September, which allowed audiences to be fully immersed in a wide variety of programs on the weekends with a lighter schedule Monday through Wednesday. In this new format, PICA presented twenty-six performances and showed work by over fifty artists, collectives, and creative collaborators, all while hosting our community for Institute discussions, happy hours, and afterparties.

Anthony Hudson, Queer Horrors | Credit: Robert Franklin

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Morgan Bassichis, Can I Be Frank? | Credit: Robert Franklin

The Javaad Alipoor Company*

Timothy Yanick Hunter*

Kye Alive

Linda K. Johnson with Chisao Hata, Susan Banyas, Robin Lane, and Joan Findlay

Morgan Bassichis Olivia Camfield, Celeste Camfield, and Woodrow Hunt Elbow Room

Autumn Knight Marikiscrycrycry

JJJJJerome Ellis

Ahamefule J. Oluo

Sarah Farahat and Alexandria Saleem

Jess Perlitz* Videotones*

Sarah Gilbert and Pato Hebert*

Anna Martine Whitehead

Sam Hamilton*

Yelling Choir by Maxx Katz

Anthony Hudson/Carla Rossi

*These artists were presented with our partners: Boom Arts Stephanie Snyder and the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery at Reed College Portland Art Museum ILY2 Pacific Northwest College of Art at Willamette University

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Impact Report

Festival Many TBA:24 artists utilized the voice and experimental forms of noise making to create genre-bending operas, choreographies, one-person shows, and more. Artists hailing from all over the world—from Aotearoa New Zealand to our own city—presented performance works addressing a range of social, political, and aesthetic concerns, emphasizing PICA’s commitment to full artistic expression. For three weeks and throughout Portland, audiences gathered to laugh, uncover overlooked histories, hear expansive soundscapes, and simply enjoy the communal spirit of TBA. TBA:24 featured a host of exhibitions and installations, presented at PICA, PNCA, ILY2, and Reed College’s Douglas F. Memorial Cooley Art Gallery.

As PICA audiences know, many contemporary artists slide between—or don’t prescribe to—boundaries between art forms. It is this exploratory, limitless energy that PICA brings to a national field and the kinds of artists we bring to Portland. A programmatic mainstay, the Time-Based Art Festival is now known and loved as a place to expect the unexpected.

Institute Institute was a series of free public events held during the Festival that bridged the gap between artists and audiences through discussions, workshops, and critical discourses.

This year’s program highlights included conversations between Linda K. Johnson and dance artists Chisao Hata, Susan Banyas, Robin Lane, and Joan Findlay; Sam Hamilton’s Te Moana Meridian Conference; and a dialogue featuring Javaad Alipoor and Autumn Knight.

Through Institute, artists delved into their creative journeys and gave unique insights into their practices.

The Javaad

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Before & After For TBA:24, PICA introduced a new program, BEFORE & AFTER. Part beer garden, part happy hour, and part afterparty, BEFORE & AFTER was an opportunity for our community to bookend the Festival experience with curated toasts, drinks, snacks, and good conversation. The Festival lounge provided a spot to meet before the first performance of the day, or cap off the evening after daily events wrapped up. Afterparties were a time to dance it out, hosted and DJ’d by beloved Portland creatives. We were thrilled to offer this dedicated gathering space during TBA and we can’t wait to do it again!

Alipoor Company, Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World | Credit: Ali Gradischer

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Impact Report

NOTHING: all at once NOTHING#15: a bar, a bed, a bluff September – December 2024

Autumn Knight, NOTHING #15: a bar | Credit: Ali Gradisher

Throughout the fall season, the New York-based artist Autumn Knight presented a suite of projects that meditate on the Italian concept of dolce far niente, or “the sweetness of doing nothing.”

Knight’s exhibition NOTHING: all at once is an ongoing dialogue with her performance triptych NOTHING#15: a bar, a bed, a bluff. Here, the sleight of hand, the gimmick, and the prestige of disappearance create a score that foregrounds the release of logic and gestures of sense, allowing ideas to exist as they are in space and time.

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NOTHING#15: a bar transforms PICA’s warehouse into a host club, where performers provoke desire and exchange acts of care with audience members.

September 19 – 21, 2024 NOTHING#15: a bed contracts the social structure: a twoperson performance unfolds in a shared bed, exploring the possibility of rehearsing for the loss of a loved one.

