OUR WORK IN ACTION: The 2024 PPS HeART of Portland
A PPS tenth grader “lighting the way” for a Kindergarten “future artist”.
CLIENT: The Visual and Performing Arts Team, Portland Public Schools
SCOPE: For the second year in a row, we had the honor of partnering with the Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Team at Portland Public Schools (PPS) to provide marketing and design support. Our work with PPS exemplifies our commitment to fostering creativity and supporting educational initiatives that make a difference in our community.
This year, Oh! Creative coordinated functions and resources to align with the vision set the VAPA Team. Our tasks included an initial kick-off meeting and consistent check-in meetings with the team throughout the 2023-24 school year, as well as graphic design support and ongoing communications support between the PPS Comms team, the Portland Art Museum (PAM), and the City of Portland.
The collaboration culminated in the annual HeART of Portland event, celebrating its 10th anniversary at the Portland Art Museum. Our goal was to ensure that this milestone event not only highlighted the incredible talents of PPS students but also reflected the lasting impact of community support for the arts.
Mission accomplished.
Here's a glimpse of a segment from the press release we helped write for the event:
“Imagine this: Students who took their first steps into PPS Kindergarten classrooms in 2014, coinciding with the launch of the Arts Tax, are now thriving tenth graders. Through challenges and budget constraints, Portland taxpayer support has been an illuminating light, one that nurtures curiosity, inspires wonder, and encourages self-discovery in young artists. Eager to share their PPS artistic journeys, these students invite the City of Portland to join them.”
One of our favorite contributions was helping to conceptualize the “passing of the torch” ceremony. Throughout the evening, tenth graders, who have benefited from the Arts Tax since Kindergarten, passed on symbolic T-shirts to incoming Kindergarteners. These shirts, emblazoned with "Future Artist" on the back, were a way to inspire the next generation and celebrate the continuity of artistic growth within PPS. This idea not only fostered a sense of community and mentorship but also acknowledged, to a room filled with Portland taxpayers, the gratitude felt by educators, students, and families.
We are incredibly proud of the work we have done with PPS and look forward to continuing our collaboration to inspire and nurture young artists.
How can we make your next event shine? Contact us today and let’s explore possibilities.