"One breezy evening in the middle of August, I found myself reclining beneath a canopy of elm trees in Portland's South Park Blocks, a solid hour before the start of Midsummer Night's Dream Machine. A collaboration between the Oregon Symphony and Gather:Make:Shelter, a local nonprofit committed to supporting people experiencing poverty through arts workshops and mentorship, the evening promised "Fashion! Music! Poetry!" and more. With my notepad in hand and no other attendees in sight, however, I realized pretty quickly that I'd misread the start time on the Eventbrite link."
""It's a very deep, rich collaborative process that brought us here tonight," said artist and activist Dana Lynn Louis, who founded Gather:Make:Shelter in 2017 to create a collaborative model of engagement connecting people experiencing houselessness to creative opportunities. " SoundsTruck NW asked us if we thought we'd ever use a stage for one of our events and, immediately, we said yes. Looking back, I realize we never really asked ourselves if this partnership made sense because, from the beginning, it was clear to everyone that it did.""
"I spent the following hour watching people filter into the park from every direction-older couples with Tommy Bahama chairs; families with blankets, coolers, and strollers; PSU students with Powell's totes and six packs-to find a seat around the crimson red carpet that bisected the makeshift amphitheater. By the time the event started, the block was overflowing."
"As the sun began to set, emcees Time Alvarado and Clio McCormick read a land acknowledgement and introduced the first of the evening's artists, Gloria Rodriguez, who emerged from the rear of the stage and sailed down the runway. A flurry of feathers, ribbons, tie dye, and argyle, Rodriguez's boldly expressive creation brought together every color, pattern, and texture of the rainbow."
An outdoor evening event in Portland combined fashion, music, and poetry through a collaboration between the Oregon Symphony and Gather:Make:Shelter. The partnership emphasized creative opportunities and mentorship for people experiencing houselessness and showcased diverse community participation. Attendees included families, older couples, and students who gathered around a crimson runway in a makeshift amphitheater as the block filled. Emcees offered a land acknowledgement before artists presented bold, expressive runway creations that mixed feathers, ribbons, tie dye, and argyle. Organizers framed the event as the result of a deep, collaborative process that felt clearly aligned and mutually beneficial.
Read at Oregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
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