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When people with the Portland Parks Foundation started working on an event to celebrate the city’s different artistic and organizational communities, they started by asking some big questions.
“We’ve gotten pretty deep into philosophical as well as logistical things,” said Subashini Ganesan, a board member of the Portland Parks Foundation and a member of the Oregon Arts Commission. “What does it mean to celebrate? What does it mean to say we welcome? What does safe space mean? ”
The Portland Parks Foundation’s Paseo festival is underway this weekend.
Those inquiries eventually led to Paseo, a free festival being held by the Portland Parks Foundation in South Park Blocks and the Park Director over the weekend. It features music, dancing, spoken words and other performances, as well as vendors, activities and mutual support groups, such as Don’t Shoot Portland and Snack Bloc PDX.
Ganesan said this link of art and community support is one of the defining characteristics of the event.
“It’s hard to separate what mutual aid means and who some of these artists are,” Ganesan said, “because a lot of our artistic talent is involved in some kind of social justice work.”
The OPB spoke with Ganesan and André Middleton, executive director of non-profit, music-focused Friends, to get their choice on what they will see at Paseo this weekend. You can check out the line-up and the full schedule here, but below are a few of their favorites:
