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About

Art Social Club is a community-focused social art platform that incubates creative projects rooted in public engagement, workforce development, and collaborative making.

Based in Portland, Oregon, Art Social Club serves as a home for interdisciplinary projects that blend art, technology, and social impact. We support artists, youth, nonprofits, and community partners in creating work that is participatory, skill-building, and publicly accessible.

Rather than operating as a single program, Art Social Club functions as a parent organization and project incubator, allowing socially driven initiatives to grow sustainably before spinning off into their own independent identities.

 

What We Do

Art Social Club supports social practice art projects that prioritize process, participation, and community collaboration over one-off outcomes. Our work often takes the form of:

  • Interactive public art
  • Community-based digital media
  • Youth-led creative technology programs
    • Wired Wednesdays @ p:ear
    • Rose City Rising Video Game
  • Collaborative installations and exhibitions
  • Workforce development through creative production

Each project is designed to respond to a specific community need while remaining adaptable and scalable.


 

Our Approach

We believe creative work can function as both art and infrastructure.

 Our projects are built around three core principles:

  • Community as Co-Creator
    • Participants are collaborators, not audiences. Youth, artists, nonprofits, and community members actively shape the work.
  • Paid Learning & Skill Building
    • Whenever possible, youth are compensated for their time and labor while gaining hands-on experience in creative technology, design, media production, and collaboration.
      • We work with nonprofits to raise funds for their existing 
  • Public Engagement
    • Projects are shared through festivals, exhibitions, and community spaces, inviting feedback, conversation, and collective ownership.

This approach positions art as a living system that is responsive, iterative, and rooted in place.

Featured Project

Rose City Rising is an Art Social Club project and a clear example of our model in action.
Rose City Rising is a community-built 16-bit skate game that transforms video game development into a platform for youth workforce development, social art, and neighborhood storytelling. Youth work alongside mentors to design pixel art, music, and gameplay while learning professional workflows, collaboration, and user-centered design.

Each game level is developed through partnerships with nonprofits, artists, and community organizations, allowing the game to function as a living digital artwork shaped by collective authorship and public participation.
The project has been shared through public demos and exhibitions, including Winter Lights Festival 2026, and continues to evolve through collaboration and feedback.

Why We Use a Parent Organization Model


Art Social Club exists to reduce overhead and increase sustainability for community-driven creative work.

By housing multiple projects under one platform, we are able to:

  • lower administrative and marketing costs
  • streamline fundraising and partnerships
  • avoid duplicating websites, campaigns, and vendor relationships
  • keep creative energy focused on making and mentoring

When a project grows large enough to require its own branding, audience, or infrastructure, it can graduate into an independent organization while remaining connected to the larger creative ecosystem.

This model allows ideas to be tested responsibly, supported thoughtfully, and scaled intentionally.

 

Who We Work With

Art Social Club collaborates with:

  • Youth-serving nonprofits
  • Arts and culture organizations
  • Social practice artists
  • Designers, developers, and technologists
  • Funders interested in arts-based workforce development

Past and current collaborations include organizations such as p:ear, Free Arts NW, City Camp, and community festivals and galleries.

 

Partner With Us

We are always open to new collaborations and partnerships.

You can work with Art Social Club by:

  • funding or fiscally sponsoring a project cycle
  • hosting a youth workforce program for Rose City Rising
  • commissioning a community-based digital artwork
  • mentoring youth participants
  • co-creating a project aligned with your mission

If you’re a funder, nonprofit, artist, or creative professional interested in using art as a tool for community impact, we’d love to connect.

 

 

Photography by Kimberly Marie Kimble

Quick Links

  • Tell Local Stories

    We use art to turn our neighborhood into a shared canvas. Through public installations, pop-ups, and storytelling, we help local voices show up in everyday spaces.

    View Stories 

  • Shop or Sponsor Us

    Support local creative work or get involved as a sponsor, partner, or collaborator. Whether you’re an artist, volunteer, or supporter, this is where you can connect and contribute.

    Request more info 

  • Play, Experiment, Create

    We host and support pop-up shows, creative gatherings, and collaborative projects. Explore upcoming events and join us in building art-forward third spaces.

    View Events