Play it forward

Hopscotch is a building full of people who came to play. That turns out to be a useful thing to have.

Most of what you see on a visit is the art and the people looking at it. Some of what we do with the building happens when a gallery is quiet, or after hours, or across town. We call it playing it forward. It is not a program with a logo. It is a habit. When an organization doing good work in one of our cities needs a room, a crowd, a story told or a few extra hands, we try to be the yes.

Here is what that looks like.

Last December the Oregon Symphony brought a chamber ensemble into Unknown Atmospheres in Portland. Strings under the light. An audience on the floor. Nobody checked a dress code. Later, the musicians found the ball pit.

GAZE, by the Human Rights Campaign, is a labyrinth that gives Pride architecture. It is in our galleries because the organization had something to say and we had a place where tens of thousands of people would walk through it, slowly, on a Saturday.

Every year we put tickets and support behind hundreds of nonprofits and community groups in our cities. Auction tables, youth programs, volunteer thank-yous, a night out for people who are rarely offered one. A gallery ticket is a small thing to give. It is also a whole afternoon someone gets to spend playing.

Our team goes out as often as we bring people in. A shelter morning in San Antonio, walking dogs and signing the thank-you card. A build shift at the Habitat Home Center. Backpacks and supplies for teenagers at the Back 2 School Social in Portland. The best way to build community is to show up for it, so we do.

Because it is the thing we have, and it works. Art gets people into a room who would not otherwise share one. It gives a cause a shape people can stand inside. It makes a fundraiser feel like a night out instead of an obligation. The people who come for the art stay for the conversation, and the conversation is where the support actually happens.

In Portland: Portland Street Art Alliance, Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest, Meals on Wheels People, Path Home, Portland Plays Together, QDoc Film Festival, TEDxPortland, Nightlab. In San Antonio: SAY Sí, San Antonio Street Art Initiative, San Antonio Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity of San Antonio, Elf Louise Christmas Project, Fiesta Noche del Rio. Everywhere: World Central Kitchen, whose work we support. These are a few. The full list, and the people in it, are on the About page.

Tell us what you do, and what a night in the exhibits or a block of admission would mean for the people you serve. The form is at the bottom of the About page. We read every one.

Come play. Then play it forward.