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This program brings together short films by trans, nonbinary, and queer filmmakers working across animation, documentary, narrative, experimental, and music video forms.
If you have RSVP'd and gotten a ticket with a screening password, you can watch your films here. If you still need to buy a ticket, you can do so here.
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PLAYFIGHT is a free self defense and movement class hosted in Portland and specially designed for women, LGBTQIA people, survivors, neurodivergent people who have not felt safe or welcome in traditional gyms, and artists with little or no athletic background. Martial arts spaces are often dominated by straight cis men and the intensely gendered politics that come with that. PLAYFIGHT helps reclaim consent-forward grappling and movement as creative arts that belong to all of us. Sponsored by Borealis Philanthropy. Singing School was a 20-week social practice art series facilitated by Liam Whitworth and taught by Portland Opera singer and multidisciplinary performer Onry H.
Hosted weekly at Deep Waters studio, the program invited participants to explore collective voice work as a form of healing and reconnection. Attendance was free and open to the public. Each session emphasized community, embodiment, and the rediscovery of joy through singing together at a beginners' level after years of pandemic-era isolation. The project sought to transform vocal practice into a medium for collective repair. Drawing from traditions of communal song, somatic healing, and queer performance, Singing School treated the act of singing not as entertainment but as ritual and restoration. The series asked how a group of strangers might breathe together, attune to one another’s resonance, and create temporary harmony as a form of mutual regulation. Participants gathered in a modest upstairs studio in Lower Albina. Each session began with grounding exercises in breath and posture, followed by playful explorations of tone, vowel, and vibration. Onry guided participants in connecting the voice to the body’s energy centers, with particular attention to the throat and heart. Gradually, individuals who began the series shy or hesitant grew into full, unguarded vocal expression. Singing School succeeded as a work of social practice art. It reimagined performance as participatory care, replacing spectacle with shared process. Participants described feeling “open,” “lighter,” and “less alone.” Several returned week after week, forming an informal collective that continued to meet after the series ended. As an artistic experiment, Singing School demonstrated that creative acts can operate as public health interventions. In the wake of COVID-19, it offered an embodied space for processing collective PTSD and rekindling communal joy. The project advanced Future Prairie’s mission to center working-class queer artists in civic healing work, while deepening Deep Waters’ identity as a site for art that nurtures rather than extracts. We hope to host more events that build community resilience through shared practice. Most of our Future Prairie events are sliding scale, and people sometimes ask us what that means and how they should think about how much to pay.
These are the current American classes, as we see them:
A recent 75-minute Future Prairie class was offered for $22-$44. We trust you to think about where you fall on that scale and pay accordingly. An example of what someone might pay could be:
The nonprofit industry is not working well. We hear this again and again from the people who reach out to Future Prairie. They write about being treated terribly by nonprofit HR departments and being ghosted after multiple rounds of interviews. They share stories of losing jobs at unethical nonprofits, or leaving the sector entirely after witnessing harm done. We are not imagining the contradictions in nonprofit and philanthropy work. Many people entered this work because they cared deeply about social change but now feel betrayed by their institutions. This has especially affected people working at the Portland Art Museum. They live with fear of speaking up about the injustices they witness, because speaking up can cost someone their reputation and their livelihood. This context matters for how we talk about our work at Future Prairie.
We are a nonprofit, but it's not because we think the nonprofit model is inherently good or just. Right now it is the structure that allows Future Prairie to pay artists, move resources, and exist in an industry that requires a mountain of paperwork. People collaborate with and volunteer for Future Prairie because they are tired of being mistreated elsewhere. We try to do things differently, not perfectly, but consciously. At the same time, Future Prairie's work is heavy. Every big project we've done names and/or carries someone else’s pain. We take that responsibility seriously and often ask ourselves how to honor these stories and turn them into something that leads to power changing hands. We need this work to be sustainable emotionally and financially. Naming harm matters, but it is not enough on its own. We want to point toward what could exist instead. Future Prairie as a community–based organization is for people who believe another way is possible. We do not believe artists' only choices are to work inside broken systems or walk away from the work entirely. We believe we can face what is broken, tell the truth about it, and still imagine and build alternatives. A tangible example of one way we've done this is through our work with Oregon Community Foundation. We gave them direct feedback on numerous occasions that their grant application standard operating procedures were too complex and administratively burdensome. Now, Oregon Community Foundation's grant applications are quicker to complete, and easier to process, than any other foundation in the Pacific Northwest. We are proud of this impact and hope to continue to do this type of work in our sector. Onry is working on a live track of his original Ave Maria x Creep operatic mash up, and you can hear an early draft here! This performance shows what he loves most: the devotional quality of classical music with the raw emotional edge of modern pop. This raw, live track is confessional, almost private, even though his voice fills the room with power. The two songs speak to longing, vulnerability, and complicated feelings. This recording captures the immediate energy of Onry performing live. You can hear the breath control, the intention, the pain, the intimacy. Performance as prayer.