October 10 – 12, 2024 NOTHING#15: a bluff features Knight alone, responding improvisationally to a sparsely-filled space, its features, and its audiences.

November 7 – 9, 2024

Autumn Knight, NOTHING#15 a bed | Credit: Malique Pye

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Impact Report

Policing Justice, installation view | Credit: Mario Gallucci

Policing Justice Film Series Co-presented with Clinton Street Theater March 7 – April 18, 2024 As part of Policing Justice, PICA partnered with the Clinton Street Theater for a two-month film series. Showing national and local feature films and shorts, the series highlighted some of the complex topics surrounding policing practices and histories in the United States.

Full-Length Films: Reimagining Safety (2023) Arresting Power: Resisting Police Violence in Portland, Oregon (2015) Alien Boy: The Life and Death of James Chasse (2013) Do Not Resist (2016)

Shorts: Is Portland Dying? (2024) State of Oregon (2017) Defund the Police (2021) Practical Abolition (2021) Just a Dog (2016) Split Jury (2023) Conditioned Response (2017) The Hunted and the Hated: An Inside Look at the NYPD’s Stopand-Frisk Policy (2012)

Partner Programs

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Policing Justice Artist Lectures February 2024 Co-presented with Oregon Humanities Center and University of Oregon’s Department of Art and Department of the History of Art and Architecture • “Codex Rodriguez-Mondragón,” Visiting Artist Lecture with Sandy Rodriguez • “Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness,” Visiting Artist Lecture with Alfredo Jaar • “Forensic Architecture: Art and Activism Against State Violence,” Visiting Artist Lecture with Robert Trafford

Co-presented with PNCA and University of Oregon’s Department of the History of Art and Architecture: • Graduate Lecture Series — Alfredo Jaar • Graduate Lecture Series — Robert Trafford, Forensic Architecture

Alfredo Jaar, 06.01.2020 18.39 | Credit: Mario Gallucci

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Impact Report

“Epistemics for Artists” by Bean Gilsdorf Co-presented with Oregon Contemporary June 15, 2024 For the 2024 Artists’ Biennial, presented by Oregon Contemporary, Bean Gilsdorf gave an experimental lecture-performance that enmeshed facts, figures, memes, and clichés about the arts with key theories from psychology, philosophy, and linguistics. “Epistemics for Artists” unpacked the concept of being “epistemically adrift”—a term originally coined for mood disorders, but which could also be used to illuminate how artists have become patently alienated from the fruits of their own labor.

American Artist Lecture Co-presented with the Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies at PNCA February 9, 2024 For this lecture, American Artist spoke about new and old work and the conceptual ties that inform their practice as an interdisciplinary artist. American Artist makes thought experiments that mine the history of technology, race, and knowledge production—beginning with their legal name change in 2013. Their work primarily takes the form of sculpture, software, and video.

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Policing Justice, Artist Panel and Symposium | Credit: Ali Gradischer

Timothy Yanick Hunter, Noise / Grain | Credit: Robert Franklin

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home school press at Precipice Fund Award Ceremony, Round 12 | Credit: Ali Gradischer

Precipic

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Precipice Fund is a regranting program in which PICA provides direct monetary support for artists in the Portland metropolitan area.

Since 2013, the Precipice Fund has provided critical support to unincorporated visual art collectives, alternative spaces, and collaborative projects in and around Portland. To date, we have distributed over $798,000 to support 158 projects and 662 individual artists.

The Precipice Fund drives cultural production in Portland through a lens of resource sharing, community cultivation, and creative exchange. In August 2024, we began accepting applications for our thirteenth round of the Fund, and look forward to gathering our grantees in December to celebrate their work and present their projects to the public. We are continually inspired by our grantees’ enduring commitments to community building and activism, selfdetermining the definitions of creative expression and making, and expanding our understanding of the world through diverse media.

The Precipice Fund is administered with lead support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Past funders have included the Calligram Foundation/Allie Furlotti and the Oregon Community Foundation.

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Impact Report

The Ford Family Foundation Regranting Program

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PICA continues to work in partnership with The Ford Family Foundation as a regranter for their Exhibition + Documentation and Capital Projects grant program. In the spring of 2024, we disbursed $126,225 to Oregon visual artists and the art spaces that support the realization of 14 projects, including publications, exhibitions, and critical capital improvements. This regranting program is a vital support system for artists that puts responsive and adaptive resources towards their work.

