Music & Arts & Events
Music
Another huge mark in the PLUS column, Portland boasts a phenomenal music scene, along with plenty of arts, theater, and public performances. The opportunities to see original live music are many.
“[The Portland] metro area’s population may rank only 25th in the U.S., but it claims at least 1,100 music businesses, around 2,000 performing acts, nearly 300 live venues and 200-plus promoted concerts a week — putting it near the top of any of these categories on a per-capita basis.”
— Oregon Business Magazine
Every night of the week there is music, everything from experimental noise to bluegrass, string quartet to hip hop.
There are numerous open mics, and a monthly event dedicated to showcasing new singer-songwriters, the Songwriter Soirée.
The brilliant NearHear website and app (iOS only) provide a dead simple means of previewing artists' music and finding local shows.
PDX Presents offers live concert photography, music playlists, artist and venue features, and information about the explosive Portland Music Scene.
Music makers
If you make music in any capacity, your first stop should be Music Portland, an advocacy group for musicians and the ecosystem (venues, instrument vendors, etc.) that supports them.
If you compose music (just about any genre), check out the Marston Composition Collective, weekly classes exploring all kinds of creative methods of composition.
Songwriters, consider Portland Songwriters Association. They have regular meetings, open mics, and periodic seminars with music pros.
Music fans
Artichoke Community Music, a nonprofit venue in Southeast Portland, offers live shows, open mics, classes, and instrument sales. Genre focus is folk, jazz, blues, bluegrass and less loud styles.
PDX Presents has live concert photography, music playlists, artist and venue features, and information about the explosive Portland Music Scene.
While cities like Austin, Texas have good music scenes of their own. But there's a key difference here: on a beautiful summer evening, you and your friends can safely ride your bikes a few miles to a venue, catch a show, and ride home again, singing the chorus out loud. No highways, no traffic jams.
Arts & Events
Check them out:
- Portland Winter Lights Festival - downtown Portland fills with every color of light in an array of art installations.
- Tomorrow Movie Theater - promotes the idea of “cinema unbound” through a mix of artist-driven signature screenings, events, happenings, performances, and discussions changing for whom, by whom, and how cinematic stories are told now — and tomorrow.
- Movie Madness - honest to goodness video rental store, with free movie screenings on Sundays.
- Free Museum Days - a solid list.
- Portland Art Museum. Free on the first Thursday of each month.
- OMSI - Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. $5 tickets on the first Sunday of each month.
- Hopscotch - an interactive art exhibit, i.e., psychedelic trampolines.
- Portland Rose Festival. Parades, tours of visiting ships, carnival rides, and more.
- New Year in the Park. Southeast Asian cultural festival.
- Honk!PDX. Interactive celebrations offering pick-up bands throughout the festival open for anyone who would like to pick up an instrument and play.
Event calendars
- WWeek events calendar.
- Portland Mercury/EverOut events calendar.
- DoPDX. Events website - beware their emails, they get overwhelming.
- PDX Pipeline has more event listings.
More stuff to do
- Portland Living on the Cheap. Does what it says on the tin.
- Sidewalk Joy. A map of whimsical things.
- Summer Free for All events. At Portland parks.
- Kickstand Comedy has live shows, improv classes, and a great series of free events in Laurelhurst Park each summer.
- Bars with activities. A nice list of bars that offer more than drinking - pinball, pool, vintage video games, and more.