“The annual festival is a highlight of Portland’s cultural calendar, blending history, culture, arts and activism into a living and highly creative memorial.”
– Oregon Arts Watch / Bob Hicks

In these times of collective amnesia and erasure, remembering is resistance.

Two weeks of exhibits, tours, performances, and conversations lifting up the stories that shape the world we live in and imagining a future where we all belong.

Join us for two weeks of memory activism to explore the many silenced histories that surround us, and to REmember, REpair, REclaim, and RE-imagine our collective story.

Remembering is an act of resistance. Join us for two weeks of memory activism to remember, repair, reclaim, and reimagine our collective story.


STORY HARVEST

Did you or a family member live in Vanport?
Your memories matter. We invite you to contribute to the Vanport Mosaic Living Archive. For over a decade, we’ve been collaborating with the Vanport former residents and descendants to preserve and amplify this essential chapter of Oregon’s history. Together, we’ve built the largest existing archive of Vanport oral histories, with over 100 stories already recorded.

Throughout the Festival the Vanport Mosaic team will digitize your scrapbooks, photos, and artifacts about Vanport, and conduct interviews.

Contact our Program manager Greta Smith at greta@vanportmosaic.org

(Photo by Julie Keefe: Ms. Betty Jones at the annual Vanport Reunion.)


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PROGRAM

MAY 16 – SUNDAY, JUNE 1

Precipice: re-membering, forgetting, and claiming home

Location: CoHo Theatre

Showtimes: Thursday – Saturday 7:30 PM | Sunday 2:00 PM

Tickets: Purchase Here

A Vanport Mosaic theatrical production conceived and performed by Damaris Webb and presented by Third Rail Repertory Theater. Written by Chris Gonzalez & directed by Olivia Mathews.

SATURDAY, MAY 17 · 11:00 AM – 1:30 PM

Annual Reunion for Vanport Residents, Flood Survivors & Descendants

Location: Alberta House

Private event by invitation only

SUNDAY, MAY 18 · 11:00 AM

Malcolm X Day – Power to the People: Black Panthers Walking Tour

Location: Starts in the parking lot of Matt Dishman Community Center

Tickets: Reserve Here

Join Kent Ford, co-founder of Portland’s Black Panther Party, for a powerful walking tour through NE Portland. Listen as he shares personal memories of revolutionary activism and community organizing that continue to inspire today's movements for justice.

MONDAY, MAY 19 · 6 - 8 PM

Malcolm X 100

Location: Historic Alberta House

Free. Everyone is welcome

On Malcolm X’s birthday, join Mr. Kent Ford, Black Panthers’ founding member, for an evening of reflection and conversation honoring his life and legacy.

SUNDAY, MAY 18 · 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM

Celebrating 10 Years of Memory Activism – Open House

Location: Alberta House

Join us for an afternoon of storytelling, celebration, and community celebrating a decade of memory activism.

RSVP/INFO coming soon

TUESDAY, MAY 20 · 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Fasten Your Seat Belts... It's Been a Bumpy Ride

Location: Starts/Ends at Alberta House

Learn about Portland housing discrimination history on this popular bus tour by the Fair Housing Council of Oregon.

Tickets: Reserve Here

WEDNESDAY, MAY 21 · 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM

The Spirit of Vanport

Location: Vanport Building, 1810 SW 5th Ave.

Join the PSU Office of Diversity and Global Inclusion and the Vanport Mosaic for a celebration of Portland State’s origins as Vanport College and its place in the rich history of Vanport, honoring Vanport’s former residents, survivors, and descendants. This is also an opportunity to see the permanent Vanport Mosaic installation in the lobby of the building.

Tickets: Reserve Here

WEDNESDAY, MAY 21 · 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM

Oregon Racial History

Location: Alberta House

Dr. Raymond Douglas Chong discusses the racial history of Oregon, spanning from its territorial days to statehood and into the early twenty-first century.