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Creative Exchange Lab artists | Credit: Kristan Kennedy

CXL

Creative Exchange Lab (CXL) is a PICA-led residency program where a cohort of artists have the opportunity to experiment, collaborate, and make connections with the support of PICA’s staff.

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CXL allows PICA to further our commitment to supporting artists AND their lives outside of their professional performance. Year after year, we have seen the great need and benefit of focusing artists’ comfort and needs in this beloved residency.

We want to see the Creative Exchange Lab continue! If you are interested in supporting future iterations of the Lab through a major gift, please contact Jamie Townsend, Director of Development at jamie@pica.org.

In the spring of 2024, we welcomed Patricia Vásquez Gómez (Portland, OR), Timothy Yanick Hunter (Toronto, ON), Lisa Jarrett (Portland, OR), Chisato Minamimura (London, UK), and Vo Vo (Portland, OR) for ten days as part of the Creative Exchange Lab. As a cohort, they spent the first two days in Portland sharing meals, outings, and details about their creative practices. Afterwards, they traveled to Caldera Arts in Sisters, Oregon. The time at Caldera has always been incredibly special, connective, and restorative for artists participating in the Lab—for one week artists rested, worked, ate, and convened with one another and with PICA staff.

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Supporting Partners, Artists, and Community Events In 2024, PICA continued to work with numerous organizational partners to offer deeply discounted and no-cost access to our facilities, staff, and PICA resources as part of our SPACE Program. SPACE partners activated our warehouse for diverse activities, including art workshops, music festivals and performances, and other events, providing facilities and support to community members throughout Portland who share goals to advance access to the arts for all.

2024 SPACE Partners: • Black Arts Ecology of Portland (BAEP) is a longtime SPACE partner with PICA. BAEP is a multifaceted, multi-discipline, multi-sited new initiative that brings together community organizations in coalition to devote resources to creating, reclaiming, and redefining spaces with and for Black artists, prioritizing residents who have experienced, or are at risk of, forced displacement from places that have long been hubs of local Black life. BAEP has used PICA facilities for myriad events, gatherings, and activations, including a mural project, public programming, and convenings of Black artists and culture bearers of Portland. BAEP is stewarded by Sharita Towne.

• Center for Equity and Inclusion, established in 2015, is a DEI consulting agency dedicated to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion across the United States and Canada. They have partnered with over 150 organizations— spanning nonprofits, foundations, civic groups, educational institutions, and the private sector—to foster inclusive workplace cultures and drive meaningful change. Their services include training, action planning, and leadership development tailored to each organization’s needs.

• Collage Workshops with dee bustos is a monthly gathering for connection and creativity through collage, led by local artist dee bustos. This is a place for students to explore in a space of curiosity and openness.

• Elbow Room is a community-based group that serves Portland-based artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities through hands-on creative workshops at partner spaces, venues, and organizations throughout the city. During TBA:24, PICA hosted Good Dang Weekend, a fundraiser for an Elbow Room, with 150 people in attendance.

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SPACE

• Friends of Noise supports creative youth in Portland through all-ages concerts, workshops, and experience navigating the music scene. An established SPACE partner, Friends of Noise uses PICA’s facilities for rehearsals and performances.

• Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble (PETE) is an itinerant collective of artists working together to bring contemporary theater performances to the public in spaces across Portland. At PICA, PETE presented their ongoing project, Weather Room, a series of experimental theater performances.

• VOLUMES is a celebration of publications.

This free, three-day popup event celebrates publication design as a dynamic tool for amplifying messages, shaping conversations, and driving cultural progress. This event is free to all and invites everyone to explore the power of design.

• Risk Reward supports boundary-pushing artists and audiences in the performing arts. Based in the Pacific Northwest region, they empower local artists, foster adventurous audiences, and promote cross-disciplinary collaborations. Key initiatives include the Festival of New Performance, Presenting Series, Risk/REWIND, and Dialogue Series—each designed to ignite ideas and expand possibilities in performance.

