Program areas at The Vanport Mosaic
8th annual Vanport Mosaic festival: from may 18-29, nearly 2,500 people attended our annual festival - a "highlight of portland's cultural calendar, blending history, culture, arts, and activism into a living and highly creative memorial." 2023 marked The 75th anniversary of The flood that destroyed Vanport, Oregon's second-largest city and The largest wwii federal housing project in The u.s. The program included five exhibits, six tours, five community gatherings, five presentations/panels/screenings, two live music performances, and our annual day of remembrance at The expo center.festival highlights: kickoff with portland state university president stephen percy and The office of diversity and global inclusion, honoring psu's historical roots in Vanport; fair housing council bus tour exploring The history of discrimination, segregation, and displacement, a reunion luncheon for over 80 Vanport survivors and former residents; henk pander art exhibit" honoring his legacy after his passing in april 2023; black history 101 mobile museum; "first we remember, and then?" Traveling installation, encouraging public engagement with questions of sacred places and community healing.
All power to The people program: we offered four sold-out public black panther party legacy walking tours led by kent ford, and two private tours, engaging nearly 450 participants. Our black history month celebration featured performances, panels, and exhibits, drawing 250 attendees. We also held six performances of "walking through portland with a panther: The life of mr. kent ford," a traveling play we produced and premiered in 2022.
Vanport memory activism: in may 2023, Vanport Mosaic received an award of excellence from The american association for state and local history (aaslh) for our ongoing memory work centered on Vanport, which began in 2014. Representatives, including a Vanport survivor and her descendant, traveled to boise, Idaho, to receive The award. During The trip, The survivor, a japanese american elder previously incarcerated at The minidoka concentration camp, visited The minidoka national historic site. Her experiences and memories are now part of The Vanport Mosaic living archive.we completed The first phase of organizing our oral history recordings, held community meetings, and began shaping a future digital hub. We developed a new initiative, "placing memories" self-guided audio tour series, focusing on Vanport and albina, and recorded two oral histories for The albina project. Additionally, The Vanport Mosaic director joined The expo future historical significance and memorialization committee, contributing to metro's decisions impacting The culturally significant expo site. Vanport Mosaic was one of 16 cultural organizations invited to participate in The google arts and culture "profoundly portland" digital collection, launching in 2024. This project introduces Vanport's history to a global audience, expanding our reach. During this phase, we developed three digital exhibits for The platform, highlighting Vanport's history and our memory activism framework.
Youth archivist program: in 2023, we conducted three workshops for 27 jefferson high school students, teaching skills like 3d scanning and bronze mold making. Their artwork contributed to developing an archive at The school for future students.