A Powerhouse Partner

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 namesake cities?

AC: Downtown universities are engines of opportunity — reflecting the diversity and creativity of the cities they serve while propelling them forward. While working in Pittsburgh and Boston, I watched those cities come alive by actively partnering with their namesake universities. Now, both Portland and higher education are facing defining moments. Downtown needs renewed vitality. Students need affordable pathways to meaningful careers. Our region needs the workforce that will drive Oregon’s next chapter. PSU is at the center of all that. We have Portland in our name and we’re not going anywhere. We believe Portland and Portland State rise together.

Q: What does PSU offer Portland and Oregon?

AC: For 80 years, Portland State has transformed hard-working students — many the first in their families to graduate — into the professionals who power our region. More than 80% of our students come from Oregon and stay here after graduation. Our downtown campus covers 40 acres, and brings thousands of people downtown each day. We’ve contributed more than $1 billion in campus development to downtown over the past decade. We generate nearly $2 billion annually in economic impact. PSU is a powerhouse partner. We’re proud to serve students and serve the city. It’s our mission.

Q: How did PSU get involved in the Performing Arts + Culture Center in the first place?

AC: Two years ago, the City of Portland came to Portland State when they were considering alternatives to renovating Keller Auditorium. They asked us to offer a proposal, given our mission, our location, and the fact that we own the largest developable parcel of land downtown — a plot four times the size of the current Keller. We immediately saw that we could offer something very special: a vision to spark Oregon’s entire arts ecosystem, to provide exceptional opportunities for students, to activate campus and downtown, and to help generate billions in spillover economic activity and jobs for Portland. This is exactly how urban universities should show up when their city calls.

Q: Is the Performing Arts + Culture Center entirely a PSU project?

AC: No. It’s a multi-use project, which is why it can deliver such broad impact. The Broadway-capable venue will be owned and operated the City of Portland. The community theater and academic spaces will be owned and operated by PSU. The conference center and hotel will be operated by a private developer.

In 2024, the City and PSU signed a letter of intent that makes us partners. That document establishes the shared expectation that the Center will be completed in 2030 and that its Broadway-capable venue will be designed to anticipate the needs of the future. It also stipulates that PSU will act as the project developer, which makes sense because we are downtown’s most active developers — having built more than a billion dollars in commercial real estate in the last dozen years. The letter also stipulates that we are equally responsible for the funding strategy and execution.

Q: Why this focus on the arts?

AC: PSU’s College of the Arts is a university signature because creative industries are vital to Portland. The college encompasses four separate, highly ranked schools: a school of art, art history and design; a school of film; a school of architecture; and a school of music and theater. Our choral music program is world-renowned. If we also consider the hundreds of performances and arts activities we host on campus each year, PSU is one of the largest and most dynamic public arts organizations in our region. Given all that, we are of course interested in providing exceptional facilities — for students, for faculty and for our city — in an area where PSU is well positioned to grow enrollment and support our region’s creative industries.

Also, we believe that live, in-person experiences are critical to both a thriving PSU and a thriving downtown. Our strategic plan says we will seize opportunities to help make PSU into a vibrant place to bring people together, in person, to learn and connect, particularly in the arts.

Q: PSU is cutting budgets. Why are you concentrating on the Performing Arts + Culture Center now?

AC: All thriving universities must have a plan for both the present and the future. Operating budgets and capital budgets are two entirely different things.

In terms of the operating budget, PSU is seeking to align our educational programs and annual operating budgets to best serve students and the needs of our region. That is what all universities must do to ensure long-term effectiveness, financial strength and sustainability.

Visionary capital projects such as the Performing Arts + Culture Center are separate considerations from the day-to-day operating budget. The Center includes multiple components (including a City-owned Broadway theater, a community theater, academic spaces, a hotel and conference center) to attract funders. Because of its potential to spark the arts and economic development in downtown Portland, many funders beyond PSU are part of the conversation — including the Oregon Legislature, the City of Portland, hotel developers, philanthropists, private equity partners and others. The Oregon Legislature has already committed $137.5 million in bonding to reflect the project’s statewide impact. That funding is entirely separate from public funding for the university’s operating budget.