Elbow Room, Good Dang Weekend | Credit: Robert Franklin

Residencies and Commissioning 54 Impact Report

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• Autumn Knight came to PICA over the course of the year to develop three site-specific performance works: NOTHING#15: a bar, NOTHING#15: a bed, and NOTHING#15: a bluff. These performances were accompanied

by NOTHING: all at once, an evolving exhibition presented at PICA throughout the fall. During this time, the artist met with curators and other artists, conducted a developmental residency with Justine Chambers, and collaborated with the artist Jaavad Alipoor for an artist talk as part of TBA’s Institute series. PICA co-commissioned these projects.

• Anna Martine Whitehead took part in a developmental residency with their project collaborators and producer in preparation for FORCE! an opera in three acts, presented and co-commissioned by PICA as part of TBA:24.

Whitehead also met with community members, curators, and fellow artists during the residency.

Ahamefule J. Oluo, The Things Around Us | Credit: Robert Franklin

• Ahamefule J. Oluo visited us for a developmental residency ahead of The Things Around Us, which later premiered at TBA. • San Cha came to PICA for a developmental residency with their collaborators and producer.

This residency included a performance presented by PICA at Duality Brewing, a Portland bar and restaurant.

Pepper 56 Pepper hosting PICA’s Gala, Executive Venus, Mother of Pearl | Credit: Impact Mario ReportGallucci

Spring Fundrai

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PICA’s Annual Fundraiser Executive Venus, Mother of Pearl June 1, 2024

While PICA’s full space was utilized for the multifaceted exhibition Policing Justice, we set sail on the Willamette River for our Annual Fundraiser.

Guests enjoyed a twilight dinner cruise on the Portland Spirit with performances by DJ NO.Bi.Es., Onry, and a special observation deck performance at dusk by Fernanda D’Agostino and Crystal Quartez.

Hosted by Pepper Pepper with fundraising host Andrew Dickson, it was truly a night to remember.

Did we mention the outfits? While this was an important event to raise much-needed funds for PICA, Executive Venus, Mother of Pearl was also a chance to come out of your shell and express yourself! Stay tuned for upcoming information about the 2025 gala.

P.S. Check out the event photos online!

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Fiscal 58

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Fiscal sponsorship is an important way that we serve artists and activists in their work. As the fiscal sponsor, PICA serves as an essential bridge between funding entities and the projects we sponsor. It is a way for us to use our organizational infrastructure and nonprofit status to help unincorporated projects doing incredible work in our community. We devote time, staff capacity, and resources to help our partners navigate grant applications and secure vital monetary support to advance their practices and community initiatives.

PICA Audience Members | Credit: Ali Gradischer

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• A Black Art Ecology of Portland (BAEP) is an ongoing initiative that brings together community organizations in coalition to devote resources to creating, reclaiming, and redefining spaces for Black art, youth, and audiences in Portland.

BAEP is led by artist and organizer Sharita Towne.

• First Nations Performing Arts is a transnational, Indigenous-led initiative that promotes and uplifts the urgent work of decolonization throughout the performing arts field in the United States.

Sponsorship

Active Fiscal Partnerships:

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The Java

aad Alipoor Company, Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World | Credit: Ali Gradischer

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Impact Report

Supporters • Caroline Abero • Amy Adams • Roya Amirsoleymani • Nina Amstuz • Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts • Anonymous • Anonymous Fund of OCF • Arnerich Massena • Art Dealers Association of America • Linda Austin & Jeff Forbes • Patty Backer • Pam Baker-Miller & Kent Richardson • Andi Bakos • Madalyn Barelle • Gregory Barton • Jana Bauman & John Baker • Avantika Bawa • Geoffrey Beasley • Laura Becker • Roberto Bedoya • Heidi Beebe & Doug Skidmore • Jane & Spencer Beebe • Jaana Beidler • Jason Bell • Pat Boas • Bill Boese • Lynne Bredfeldt Haider • Kristin Bremer-Moore & Steve Moore • Harper Brokaw-Falbo • Karen Brooks • Dennis Brown & Dave Meeker • Kira Burge & Guy Merrill • Stashia Cabral • Kristin Calhoun • Carlos & Monica Camin • Camp Colton • Amy Cannata • Celia Carlson • Lucinda Carmichael • Yanira Castro • Kumuth Chatterjee • City of Portland • Glenn Clevenger & Rod Pulliam • Brad Cloepfil • Alex & Andrew Juer • Judy Cooke

