Free First Thursday
Overview
Join us for Free First Thursday featuring screenings and programs from the Cascade Festival of African Films. This event kicks off the festival’s month-long celebration across Portland and honors its 36th anniversary as the longest-running African film festival in the Pacific Northwest. Experience powerful storytelling, artist voices, and community dialogue across multiple museum spaces.
Free Day Highlights (schedule coming soon):
- Finley Studio: A painting activity with artist Jeremy Okai Davis, who was included in the previous PAM exhibition Black Artists of Oregon and has a piece on view now in Black Printmakers.
- Finley Studio: An African (Mali) sculpture activity facilitated by the organization Ko Falen, making butterflies, dragonflies and flowers out of recycled aluminum cans.
- 4th floor Northwest Gallery: Community conversation and storytelling sessions with members of the African diaspora, held in To Gather Your Leaving.
- Black Art and Experiences Galleries: Music by DJ Reese Bowes.
- Whitsell Auditorium: Short films curated by the Cascade Festival of African Films.
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Feb 28, 2026
1219 SW Park Ave
Tickets
Free First Thursday tickets can be reserved online one week in advance and are also available at the door. Tickets to Free First Thursday programs at the Tomorrow Theater are available online.
Free First Thursdays at the Museum and PAM CUT’s Tomorrow Theater aligns with the revitalization of the long-standing Portland art galleries’ tradition of opening their doors for openings, receptions, and events on the first Thursday of each month. In recent months art and culture organizations have joined to bring back this popular activity, including the Pacific Northwest College of Art and the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education in the North Park Blocks.
Generous support provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program.
