It’s one of those days. You’re sitting at home, bored shitless. God, it’s just you and The Mike Douglas Show. Maybe a little culture will do the trick, snap you back to life. If you live in Portland you are in luck. For its size there are more arts organizations, artists and cultural events of all kinds happening here than nearly any other city on the West Coast, perhaps in the country. Granted, the dramatic scale and thrill of the “big time” is missing, but that is your problem. You just might be caught up in the all- American media hype, designed to keep you off balance and a little dissatisfied. Sure, Portland isn’t New York, but so what. If you know where to go, it’s all here. So check your pulse, get a fix on what kind of art and culture you are up to, read on and soon you will be out the door, on your way to meaningful experiences and selfimprovement. Hot dog! But first a little background to carry out with you. Portland is really unique in that it has nearly 150 arts organizations representing nearly everything imaginable, and a good percentage of them are run, if not actually founded, by artists. Unlike the sea-bottom environment of other major centers, Portland artists are not crushed by overpowering commercial pressures. In fact, no one really gives a damn what artists do for the most part, except other artists. Consequently, the arts community, rather than culture brokers, has set the tone for artists to operate. Some unusual, very progressive things have resulted that are unheard of in other states. For one thing, galleries and museums in Oregon have been convinced to abandon the practice of charging artists entrance and exhibition fees, as is the rule in California and other state's. Instead, a trend has been established in Oregon to pay exhibiting artists honorariums in recognition of the “entertainment” they provide. As with any other performer, visual artists are coming to expect compensation for providing the public with “ampse- ment” or whatever other experiences the public may have when attending a free gallery exhibition. Local punk groups, too, have banded together, at first to convince a few local tavern owners to let them play, and now to do their own promoting and advertisement collectively. The striking black and white posters scattered throughout Downtown and elsewhere have been made and distributed by band members or art pals. They are not the result of some highly paid promoter’s hard-sell blitz. In an atmosphere of benign neglect and just plain ignorance, Portland a rtists have formed a community for themselves that supports and encourages productive creativity and collective solutions to common problems. Most artists’ organizations are fairly new, having been established within the last five years or so. They amount to a surfacing of the city’s extensive tradition of cultural undergrounds, goings back to the 1950s. Since many are operated by artists instead of professional arts administrators, you have more choices to experience art directly rather than by way of the prepackaged, prefab programs offered by local big- time heavies such as the Portland Symphony, Opera and Art Museum. Unfortunately, coffee table art is the mainstay of the big institutions, and with large staff and promotional budgets they are much more effective at bullying their way into public funds and public attention. While these organizations may represent a safe, “soft” way of introducing Mr. and Mrs. Public to art for the first time, they seldom offer anything very challenging or contemporary and almost never directly support the activities of living creative artists. Small independent, artist-run organizations are the best bet for experiencing presentations of living culture. Keep in mind art 32
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