Portland Art Museum's Tomorrow Theater on Southeast Division Street to open Nov. 3

PORTLAND, OR (PORTLAND TRIBUNE) -- The Portland Art Museum’s film and new media center, PAM CUT/Center for an Untold Tomorrow, has announced an opening date of Nov. 3 for the Tomorrow Theater, a new space devoted to expanding what constitutes cinema, art and multimedia storytelling.

Opening week will feature legendary Scottish-American musician and artist David Byrne, founding member of the band Talking Heads, who will give audiences a taste of what to expect from PAM CUT’s new venue at 3530 S.E. Division St. On Nov. 3, Byrne will take over the Tomorrow Theater with an interactive and live presentation of “Reasons to be Cheerful” in a special Portland-themed edition. Founded by Byrne, "Reasons to be Cheerful" is a nonprofit online magazine that aims to inspire curiosity about how the world can be better and to encourage us to be part of that change. 

Byrne’s takeover will launch the theater’s signature series, “Carte Blanche,” where world-class artists and creative polymaths are given free rein to activate the theater in bold and interdisciplinary ways. Future “Carte Blanche” guests will include Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter, who will join in January 2024. 

“We are beyond thrilled to open the Tomorrow Theater, and to introduce audiences to all of the wild and wondrous things that storytelling can be,” said Amy Dotson, director of PAM CUT and curator of Film and New Media at the Portland Art Museum. “We’re excited for artists to show off the capabilities of the theater and demonstrate what’s possible. Like the creatives it will support, the Tomorrow Theater is a real shape-shifter. It’s simultaneously a cinema, a performance space, an experimentation hall and a community gathering place, to feed those who are culturally curious and uncontainable.” 

The timing of the Tomorrow Theater opening aligns with the Portland Art Museum’s Rothko Pavilion expansion and renovation project. While the Museum’s Whitsell Auditorium is offline, the Tomorrow Theater ensures a wide range of programs and events are still available to museum, PAM CUT and general audiences interested in the intersection of art, storytelling and media arts. 

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