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• 1. Boise Voices&hellip  |  April 16th, 2010 at 9:37 am

  Boise Voices + Hello Neighbor
  Neighborhood Celebration at City Hall

  Local Oral History Project To Host Neighborhood Celebration at City Hall on Earth Day, April 22nd.

  Students and community members join together to celebrate their communities’ rich history and cultural diversity at City Hall. This Earth Day celebration is a result of a collaboration between Boise Voices and Hello Neighbor, featuring multimedia exhibits of photographs, and audible oral histories collected by students from Boise-Eliot School and Albina Youth Opportunity School. The event will honor the elders and students involved, and inspire other neighborhoods to explore their history and have a conversation about it. The celebration will include a variety of food, talent, and activities that explore the history and future of the neighborhood.

  Portland, OR (PRWEB) March 22, 2010—On April 22, 2010 from 5-7 p.m. Portland’s City Hall will host an Earth Day celebration to showcase the work of community artists and students from Boise-Eliot School and Albina Youth Opportunity School. Boise Voices Oral History Project brings together elders in the community and students who collect the neighborhood’s living history. In addition to the Boise Voices audio interviews, students collaborated with the Hello Neighbor project to create portraits of the elders they interviewed and to pose for portraits themselves. These stories and photographs will be on display in the City Hall Atrium, and the offices of Mayor Adams and Commissioners Saltzman and Fish through May 22nd.

  The collaboration between Apricot Irving of Boise Voices, and photographer Julie Keefe of Hello Neighbor, has provided students with the opportunity to learn about photography, interviewing techniques, and oral history, all while promoting dialogue across generational and cultural lines. Portraits taken by the students will be for sale in the City Hall Atrium, with proceeds going towards future arts and cultural education for neighborhood students.

  The Boise neighborhood in North Portland has a uniquely diverse history. The oral histories created by Boise Voices begin with the Scandinavian and Polish immigrants who settled there in the 1930s. During World War II, work in the Kaiser Shipyards drew many African Americans to the area. Dislocation caused by the 1948 Vanport Flood, urban renewal, and redlining transformed the geography of the community again, facilitating the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement in North Portland. The collection of the community history provides innumerable resources for the ever-changing neighborhood. The fact that Earth Day coincides with the event underscores the relationship between environmental and social justice. This project reveals that sharing stories benefits the entire community –and indeed the city as a whole.

  This event will also incorporate endeavors of other Portland artists who have dedicated their craft to positive social and community development. Designer Richard Wilhelm, from Hare in the Gate Productions, conceived the multi-media display. The neighborhood’s Rebuilding Center donated doors to be repurposed in its design. There will be a film installation by Vanessa Renwick about the historic House of Sound on Williams Avenue. Renwick and radio producer Erin Yanke of KBOO Community Radio will also have an audio-zine about the House of Sound. The involvement of these socially minded artists further emphasizes the project’s underlying environmental notions.

  This event would not be possible with out the support of neighborhood businesses. They have funded the installation, provided food for the event and prizes to thank participants and attendees. Below is a list of supporters:
  ¿Por Qué No? Taquería, Albina Youth Opportunity School, Altura Furniture, Black Wagon, Blue Gardenia Coffee Roasters and Bakery, Boise-Eliot School, Boise Neighborhood Association, Bolt Fabric, Bridge City Comics, CD Game Exchange, Eliot Neighborhood Association, Gumbo, Historic Mississippi Business Association, Jet, Lark Press, The Meadow, Mississippi Chiropractic, Mississippi Pizza Pub, Mosi Architecture, North East Coalition of Neighborhoods, Pin Me, Pistils Nursery, The Rebuilding Center, Ristretto Roasters Williams Ave Café, Sol Pops, Sunlan Lighting, Tupelo Alley, Water Heater, and Yoga Shala.

  For more information about Boise Voices, please visit the website at http://boisevoices.com.
  Contact: Arlie Sommer: arliesommer@gmail.com, 503.312.1415 Amanda Miller: amandalmiller101@gmail.com
  Artist contact: Julie Keefe: julie@keefeklicker.com; Apricot Irving: boisevoices@gmail.com

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