Founded in 1998, Portland Open Studios is an arts nonprofit working to bridge the gap between artist and patron.
OUR STORY
Portland Open Studios has come a long way since we started in 1998. What began as a gathering of artists who wanted to showcase their work in their communities, quickly blossomed into a vibrant artist ecosystem with as many facets as a diamond. When asked why our artists want to be a part of Portland Open Studios the number one response is the community it builds.
The art studio tour, in some years, has included as many as 120 studios in nearly every city neighborhood. The popular tour is visited by thousands of fans on the second and third weekends of each October, all eager to experience art being made right in front of them. Our ethos of "meet the maker" meshes well with the values of this creative, experience driven city.
In 2021, we opened the PDXOS Academy, a professional development component specifically designed to help our artists stay competitive in an ever changing environment. We offer multiple workshops and training sessions for our participating artists. These sessions cover a wide range of topics from developing an effective artist website to making sales using your email list.
In keeping with our educational mission, Portland Open Studios offers an educational internship program to high-school and college students. In addition, the Kimberly Gales Scholarship for Emerging Artists is available to artists between the ages of 20 and 30. Read about current and past Kimberly Gales Scholarship winners. In 2022 we added the Molly Cliff Hilts scholarship for Historically Marginalized Artists. These scholarships not only cover an artists' participation fee, but also offer professional training on an individual basis as needed by each artist.
The mission of Portland Open Studios is to act as an essential component of the Portland art community by prioritizing artists and their professional development in order to enrich our city. We do this by organizing an annual city-wide studio tour every second and third weekend in October, providing professional development courses for our member artists, and organizing engaging arts-based events for our city.