Tickets: Reserve Here

THURSDAY, MAY 22 · 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Global Water Dance Workshop

Location: PSU Vanport Building, Room 262

Registration: Sign Up Here

Facilitator: Dr. Mindy J. Chappell, Portland State University

This participatory workshop introduces the Global Water Dances initiative and teaches choreography for the local performance. The dance honors Vanport’s legacy of resilience and uses movement as a form of memory activism.

SATURDAY–SUNDAY, MAY 24–25 · 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Youth Archivist Program

Location: Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA)

Led by: Michael Stevenson

The Youth Archivists, a Vanport Mosaic after-school program led by Michael J. Stevenson, invite students, faculty, alumni, and community members to stop by, share memories, and be scanned for the growing Jefferson archive—all while viewing the project’s progress.

Drop-in participation encouraged!

SATURDAY, MAY 24 · 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Black History Walking Tour

Location: Dawson Park

Tickets: Reserve Here

Join Oregon Black Pioneers for a guided walking tour through Portland's historically-Black Albina neighborhood!

SATURDAY, MAY 24 · 6:00 – 9:00 PM

Lost City, Living Memories: Vanport Through the Voices of Its Residents

Location: Alberta House

Tickets: Reserve Here

Screening of short oral history documentaries from the Vanport Mosaic collection, featuring special guests from the Vanport community. With a live musical performance by the Northwest Freedom Singers.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 28 · 6:00 – 8:00 PM

“Not a Fad or Frill”: A Love Letter to Vanport’s Music Teachers

Location: Alberta House

Tickets: Reserve Here

Public historian and ethnomusicologist Kelly Bosworth shares findings from years of archival research on the music of Vanport, focusing on the groundbreaking contributions of music educators Mrs. Ada Wood and Mrs. Martha Jordan.

THURSDAY, MAY 29 · 6:00 PM

Memories In The Taking

Location: Alberta House

A new staged reading created by Dr. Raina Croff and co-directed with clarice bailey, culled from over 400 walking oral history narratives on Black life and aging in Portland, collected through the Sharing History through Active Reminiscence and Photo-imagery study (SHARP).

Tickets: Reserve Here

SATURDAY, MAY 31 · 12:00 – 4:00 PM

BIRDWATCHING & HISTORY WALKING TOUR

Location: Force Lake, 11415 N Force Ave

Tickets: Reserve Here

Join Marti Clemmons, archivist and historian at Portland State University, and Bo Lyons (BIRDHERS) as we explore a space where history and nature intersect.

SATURDAY, MAY 31 · 12:30 – 5:00 PM

Vanport Day of Remembrance

Location: Delta Park, Expo Center/Assembly Center

INFO: FREE. Everyone is welcomed

The afternoon features walking tours, performances, and pop-up exhibits on the Indigenous land where Vanport once stood and where nearly 4,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated.

View full program & details →

SUNDAY, JUNE 1 · 3:00 – 6:00 PM

The Portland Assembly Center / We Are Still Here

Location: Expo Center / Assembly Center

Tickets: Reserve Here

Resonance Ensemble and Vanport Mosaic present an immersive site-specific performance of music, theatre, and movement, featuring the award-winning voices of Resonance Ensemble, choral music curated and conducted by Shohei Kobayashi, the world premiere of a new work by acclaimed composer Kenji Bunch, and the Portland Assembly Center Project by Chisao Hata, co-directed by Heath Hyun Houghton.

Exhibits · HISTORic Alberta House

Gallery Hours:

Vanport: A Surge of Social Change – A curated collection exploring Vanport’s lasting legacy.

The Climate Refugees of Vanport – Paintings by Henk Pander.

Cardboard artwork by Bayo.

Impressions of vanport – By the 3rd Grade students at Buckman Elementary .


📍 Alberta House · Open Gallery Hours

Tuesday, May 20
12:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Saturday, May 24
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Tuesday, May 27
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Thursday, May 29
12:00 PM – 2:00 PM