Downtown, Pearl & NW

The BACKFENCE Unhinged podcast records their first ever live show with incredible guests Mitchell S. Jackson and Nicole Hardy sharing delightfully unhinged stories. Hosted by Andrew Dicson and Frayn Masters, and presented by Portland Mercury and...

Singer, rapper, and author Dessa joins the Oregon Symphony for an evening of soaring song ballads, writerly pop songs, and rap anthems. Don’t miss this landmark performance, presented in collaboration with Literary Arts as an extension of the...

Deesha Philyaw joins Rainbow Rowell for a discussion on the perils of perception and the allure of a second chance. Both authors deliver humorous and rich stories of women faced with crumbling reputations and the opportunity to find freedom in...

Lisa Hanawalt reads from her new memoir at Portland Art Museum in the Prints & Drawings gallery.

Overview Portland Art Museum invites the community to join a Free First Thursday event, offering free admission to the museum for all, plus a Live Wire event as part of the Literary Arts Portland Book Festival. Visitors can take in the afternoon gallery pop-ups, the evening show, or both! Free First Thursday + Museum pop-ups 4:30 – 6 p.m. — 4:30-6:00pm — Free, pre-show, pop-up performances will take place throughout the Museum’s galleries. Performers are poet and rapper Dessa, bestselling...

Join Dr. Mas Subramanian, the inventor of YInMn Blue—the first new blue pigment discovered in more than 200 years—for a fascinating lecture on the science, history, and future of color. Dr. Subramanian will share the story behind this accidental...

The first book in the best-selling fantasy series full of magic, wonder, and danger from Colin Meloy, lead singer of the highly celebrated band the Decemberists, and Carson Ellis, the award-winning illustrator. Soon to be a major motion picture...

Frybread Fest is coming back to Downtown Portland, and it’s going to be bigger than ever. Help celebrate Native American Heritage Month through food, culture, art, and community. Enjoy delicious frybread from several Indigenous chefs and...

Grammy® Nominated producer and Billboard #1 recording artist Aaron Nigel Smith is a transformative force in music, education, and humanitarian work.

Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World (2026) Directed by Sasha Waters Freyer. 1hr 31min. Not Rated. If poetry had a pop icon, Mary Oliver would be it. Best-selling poet and Pulitzer Prize-winner, lover of dogs and long walks in the woods, queer and out but intensely private—Oliver’s poems inspire liberals and conservatives, atheists and believers, naturalists and urbanites. She was America’s unlikely, contemporary mystic, stalking the ponds and forests of Cape Cod for nearly fifty...