• Matthew C. Cross • Nan Curtis & Marty Houston • Hugh d'Autremont • Courtney Dailey & Michael Hyde • Jeremy Dalton & Van Pham • Gary Hartnett & Eloise Damrosch • Tracy Dawahare • Susan McKinney & Michael de Forest • Andrew Dickson & Susan Beal • Jordan Dinwiddie • Magnhild Disington • Charlie Dobson • Dru Donovan • Rahmat Dornbrook • Katherine Duran • Leslie Durst • Phoebe Ebright • Ed Caduro Fund of OCF • Kristy Edmunds & Ros Warby • Cathy Edwards & Mike Wishnie • Michael Ellsworth • Lawrence and Kylie Emers • Todd Evanoff • Amy & Jeff Fawcett • Melanie Flood • Tania Flynn • Daniel Fogg & Matthew Pearson • Ford Family Foundation • Ford Foundation • Jennifer Fowler & Michael O'Brien • Derek & Heather Franklin • Thomas Freedman • Richard Frey Sr. • Juniper Frost • Charles & Kyle Fuchs • Mariko Fukuyama • Allie Furlotti & Adam Kostiv • Emily & Kurtis Fusaro • Stephen Galloway & Sofi McKenzie • Quinn Gancedo • Vallejo Gantner • Kathy Gentry • Ashley Gibson

Funders and Sponsors

• Megan Gill • Kit Gillem • John Goodwin • Shir Ly & Laurence Grisanti • Peter & Kimberly Gronquist • MK Guth & Greg Landry • Keith Haring Foundation • Twink Hinds & Graeme Harrison • Andee Hess • Debbie Hill • Henry Hillman • Juliet Hillman • Tom & Eddi Hilts • Shawné Michaelain Holloway • JD Hooge & Susan E. Walton • Samatha Hopple • Britt Howard & Monte Mattsson • Jacqueline Hoyt • Juan Huerta • Linda Hutchins & John Montague • ILY2 • Garrick Imatani • Malia Jensen • Lory & Mats Johansson • Dennis Johnson & Steven Smith • Linda K Johnson & Stephen Hayes • Rebekah Johnson • Elsa Jones • Aurora & Mary Josephson • Shelly Kapoor & Ezra Kover • Matt Karlsen • Keith Karoly • Peter Keller • Kirk & Jessica Kelley • Keith Ketterling • Killian Pacific • Martie Kilmer • Shilla Kim • Aleksandar & Larissa Kirovski • Peter Koehler & Noël Hanlon • Sara Krajewski & Jeff Fisher • Fawn Krieger • Jessica Kroeze • Elizabeth Leach & Bert Berny • Rob Lewis • Shawna Lipton

PICA

• Anna Reid & Steven Lohse • lumber room • Paul Lumley & Phillip Hillaire • Jonathan Malsin • Christy & Michael Mason • Joanna Mattson • Molly McCabe • Diane McCartney • Lindsay McDonnell • McGregor Fund • Adam McIsaac • Katie McMullen • Harold McNaron • Mona McNeil • Ramsey McPhillips • Mellon Foundation • Kate Merrill • Meyer Memorial Trust • Shawne Michaelain • André Middleton & Amy Botula • Carly Mikkelsen • Cristi Miles & Clint Lindhorst • Alex & Lynn Miller • Max Miller • Sarah Miller Meigs & Andrew Meigs • Chrisitane Millinger & Anton Pardini • Casey Mills & Carmen Calzacorta • Erin Moeschler • Jill Sherman & Marc Monaghan • Alexandra Monzón & Erté deGarces • Ryland Moore • Jane Anne Morton • Martin Muller • Kathleen Murney • Stephanie Murphy • NPN • Emily Nemsi • Phong Nguyen • NIKE • Leah Nobilette • Alex Novie • Laura O'Quin • Oregon Arts Commission • Pacific Power Foundation • Mark Palman

