Open Signal's First Open House!

Open Signal, Portland Community Media Center welcomes you to our first official open house since our transformation into Open Signal. Come see our newly renovated public spaces lit up with possibility.

From 4 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25, we’ll be hosting a free, all-ages party. Come tour our facility and meet our staff! Enjoy free food and drink, courtesy of Sizzle Pie, Lagunitas, Ninkasi Brewing Company and Two Towns Ciderhouse.

During the Open House, you can experience a live studio taping, see works in progress by our Night Lights artist-in-residence and New Media Fellows, get a hands-on demo of our Sony FS7 4K cameras and be interviewed in the on-site Stream PDX trailer.

We’re also offering a one-day-only discount on all our classes (excluding summer camps) if you sign up during the Open House. 

And we’ll have amazing activities going on in every inch of our building, from the lobby, where producers can connect over happy hour, media-makers can get their art fortunes read and guests can check out artist Sabina Haque's Annexation & Assimilation: Exploring City Archives East of 82nd Ave, to Studio A, where at 4 p.m. we’ll debut Pulsar TV, a new block for our cable channels featuring short films and animations by students from Open Signal's youth media programs. 

At 8 p.m., we’ll start shooting a live broadcast dance party in Studio A—and you’re all invited! Put on a costume and dance for social justice, to 30s, 40 and 50s soul tunes spun by DJ Callie Danger.

In Studio B, families can get their green screen portraits taken, while in our garage, multimedia artist Drew McIntyre (BPMC, Folktek) will present a glitch art-infused video installation with video synthesizers that you can use to modify images. And in our parking lot, YOU can become the featured artist, during a special Bring Your Own Beamer (BYOB) edition of Night Lights. Bring your own original video content on a portable USB drive and your own “beamer” or projector (if you have one!) to light up our walls with your work.

All are welcome to this free, family-friendly event. It’ll be a sensory explosion of sound, light and motion not to be missed! Reserve your tickets today.

Full List of Activities:

Food and Drink
4 p.m. until supplies last!, Cafeteria, Meeting Room

Enjoy free food and drink, courtesy of Sizzle Pie, Lagunitas, Ninkasi Brewing Company and Two Towns Ciderhouse.

Get Discounts on Classes
4-10 p.m., Front Desk

Receive 10% discount on all classes when you register today using coupon code ONEDAYONLY. You can do this from our computer station or ask a friendly staffer for help at the front desk.

Welcome Words 
5:30-6 p.m., Lobby

Open Signal Executive Director Justen Harn welcomes you to the Open House, along with Portland City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly.

Take a Tour!
4:30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., Check in at the front desk.

Want to learn more about Open Signal’s history and learn how to become part of our community? This tour is for you! Come and see all Open Signal has to offer.

Speak Out, with Stream PDX
4-8 p.m., Airstream recording station in the parking lot.

Head out to the parking lot to meet our partners StreamPDX and be interviewed about your hopes for community media by Zahir Janmohamed of the podcast Racist Sandwich, KBOO host Stella Augustine of 1-2-3-Go, XRay.FM host Daniela Serna of Women’s Beat League, and Brock Dittus from The Sprocket Podcast.

Sony FS7 Tech Demo
6-7 p.m., Studio A

Check out one of the best cameras we have in our equipment library during this hands-on equipment demo by Jason Tait, Open Signal’s Production Services Director. The Sony FS7 is a 4k camera built for long-form, hand-held work, and known for its spectacular image quality.  

Open Studios
4-8 p.m., Cafeteria

Night Lights artist-in-residence Kalimah Abioto and New Media Fellows Hannah Piper Burns and DB Amorin will open their studios to share works in progress. Stop by and hear more about the projects they’ve been making while in residence at Open Signal.

Pulsar TV Viewing
4-8 p.m., Lobby

Join us for the debut of Pulsar TV, a new programming block on Open Signal's cable channels featuring work by students from Open Signal's youth media classes and camps, Echo teen artists-in-residence, Open School North students and Open Signal guest artists.

Students from Laura Heit's Intro to Animation class at PNCA created animated bumpers for this curated block, which will showcase short films and animations by youth, interviews with new media artists, documentary work and more.

Disappearing Act (Green Screen Portraits)
4-8 p.m., Studio B

Visit Open Signal’s live green screen booth and learn about movie and television special effects. Run from a T-Rex, pose with adorable giant kittens or swim underwater! Travel through time and space and share with your friends.

Producer Happy Hour
4-6 p.m., Studio A

Need to find crew members? Want to throw around a new idea with some seasoned producers? Have a drink and toast to collaboration.

DJ Casual Aztec
5-8 p.m., Lobby

Echo AiR Showcase
4-8 p.m. with gathering at 5 p.m., Classroom

Featuring work by students from Echo AiR, Open Signal's teen artist-in-residency program, this showcase explores the question, "What Are Our Desired Futures?" and includes a variety of digitally-displayed pieces with interactive elements, like animations, digital video portraits, a film screening and more.

Media-Maker Mystic
4:30-6 p.m., Sign up in the Lobby, 15 minutes per session

Does Open Signal’s class catalog have you paralyzed with excitement? Talk to someone who can help you navigate the labyrinth of the digital universe: Taylor Neitzke, Open Signal’s Director of Programs and a certified Media-Maker Mystic. She’ll sit down with you and recommend the right classes for you to expand your media skills.

Glitch Garage
6-8 p.m., Garage

Multimedia artist Drew McIntyre (BPMC, Folktek) will present a glitch art-infused video installation with video synthesizers that you can use to modify images.

Annexation and Assimilation
4-10 p.m., Flex Space

Collaborating with neighborhood residents and Portland Archives & Record Center, artist Sabina Haque weaves a portrait of inclusive civic identity through hand-drawn animation, video projections, poster installations and a theater performance.

Night Lights BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer)
6-8 p.m., Parking Lot

Join us for a special edition of Night Lights, a collaboration between Open Signal and the Regional Arts & Culture Council. Bring your own original video content on a portable USB drive and your own “beamer” or projector to light up the night with your work. BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer), a project by Rafaël Rozendaal, is a worldwide series of one-night-exhibitions hosting artists and their projectors.

Live Broadcast Dance Party!
8-10 p.m., Studio A

Have you ever wanted to be on TV? Come clad in costume or borrow one of ours to show off your dance moves on live broadcast television. DJ Callie Danger will be spinning 30’s, 40’s and 50’s rare soul for the premiere episode of Dance and Resist, a new project by Kat Garcia.