About the symposium
On October 11-12, 2024, the City of Portland’s Office of Arts & Culture and its partners held the Portland Monuments Symposium hosted by Converge 45 at Portland Community College Cascade Campus. Symposium discussions focused on deepening public engagement and expanding dialogues around public art and monuments.
The two-day Portland Monuments Symposium was an important opportunity for community voices, artists, regional arts administrators, and national arts leaders to convene. Throughout the event, 100+ participants explored art, history, storytelling, and the role of monuments in public space, while also considering opportunities for current and future monuments.
Sponsored by the City of Portland, the Portland Monuments Symposium was the first in a series of public activities following the 2023 Public Engagement Recommendations Report from Portland’s Monuments and Memorial Engagement Process Committee. It built upon the 2021 Portland’s Monuments & Memorials Project Prototypes, led by Converge 45, which brought people together to examine the conditions and impacts of public monuments in Portland. The original project included online presentations, outdoor experiences, and the creation of temporary art installations on vacant pedestals, following the removal of multiple monuments throughout the city.
What we heard from symposium participants
Throughout the symposium, the City's Arts & Culture team heard several key themes emerge across all conversations, including:
- The call for a community-driven approach to ensure a broader range of voices help shape public art decisions.
- Strong support for what rethinking what a monument can be.
- Clear calls for transparency and trust in decision-making.
- Converging and diverging viewpoints on the perception of public memory.
Learn more about these key themes
Portland State University's symposium report
Portland State University's Regional Research Institute for Human Services compiled a detailed Portland Monuments Symposium report that dives deeper into conversations, takeaways, and findings from the event. Across nearly 40 pages, the report introduces the project, provides a summary of two days-worth of conversations, and goes in-depth on findings related to four key questions.
Keynote speaker: Hamza Walker
Hamza Walker, the director of Los Angeles-based nonprofit art space The Brick, presented the keynote address on October 12. Walker offered a national perspective on how cities are navigating contested monuments. His work challenges us to think beyond static historical markers and toward artistic interventions that interrogate and expand public memory. His keynote set the stage for thoughtful conversations about what it means to create monuments that serve all Portlanders—not just those who have historically held power.
Walker spoke to his curatorial project, MONUMENTS, whichwill debut in Fall 2025 at The Brick and The Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles. MONUMENTS will feature decommissioned Confederate monuments displayed alongside existing and newly commissioned works of contemporary art and his talk will highlight the intersections between decommissioned monuments and contemporary art, drawing from his past exhibitions, Black Is, Black Ain’t (2008) and Several Silences (2009).
Panel sessions on policy-making, Indigenous perspectives, and artist perspectives
Panel #1: Policy-making
- Moderator: Norah Crean
- Panelists: John Washington, Amanda Rawson, and Teressa Raiford
This panel discussion explored the complexities of how monuments reflect societal values and historical narratives, emphasizing the need for inclusive dialogues in the policy-making process. Experts from various fields, including history, sociology, art, social justice, communications, and urban planning shared insights on the responsibilities of policymakers in addressing the diverse perspectives of the communities that these monuments represent.
Panel #2: Indigenous perspectives
- Moderator: Sandra Hale Schulman
- Panelists: Gerald Clarke and Marie Watt
This panel discussion got into the complex relationship between public monuments and Indigenous peoples’ perspectives. This conversation illuminated how monuments often reflect dominant narratives that can overlook or misrepresent Indigenous histories and contributions. Panelists spoke to the significance of decolonizing public spaces and advocate for monuments that honor Indigenous heritage and sovereignty.
Panel #3: Artist perspectives
- Moderators: Mack McFarland and Jess Perlitz
- Panelists: Ilish Bath, Tannaz Farsi, Chisao Hata, Kanani Miyamoto, Anna Gray + Ryan Wilson Paulsen, Master Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr., Lynn Yarne
This session brought together Oregon artists in an action-packed whirlwind of ideas and proposals that reimagined, celebrated, agitated, and asked questions about what could come next for monuments in our state.
About the Portland Monuments Project
The Portland Monuments Project is a City of Portland-led national dialogue about public art, history, monuments, and memorials. With support from the Mellon Foundation, the project is a multi-year, inclusive public engagement and policy initiative driven by racial justice that will focus on fostering educational discussions, community engagement, and public participation on Portland’s Monuments Project. Public engagement activities will support the development of toolkit and reports to inform public policy and decisions about the display, interpretation, removal, and/or relocation of monuments associated with historical significance and oppression.
Concluding in Summer 2026, Citywide Public Talks & Conversations will take place across Portland’s newly defined districts and center on intergenerational, community-based dialogues. These events will include the creation of community murals and a multi-day symposium in downtown Portland, and programming will explore key questions around equity, U.S. history, racial justice, and the role of monuments. Discussions will examine how communities decide what to commemorate, what future monuments and memorials should look like, and the reasons behind those decisions.
Project goals
- Engage the community in creating policies about Portland’s public art collection.
- Foster new conversations about the purpose of monuments and memorials in Portland.
- Finalize recommendations for new monuments, updated interpretations, and the future of monuments that were damaged or removed in 2020 and 2021.
Guiding questions
- How can Portland adapt and be open to change with its use of public art to hold memory and history?
- What do Portlanders think about the City’s current monuments?
- The City of Portland has core values. These values are equity, anti-racism, collaboration (working together), communication, transparency (being open and honest), and fiscal responsibility (using money wisely). How can monuments support the City’s values?
- The City of Portland has decisions to make about monuments and public art. These decisions include how to think about our history and how to educate the public about our monuments. What principles and practices should guide these decisions?
Learn more about the Portland Monuments Project
Thanks to our partners and advisors
Questions/concerns
Contact Darion Jones, Assistant Director, Office of Arts & Culture anytime at darion.jones@portlandoregon.gov to share feedback, concerns, or ask questions.