PAM Named as an Inaugural Community Partner of 1803 Fund as Part of Initiative to Strengthen Black Portland
Portland Art Museum (PAM) today announced that it will create a dedicated gallery space with exhibition programming focused on Black art and experiences, thanks to a generous multi-year grant from 1803 Fund. The award establishes a five-year partnership between PAM and 1803 Fund, a nonprofit committed to rebuilding and strengthening the historically Black community in North and Northeast Portland.
Situated on the first floor of PAM’s Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art in the Mark Building, the new gallery space will be visible through the Museum’s transparent façade as visitors traverse a public community passageway, expanding the reach of these installations and contributing to the integration of cultural and public life in downtown Portland. The Black Art and Experiences gallery will open in late 2025 in tandem with the unveiling of PAM’s broader campus expansion and renovation project, which will completely transform the existing Museum and create a vital “cultural commons” in the heart of downtown Portland.
“We are deeply grateful to 1803 Fund for the support and recognition of PAM as a beacon for all of Portland’s diverse audiences and are thrilled for the opportunity to provide a platform for voices that have often been marginalized in the broader art world,” said Brian Ferriso, Director of the Portland Art Museum. “Through this partnership, we want to continue to spotlight the ongoing growth and vitality of Portland’s Black artistic community, as well as nationally and internationally recognized Black artists, to create an inclusive and welcoming space that resonates with generations of visitors to come.”
Through this partnership, PAM will continue to build upon efforts to diversify its collection and exhibition programming and uplift historically underrepresented artists. With the creation of the Black Art and Experiences gallery, the Museum will have a dedicated space to showcase works by local, regional, and global Black artists and present exhibitions, performances, and programs that reflect the multitude of Black experiences. At inception, PAM is organizing exhibitions and programs of new work as well as collection presentations with the ultimate goal of securing funding to establish an endowment to hire a dedicated curatorial position. The new gallery is the latest initiative in PAM’s ongoing commitment to center Black voices, most recently reflected in the 2023 exhibition Black Artists of Oregon, curated by Intisar Abioto, which explored the Black diasporic experiences particular to the Pacific Northwest from the 1880s to the present day.
The inaugural presentation in PAM’s new Black Art and Experiences Gallery, opening in late 2025, will encompass four exhibitions. This will include Tenderhead, a solo exhibition featuring new works and a site-specific installation by Portland artist Lisa Jarrett; an exhibition of prints by Black artists drawn from PAM’s collection, including recent acquisitions of works by Derrick Adams, Robert Pruitt, Alison Saar, Gary Simmons, and others; Do I Look Like a Lady? (Comedians and Singers) (2016), a video installation by Mickalene Thomas; and Conductions: Black Imaginings, a series of performances with artists Noah Beckham, Miles Greenberg, and Bridgette Hickey. The exhibitions are organized by Portland Art Museum curatorial staff: Sara Krajewski, Jaleesa Johnston, and Mary Weaver Chapin.
1803 Fund seeks to nurture collaboration, autonomy, and power in Black Portland, through social and financial investment. Launched in 2020 with funding provided by Phil and Penny Knight, the Fund centers culture as one of three key program areas, and supports projects that celebrate creativity and sustain the communal element of Black artistic life in the city. The partnership between 1803 and PAM serves to amplify the Museum’s role as an important source of inspiration for those who live and work in Oregon, and an essential cultural lifeline for the region’s diverse communities.
“1803 Fund is excited to partner with the Portland Art Museum for Black Art and Experiences,” said Rukaiyah Adams, Chief Executive Officer of 1803 Fund. “This partnership is a meaningful evolution—moving from Black artists and audiences petitioning for admission into hushed, venerated spaces, and moving toward working in collaboration on dynamic places that uplift our collective creativity and highest aspirations. We are excited to become strategic partners to PAM.”
The new gallery space is a key component of PAM’s broader campus transformation. Adding nearly 100,000 square feet of new or upgraded public and gallery space, the project provides increased access to the Museum’s exhibitions and programs, new ways to experience its robust collection and new amenities that address the needs of more diverse audiences. Upon the project’s completion, visitors will encounter an entirely new Museum experience with completely reinstalled galleries and new, more intuitive pathways to encounter art.
