Opening January 10, PAM CUT @ The Whitsell is the final piece of the Portland Art Museum’s campus transformation project.
The final piece of the Portland Art Museum’s recently completed $116M campus transformation, the renovated PAM CUT @ The Whitsell for film, new media, and visual storytelling, is set to reopen to the public on January 10, 2026.
PAM CUT’s reimagination of the Whitsell Auditorium is part of the Portland Art Museum’s expanded and renovated campus that opened November 20, which completely transforms the existing Museum and creates a vital “cultural commons” in the heart of downtown Portland. The campus transformation adds nearly 100,000 square feet of new or upgraded public and gallery space, providing increased access to exhibitions and programs, updated amenities that address the needs of more diverse audiences, and new ways to experience PAM’s robust collection.
PAM’s transformation has created for the first time a vital space for media arts on the lower level of the Museum’s new Mark Rothko Pavilion. The renovated 293-seat Whitsell Auditorium offers comfortable new seats with improved accessibility; upgraded cinema projection, sound, and screen; and improved camera and streaming capabilities for public programs and events. Just outside the Whitsell, a dedicated gallery for new media, the Blair Family Gallery, hosts world-renowned media artist Marco Brambilla’s exhibition Maximalist Dreamscapes, pushing the boundaries of cinematic storytelling further into the museum.
Together, the Whitsell Auditorium and Blair Family Gallery create a new destination to showcase PAM CUT // Center for an Untold Tomorrow, PAM’s program for film, new media and visual storytelling, in conjunction with PAM CUT’s eastside Tomorrow Theater, education and artist spaces at PAM CUT downtown, and the new Blair Family Gallery in the Portland Art Museum.
In this reimagined cinematic destination at the heart of the Portland Art Museum, screenings and events will be held in the upgraded space as part of PAM CUT @ The Whitsell programming. The exhibition-style programming showcases work by local and global artists, filmmakers, and culturemakers past and present. Screenings will be held every Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Curated collaboratively by Amy Dotson, PAM CUT Director and PAM Curator, Film & New Media, and PAM CUT Head of Programming Joanna Sokolowski, along with creative guest programmers, PAM CUT @ The Whitsell programming features distinctive, must-see cinematic programming in a range of film and digital formats. Guest curators for Winter 2026 include creative polymath Carrie Brownstein, multi-faceted director Lance Bangs, fashion expert Looks on Screen, writer and content creator Remy Solomon, actor and content creator Michele Venlee, and artists and partners in conjunction with the Portland Art Museum’s new Black Art and Experiences Gallery. Inaugural partners include Criterion, which will be sharing giveaways of iconic films from its Collection and access to the Criterion Channel throughout the opening series.
“PAM CUT @ The Whitsell is the perfect venue for cinematic arts collision,” says Amy Dotson, Director of PAM CUT. “Pushing the boundaries of what’s possible by changing for whom, by whom, and how visual stories are told is PAM CUT’s mission, and we can’t wait for audiences to be immersed in the new space.”
Ongoing Signature Series
Subsequent film series will be released on a rotating basis, often in theme and conversation with exhibitions and work at the Portland Art Museum. Additional series will launch in the spring, including Deep CUT, featuring screenings that expansively highlight the work and creative inspirations of directors, artists, and visionaries, and the CUT Away, featuring the best of the cutting edge of international cinema.
The reopening of the Whitsell Auditorium is an invitation to dream, to expand the possibilities of who and what shape our realities, and to create and experience something entirely distinct where art and cinema collide.
Learn more about the PAM CUT @ Whitsell and view programming.
