Portland'5 Centers for the Arts faces management change, physical needs assessment * Oregon ArtsWatch

"In 1989, Portland and Metro decided that the elected regional government should manage the five city-owned downtown performing arts venues, collectively known as the Portland'5 Centers for the Arts. Now that decision is on track to be reversed, even though the original reason for the decision is still valid and many questions remain to be resolved - especially how to pay for what could be many millions of dollars in deferred maintenance costs."

"The question is also being debated as Portland's City Council will need to decide whether to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build a new performing arts center at Portland State University and then renovate the 3,000-seat Keller Auditorium, which is one of the Portland'5 venues. That proposal was approved last October by the previous council to ensure the continued local appearance of popular touring Broadway shows, but the current council is not bound by it."

Portland and Metro decided in 1989 that the elected regional government should manage five city-owned downtown performing arts venues; that management arrangement now faces reversal despite the original rationale remaining valid. The City Council must decide whether to fund a new performing arts center at Portland State University and renovate the 3,000-seat Keller Auditorium. Combined repair, renovation, and new construction costs could exceed $1 billion with no identified funding sources. A Future of Large-Scale Performing Arts Steering Committee will present recommendations next June. A Metro-commissioned assessment of deferred maintenance will be completed before then.

Read at Oregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News