The halls of any high school would suggest art and sports are not the most natural pair. The two groups tend to eye each other suspiciously and largely keep to themselves. But that’s the exact combo organizers chose to kick off the first-ever Portland Arts Week, which starts July 9.
“It’s been a little quiet in the Pearl and downtown,” says gallery owner and event organizer Elizabeth Leach. “What does Portland have to celebrate? The Fire! So, let’s do a theme with all these galleries and nonprofits of art and sports.”
Portland Arts Week will actually be four days, July 9–12. It’s going to look like 16 Portland galleries hanging sports-themed shows (most of which stay up for about a month), a two-day symposium, performances, movie screenings, and tons of free sporting events in the downtown Park Blocks. And summer 2026 is a great time for it: Not only does the city have a new professional basketball team in the mix with the Portland Fire, the World Cup is hitting a fever pitch.
The goal of Portland Arts Week is to bring the arts audience to sports and the sports audience to arts. Almost all of the events are free, though some require reserving a spot online in advance…