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• Trude Parkinson & Peter Ozanne • The Parsons Art Foundation • Daniel Peabody • Barry Pelzner & Deborah Pollack • Currie Person • Georgiana Pickett • Pittman & Brooks PC • Lisa Berkson Platt & David Platt • Naomi Pomeroy • Portland Art Museum • Francis Prenevost • Prosper Portland • Ralph Pugay • Michael Purdy • Eddie Reed • Anthony Rhodes • Suze Riley • Amelia Rina • Kendra Roberts • Laura Rochelois • Rick Rogers • Reuben Roqueñi & Marlana Donehoo • Mick Rose • David B Rosen & • Christopher Rocca • Tannia Ruleaux • Melany Savitt & Josh Segal • Jane Schiffhauer • Ashley & Andrew Schmidt • Brian & Kristen Seidman • Ethan Seltzer & Melanie Plaut • Blake Shell • Bryan Shipley • Colleen Siviter • Beth Hutchins & Pete Skeggs • Elaine Skinner • Angela & Rex Snow • Stephanie & Jonathan Snyder • Albert Solheim • Bianca Sparta • Emily Squires & Jess Perlitz • State Of Oregon • Sanda Stein • Nancy Stevenson • Barry Streit

• Cerinda Survant & David Kaplin • Swigert Warren Foundation • Deniz Tasdemiroglu Conger • Clayton Taylor • The Standard • The Vanport Mosaic • Nicola Trigg • University of Oregon • Sharon Urry & Scott Soutter • Vernissage Fund • Leslie Vigeant & Mike Cahill • Paul & Ann Vigeant • Dorie & Larry Vollum • Betsy Warren • Nell Warren & Greg Misarti • Kevin Washington • Amy Weinstein • Janet Weiss • WESTAF • Jo Whitsell • Priscilla Bernard Wieden • Wieden + Kennedy • Ann Williamson • Megan Wood • Christy & Laura Wyckoff In-Kind Donations • Aesop • Artslandia • Mike Blasberg • Brew Dr. Kombucha • Courtney Dailey • Documart • ILY2 • Phobe Ebright • Allie Furlotti • Nike • PDXWine • Scout Books • Stelo Arts • Stoller Wine • Tito’s Handmade Vodka • Variable West

Thank You 64

PICA Year-Round Staff • Jakob Dawahare • Erté deGarces • Erin Boberg Doughton • Arminda Gandara • Molly Gardner • Jeff Hu • Kristan Kennedy • Samantha Ollstein • Van Pham • L Quezada • Reuben Roqueñi • Mami Takahashi • Jamie Townsend • Leslie Vigeant

Impact Report

• Special thanks to Roya Amirsoleymani, Victoria Frey, and Ashley Schmidt Project-Based Staff • Brit Abuya • Zachariah Barbour • Lenny Beach • Bill Boese • Dan Bouthot • Rory Breshears • John Cartwright • Grant Christnacht • Kalian Clay • Alan Cline

Policing Justice, installation view | Credit: Mario Gallucci

• Graden Downing • Jamie Edwards • Ren Genova • Ali Gradischer • Kye Grant • Marion Guinnee • Madison Hames • Marta Heitz • Cay Horiuchi • Brian Jennings • Kayla Kelly • Saibi Khalsa • Neville Kimball • Al Knight-Blaine • Matthew Larimer • Jason N. Le • James Mapes

PICA

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Fernanda D’Agostino and Crystal Quartez, Mar, Mar, e Mar at PICA’s Gala | Credit: Mario Gallucci

• Milo Mattern • Adrian McBride • Finn Meader • Dylan Nebeker • Nathan Norris • Christian Orellana Bauer • Jake Powell • Jayne Pugh • Jenessa Raabe • Ronnie Rantis • Crimson Ravarra • Megan Rinker • Ryann St. Julien • Teddy Stjarne • Mithila Tambe • Sam Varley

• Hannon Welch • Maxwell Wickstrom • Emma Wiseman • Cullen Wright • Freddie Wyss • Joshua Yoon PICA Board • Courtney Dailey, Chair • Kevin Washington, Treasurer • Emily Fusaro, Secretary • André Middleton • Andrew Dickson • bart fitzgerald

• Allie Furlotti • Lynn Bredfeldt Haider • Peter Gronquist • Phoebe Ebright • Shelly Kapoor • Shawna Lipton • Stephanie Kelly • Cristi Miles • Master Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr.

Special thanks to PICA’s dedicated board members Shir Grisanti and Mariko Fukuyama Clark, who concluded their board service during the last year.

Sarah Farahat and Alexandria Saleem, Teta’s Tea | Credit: Robert Franklin

Portland Institute for Contemporary Art 15 NE Hancock Street Portland, OR 97212 pica.org

Non-Profit Org US Postage Paid Portland, OR Permit #432

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Cover: Anna Martine Whitehead, FORCE! an opera in three acts | Credit: Robert Franklin