02-13-2025  9:04 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather

By The Skanner News | The Skanner News
Published: 04 February 2025

The museum includes several galleries and will host film screenings, performances, panel talks, an artists’ marketplace and more throughout February. An updated list of happenings is available from museum sponsor, 1803 Fund, on the News and Events page. 

Creative Homies was founded to develop and promote creative spaces for BIPOC Portlanders. 1803 Fund seeks to grow shared prosperity, through investments in community-based organizations and through smart financial investments.

“The Black, Black History Month experience is definitely an act of reclaiming,” said Taishona Carpenter, board president of Don’t Shoot PDX, which curated the museum’s exhibition on groundbreaking multi-disciplinary artist Isaka Shamsud-Din.

“But it’s also making sure that we’re recognizing the past so we can build a better future for the people who are here right now.”

The phrase “Black, Black History” is a reflection that Black brilliance merits double emphasis. Old Town is one of the first neighborhoods where Black folks settled in the city when the railroad brought families from out east in the late 1800s.

On the first floor of the museum, curated exhibits honor Black innovators from Oregon in music, civil rights, artistry and more.

The second and third floors include room for film screenings, panel discussions, readings, musical performances and more. There will also be a marketplace selling works from local Black creators.

“We just want people to have space to have joy,” said Cyrus Coleman, Creative Homies co-founder. “Everything’s turned upside-down right now. It’s hard to find spaces where you can feel comfortable in your own skin. It can be overwhelming. We want to create space to have some happiness and hope for a brighter future.”

Coleman and his business partner, Adewalè Agboola bought The Horizon Enterprise Building (THE Building) in 2021, looking for their own studio space. Now, they hope to make THE Building exactly that for other creatives in their community.

“This is something we believe that this city needed,” said Agboola. “Keeping more creatives in Portland and more brown and Black creatives in Portland was such a big important thing to us and in our field.”

When events are not scheduled, facilities at Black, Black History Month will be open and available as inspired working space for creatives.

Admission to the pop-up is free. The space will be open Weds. to Sun. each week in February, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“We’re foreshadowing, in a way,” said Tory Campbell, interim director of culture at 1803 Fund. “This is what we desire to build in a more substantive way over the next decade or two with our investments and the collaborative will of the community.”

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