The Burnside Blog

Posted By Mike Thelin on 05/15/2008

For PNCA President Tom Manley, improving the communication and collaboration among creative and entrepreneurial institutions is the key to Portland’s success.

According to Manley, when local centers of creativity like PNCA, Ziba Design, Allied Works Architecture, Wieden+Kennedy, Portland Center Stage, Portland Art Museum, and local universities work in tandem, a so-called “creative grid” is activated, with new entrepreneurial energy and opportunity resulting.

Manley will address the City Club tomorrow at 12:15, and will be followed by Ziba founder Sohrab Vossoughi and Portland star designer Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture. For Cloepfil, the City Club event marks two public appearances in Portland in one week, which I’m sure is a new record.

PNCA’s recent acquisition of the 511 Broadway building, which will serve as the future home of its Pearl District campus, is one of the most important cultural developments for Portland in years. There, what’s becoming a world-class center for art and design will finally have a permanent world-class headquarters, that is, after a rehab by Cloepfil’s renowned Allied Works. Five blocks north, the construction of another stunning building, Ziba’s new headquarters by Holst Architecture, is underway. Concurrently, PSU and OHSU are expanding, and the University of Oregon is amping up its presence in Portland. There’s meat behind Manley’s rhetoric.

The City Club event takes place Friday at 12:15 at the Governor Hotel in Downtown Portland. Click here for details.