We hired trans-masculine painter Nell K. to take the train down to Portland from Seattle and teach a free landscape painting class on 11/15/25. 14 people attended (a mix of trans folks, queer allies, first-time painters, and seasoned artists, ranging from early 20s to late 50s). 4 people traveled from outside of Portland just for this event. The playlist was a mix of Japanese jazz, Sophie, Perfume Genius, and Claud. Unlimited tea flowed like the Santiam in spring. Students brought in reference photos of their "happy places": childhood beaches, hidden forest clearings, the view from a lover’s apartment, surgery recovery windowsills blooming with flowers, and vineyards at twilight. Watching people translate those deeply personal places into loose, vibrant impressionist swoops was pure alchemy. Feedback:
Gratitude to Nell for bringing his immense talent, heart, and vision, and to every single person who showed up and made the space sacred with their presence and attention. Thank you to Deep Waters studio for hosting us at 2710 N Interstate Avenue. See more upcoming studio events at: https://deepwaters.union.site On 10/17/25, we gathered at the Clackamas Town Center MAX Station for two hours of slow exploration, curiosity, and sensory attention. Our walk group included artists, teachers, care workers, and others interested in how neurodivergent ways of sensing the world can reshape how we move through public space. Led by Vo Vo, this workshop balanced thoughtful conversation with embodied awareness. Their facilitation style was warm, grounded, and deeply in tune with the body and the moment. The route moved through indoor and outdoor spaces, shifting between textures, sounds, temperatures, and changing light. Participants were invited to notice how their senses guide perception and connection. Vo Vo opened the event with reflections on disability justice and community care, framing neurodivergence as a creative way of engaging the world. That spirit of openness inspired deep sharing among participants around sensory processing and embodiment. Guests called it gentle but transformative, a masterclass in attention, and a reminder that care can change how we experience shared space. This collaboration between Future Prairie, Clackamas County Arts Alliance, and Vo Vo modeled what it means to reimagine art and accessibility together. The small group size encouraged real connection. We are seeing renewed interest in sensory-centered, inclusive public programming. We’re already excited to plan more walks like this one.
Many of our artists need help with writing grants to fund their projects and community–based organizations. Here is a free printable resource we put together that offers a template for a successful grant proposal. This document is based on an annual workshop we've taught on this topic.
Our free public forest bathing event, Singing the Forest, drew 34 people out to the Smith and Bybee Wetlands on July 27 for an afternoon of shared movement, breath, and song! Led by Onry and Liam Whitworth, this 90-minute wellness walk brought together LGBTQ2SIA+ Oregonians, along with friends and allies, to explore one of the largest urban freshwater wetlands in the country. Shawon Shorter led a yoga class before our walk. Then our group walked in the wetlands, noticing the landscape’s textures, scents, and shifting light. Guided breath work helped everyone arrive fully in the moment before moving into a sensory meditation. As the walk continued, participants learned simple vocal warmups inspired by the calls of birds overhead, the movement of the wind through tall grass, and the gentle rhythm of the water. People who had never met sang together with less and less self-consciousness, listening and blending their voices into something larger than themselves. By the end, there was a shared feeling of connection not just with one another, but with the trees, plants, and sounds of the wetland creatures. Attendees left with smiles, a deeper relationship to our public land and commons, and a reminder of the joy that comes from gathering in nature to share breath, movement, and song. This event was made possible with Metro funds as part of their Parks and Nature Community-led Programs. |
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