2021 Schedule
The 6th Vanport Mosaic Festival will offer Oregonians virtual and in-person memory activism opportunities to Remember, Repair, Reclaim, and Re-imagining our collective story.
Close to 200 artists, activists, cultural organizers, historians, media makers. grassroots groups and non-profit organizations have come together to reflect and re-define who is the WE in “WE, THE PEOPLE.” The combination of complex stories and multitude of perspectives will inspire us to reclaim and rebuild a civic identity rooted in equality, diversity, justice, dignity, and truth.
Organized by Story Midwife Laura Lo Forti. Get in touch for questions, sponsorships, and media inquiries: laura@vanportmosaic.org / 510.717.2441
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~In Person
NORTH PARK BLOCKS
June 1- June 30
History Is Now - a reactivation of vacant storefront windows with memory activism displays that amplify community histories and current calls to action - in collaboration with Vanport Mosaic and Design As Protest collective. Some of the participants/Projects: Maxville Heritage Center, Latino Roots in Oregon, Afro Village, This IS Kalapuyan Land/Five Oaks Museum, Oregon Black Pioneers, Oregon Jewish Museum, Japanese American Museum, Portland Chinatown Museum, Portland Black Panthers, People 4 Mutual Education, Oregon Remembrance Project, The Immigrant Story, Mulugeta Seraw/It Happened Here, Fair Housing Council
Soul Restoration Project by Darrell Grant - Artists joined in devising daily rituals of shared artistic practice employing music, movement, poetry, visual art, reading and other artistic gestures to intentionally renew and re-consecrate our civic space
Movement performance curated by Latoya Lovely
Sound postcards from Old Town - Street Roots in collaboration with Vanport Mosaic
Native songs by John Edmo
PITTOCK MANSION
Vanport: A Surge of Social Change exhibit
NORTH EAST PORTLAND
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE 3 walking tours led by Kent Ford, founding member of Portland Black Panthers
Albina Soul Walk - A musical stroll into Albina's past. Hosted by Calvin Walker and Paul Knauls, Sr. presented by Albina Music Trust
ECHO Theater
MediaRites screening of four short films from "The --Ism Project" featuring "Ruega Por Mi" written by Yasmin Ruvalcaba and performed by Yolanda Porter (about a mom searching for her child who was detained at the border), "That Diversity Thing" written by Bonnie Ratner and Roberta Hunte and performed by Shelley B Shelley (about a Black lesbian tradeswoman dealing with dangers of being an essential worker), "Being Me In The Current America" written by Josie Seid and performed by Shareen Jacobs (about an actress' experience with racial profiling in Lake Oswego) and the debut of "Ofelio" A Borderline Story written Andrew Siañez-De La O directed by Francisco Garcia and performed by Phillip Ray Guevara, “Ofelio” tells the story of a former border patrol guard who is now a father of a young baby. As he cares for his child, he is haunted by the faces of children who were detained at the border.
Screening of SOUL’D: the economics of our black body. This fully realized new work is conceived by Damaris Webb and devised by a cohort of local professional Black performers and designers, and engages with the ways our Black bodies have participated in the American economic dream.
OUTSIDE PORTLAND AREA
Oregon Black Pioneers Tours:
Unveiling a Headstone for Martha & Walter Anderson;
Ben Johnson Mountain Gathering and Hike
Unveiling Alonzo Tucker EJI Historical Marker in Coos Bay, marking Oregon’s only documented Black lynching with a marker from the Equal Justice Initiative. (in person and streaming)
~Virtual
A Community Call to Confront Hate - virtual summit presented by the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland - VM presents THIS america with Chisao Hata and Jennifer Fang
From Maxville To Vanport: A collection of songs and short films produced by composer Ezra Weiss with lyrics by S. Renee Mitchell and vocalist Marilyn Keller perform with the PJCE accompanied by shorts by filmmaker Kalimah Abioto to celebrate the shared history of African-American Oregonians, focusing on two towns that represent distinctive viewpoints of the state’s under-discussed Black history.
Maxville: Past Present & Future: Maxville was a timber town—like so many towns in the Pacific Northwest— but, unlike most timber towns, it was home to both African American loggers and white loggers. Gwen Trice’s presentation on Maxville history and the future of Maxville Heritage Center, holding 240 acres of exploration, education and access for all.
A staged reading of Act II Martha Bakes: a Biography of a Revolution and Insurrection that never happened, a new play written by Don Wilson Glenn and directed by Damaris Webb.
Table read of Walking through Portland with a Panther: the life of Mr Kent Ford, All Power. The first draft of a new play written by Don Wilson Glenn directed by Damaris Webb
This Is Not For You: An Activist's Journey of Resistance and Resilience with author Richard Brown, a Black Portlander who has spent decades working to bridge the divide between police and the Black community. In conversation with Salomé Chimuku, co-founder of the Black Resilience Fund
Screening of OFELIO - A Borderline Story By Andrew Siañez-De La O - produced by MediaRites Directed by Francisco Garcia and performed by Phillip Ray Guevara, “Ofelio” tells the story of a former border patrol guard who is now a father of a young baby. As he cares for his child, he is haunted by the faces of children who were detained at the border.
Reclaiming Old Town/Stories in Movement panel facilitated by Chisao Hata
Poetry slam curated by Ken Yoshikawa
Us, Them, We: A Dialogue Across Difference - Chisao Hata and Bruce Poinsette engaged in an intergenerational, cross cultural dialogue exploring solidarity, abolition, side effects of living under the white gaze and their respective work documenting culturally specific history.
“Reform vs Abolish the Police?” - a debate about the future of public safety featuring Gresham City Councilman Vince Jones-Dixon and journalist Mac Smiff, and moderated by Donovan Smith and Bruce Poinsette.
Vanport Day Of Remembrance - virtual City proclamation with Mayor and Commissioners
~Self-PACED
Confluence Story Gathering, a collection of resources from Indigenous perspective
Come Sunday by Darrell Grant/Third Angle Music, a pilgrimage in sound and time that winds through the King, Humboldt, and Alberta neighborhoods — once the heart of Oregon’s largest Black community.
Albina Soul Walk - A self-guided audio tour hosted on the ECHOES mobile application, presented by Albina Music Trust and created by artist Megan Hattie Stahl