Portland City Council voted 8-4 to advance the next phase of Portland State University’s proposed Performing Arts + Culture Center, a new approximately 3,000-seat, Broadway-capable venue on Portland State’s downtown campus. The resolution directs City staff to work with PSU to ev…
On August 11, the City of Portland’s City Life Committee voted to advance to the full City Council a resolution supporting moving ahead with planning for a City-owned Broadway theater at the proposed Performing Arts + Culture Center – as well as launching a public planning proces…
Portland’s opportunity is bigger than any single venue. Let’s build an entire arts ecosystem where artists, students, audiences and cultural organizations can thrive together. The below op-ed was published in Oregon ArtsWatch on July 16, 2026. Culture is not a luxury layered ont…
The Performing Arts + Culture Center project has earned the formal endorsement of IATSE Local 28, the union representing Portland’s stagehands, technicians and production workers. “Many of our members have built their careers around Portland’s stages,” said Rose Etta…
Portland State University and Prosper Portland – the City of Portland’s urban economic development agency – are taking a visible step forward in shaping the future of downtown, starting with new investments that seek to bring energy and activity to campus spaces. A newly up…
After a year of rigorous study, two independent advisory groups – Mayor Keith Wilson’s Ex-Officio Table and the City of Portland’s Future of Large-Scale Performing Arts Steering Committee – delivered similar advice to the Mayor and City Council: Portland State is the…
Portland State University has entered into an exclusive negotiating agreement with Colas Development Group to develop a 150-key hotel and conference center as part of the planned multi-use Performing Arts + Culture Center development at the south end of downtown Portland. PSU will serve as t…
Every great performance begins with a feeling. As we prepare to open the Performing Arts + Culture Center, we’re inviting our community to help shape the atmosphere of this milestone moment — not just through design or anticipation, but through music. We’re building a commu…
Much of the excitement about the Performing Arts + Culture Center is what will be inside: Plenty of room for the arts to take up space and make joyful noise. Beyond the large, Broadway-scale performing arts theater, the Center will feature a range of accessible arts and events spaces: a c…
A new economic impact analysis commissioned by the City of Portland confirms that the proposed Performing Arts + Culture Center at Portland State University will deliver greater long-term economic impact while strengthening the city’s arts ecosystem and supporting downtown. The study,…
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Much of the conversation about the new Performing Arts + Culture Center has been centered on its cultural and economic value to the city of Portland. An equally important benefit is more practical: how people will actually get there. The proposed Performing Arts + Culture Center isn’t…
Preliminary design plans for Portland’s Performing Arts + Culture Center call for the use of climate-friendly materials from the ground up, including the signature look and feel of mass timber — great news for an emerging Oregon building products industry that delivers myriad en…
Downtown universities are engines of opportunity for both students and the cities they serve. PSU President Ann Cudd reflects on why Portland State University is all in on the Center. Q+A with Dr. Ann Cudd, president of Portland State University Q: How do downtown universities serve their na…
The Performing Arts + Culture Center will spark year-round vitality, with more performances, conferences, PSU activity, and visitors who support businesses across downtown. We already know the economic benefits of constructing a new Performing Arts + Culture Center in downtown Portland. It w…
In a recent meeting of the City of Portland’s Arts + Economy Committee, PSU Foundation President Sarah Schwarz, on behalf of Portland State, offered testimony reacting to calls for a “win-win” solution that could create a larger vision incorporating both the Keller Auditori…
A market feasibility study commissioned by the City of Portland recommends developing the Performing Arts + Culture Center to serve as the city’s Broadway-capable venue while also providing an accessible home for educational activities, resident companies and non-profit organizations.…
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The Performing Arts + Culture Center represents a vision for Portland’s next 100 years of arts and culture, with future-forward resources, capabilities and amenities serving patrons, presenters, artists, visitors and students. To be constructed on downtown’s largest developable l…
The Performing Arts + Culture Center will create significant economic activity, generate thousands of jobs, and be the market signal Portland needs. The Center’s development will create an estimated 400 permanent jobs and 2,000 construction jobs and open up possibilities for additional…
Before the Oregon State Legislature adjourned in June 2025, the Portland Performing Arts + Culture Center received $137.5 million in state bond funding — a win for Portland and for Oregon that reflects the project's statewide significance. “Investments in arts and culture are in…
A recent traffic study commissioned by the City of Portland found no impediments to moving ahead with planning and development of the Performing Arts + Culture Center on the 4.25 acre site that faces SW Lincoln Street. DKS Associates, a local transportation engineering firm, noted that the m…
