Events & Opportunities
April 24, 2026
Tough Shit with Oregon Humanities
Tough Shit is an onstage conversation about the most challenging questions Portlanders are facing. We’ll bring together four people with very different experiences of and perspectives on the city to talk through some shit with help from the audience and a moderator.
Joining us for this conversation are journalists Leah Sottile and Jonathan Maus, cultural strategist Kimiko Matsuda, and former city council candidate Heart Free Pham.
7:00 p.m., Tomorrow Theater, Portland
April 27, 2026
Conversation Project: Housing and Belonging
Housing and homelessness is a visible and divisive issue in local media, in politics, and across different communities within our state. Many of us were experiencing housing instability and economic uncertainty even during the “boom” times before the current crisis. This conversation will explore common assumptions and perspectives about the experience of houselessness/homelessness and seek to answer the question, How do we decide who “belongs” in our community?
This event will take place in the Kim Puzey Community Room #134
1:00 p.m., Blue Mountain Community College - Hermiston Campus, Hermiston
April 28, 2026
To What Do We Pledge?
While the opening of the Declaration of Independence gets the fanfare and the fireworks—“When in the course of human events” and all that—the closing clause contains a quiet promise: “We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” When we talk about the founding, we often think of it as a severing from a distant power and a proclamation of individual rights. And yet, buried in that big individualistic origin story, there is a pledge of support, solidarity, and mutual aid. Today, as we witness political violence, hostility, and polarization, this conversation invites us to explore what it means for us to be bound to one another and to ask ourselves: Is there any idea, any value, any dream for the future that we care about enough to tie ourselves to one another to protect or pursue it? What would it mean to “mutually pledge” ourselves to one another today? What would it look like? Feel like? Is it even possible?
Facilitator Wendy Willis is the founding director of Oregon's Kitchen Table, a statewide community engagement program housed at Portland State University. She is also a poet, an essayist, a stitcher, and a self-proclaimed democracy geek. Wendy was raised in Springfield, but now lives with her family in Portland.
6:30 p.m., St. Helens Public Library, St. Helens
April 28, 2026
Conversation Project: Housing and Belonging
Housing and homelessness is a visible and divisive issue in local media, in politics, and across different communities within our state. Many of us were experiencing housing instability and economic uncertainty even during the “boom” times before the current crisis. This conversation will explore common assumptions and perspectives about the experience of houselessness/homelessness and seek to answer the question, How do we decide who “belongs” in our community?
This event will take place in Pioneer Hall.
1:00 p.m., Blue Mountain Community College, Pendleton
April 30, 2026
Consider This Watch Party: Labor, Farmworker Organizing, and Histories of Indigenous Communities in Oregon
Join the Office of Civic Engagement at Willamette University for a watch party of our Consider This conversation Labor, Farmworker Organizing, and Histories of Indigenous Communities in Oregon, streamed live from Mt. Angel.
7:00 p.m., Willamette University - Putnam University Center, Salem
April 30, 2026
Consider This: Labor, Farmworker Organizing, and Histories of Indigenous Communities in Oregon
Joaquín Lara Midkiff moderates this conversation with labor organizers Reyna López and Ramón Ramírez. The conversation will illuminate the many ways that the mid-Willamette Valley has been home to powerful farmworker and solidarity movements that transformed the lives of migrant laborers and reshaped Oregon's political and economic landscape.
7:00 p.m., Mt. Angel Theater Studio, Mt. Angel
May 1, 2026
"Labor" Issue Release Party
Join the editors of Oregon Humanities magazine to celebrate the release of our Spring 2026 issue, "Labor." We will gather at Rosentstadt Brewery in Northeast Portland for a May Day happy hour. Meet contributors, pick up an extra copy for your neighbor, and stay for a drink!
4:00 to 6:00 p.m., Rosenstadt Brewery, Portland
May 6, 2026
What Does It Mean to Be American?
This conversation will explore when and how we define ourselves as an “American.” Does knowing the Constitution make us American? Does living on land controlled by the United States of America make us American? Through conversation and nonverbal exploration, we will share what “American” means to us individually and within the communities we belong to or came from, and what perspectives shaped our understanding of American identity and who is included in “We the People.”
Facilitator Chisao Hata is a performing artist, educator, and arts integration specialist. She has been called a “community weaver” through facilitation, community engagement and creating artistic collaborations. She has been a protector of imagination and personal discovery and a champion for individual expression. Creating engaged learning is her life’s work. She has had the honor of serving hundreds of Portland’s children, youth, and adults across many communities. Chisao believes we are all inextricably linked, and the power of gathering is a conduit to build and heal our understandings between our communities.
6:00 p.m., Cedar Mill Community Library, Portland
May 8, 2026
Civicus: What Does It Mean to Be a Citizen?
In the United States, most people would say they believe in democracy. But do we all understand the word in the same way? Where does the concept of democracy come from, and what makes “the rule of the people” work? This conversation will dig into the history, philosophy, and practical workings of democracy. We’ll look at the words of important political thinkers from the past, the US Constitution, and research on challenges to democracy in the present day. We’ll leave with a better sense of what we mean when we say democracy and how to participate in the democratic process locally and nationally.
Facilitator Prakash Chenjeri is a professor and chair of the philosophy program at Southern Oregon University. He was educated both in India and the US. His research and teaching focus on understanding the concept of citizenship, the role of scientific literacy in modern democracy, and debates over science and religion. He co-directs the Democracy Project, a comprehensive examination of democracy around the world in the twenty-first century. He has lived in Oregon for more than three decades.
noon, Hillsboro Shute Park Library, Hillsboro
May 12, 2026
Reflective Conversation Training (in-person)
This training will take place at Open Space Event Studios (220 NE Lafayette Ave., Bend) on the following days:
- Day 1: Tuesday, May 12, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
- Day 2: Wednesday, May 13, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
To register for the May in-person training, click here.
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Open Space Event Studios, Bend