VBC 25 Shared Spaces Festival

City Repair is kicking off the Village Building Convergence (VBC) with the Shared Spaces Festival, a one-day, hands-on, heck-yes celebration of the wildly creative, unreasonably hopeful, and delightfully deliberate ways people in Portland are building community.

This festival will show off all of the ways people are coming together to show up for each other and keep our community strong. It will also inspire you, make you smile, and fill you with delicious pizza.

We’re bringing together makers, gardeners, dreamers, builders, mutual aid wizards, collaborative artists, and passionate neighbors. We'll be have skill sharing, demos, and booths—all showing different ways we can share space, resources, and collaborate for a shared future.

• Have a weird idea for your neighborhood but don’t know how to start
• Enjoy being surprised by other humans
• Need a creative recharge that doesn’t cost money or your soul
• Want to see ideas come to life, on the spot
• Never have time to learn a new craft or life skill
• Love pizza

Blackberry Bark Processing
Community Dialogue
Cooking/Cutting Techniques
Improv Games for Connection
Knife Sharpening Savvy
Natural Building Basics
Papercrete Creations
Placemaking
Pollinator Planting for Bees & Beyond
...and much more!

1:00pm-1:30pm: Opening & Welcome

• Introduction to City Repair and VBC
• Overview of the day and week ahead

1:30pm-5:00pm: Workshops and Demonstrations

• Multiple tracks with three 60-minute sessions
• 15-minute breaks between sessions for transitions

5:00pm-6:30pm: Shared Spaces, Shared Futures Panel

• What does it mean to be in community now and in the future

6:30-8:00pm: Pizza and Evening Celebration

• Food and performances
• Community Circle Dance

This festival launches 9 days (June 14 - 22) of community-led projects blooming all over Portland—the heart of what VBC is all about. Neighbors are turning streets into art, building gathering nooks, planting food forests, and more—often continuing their work throughout the summer. Curious to explore these sites or looking for a chance to volunteer and make your mark? Discover the full list of VBC projects and ways to get involved here: https://cityrepair.org/village-building-convergence

The Village Building Convergence is funded in part by the Regional Arts & Culture Council and the Arts Access Fund.

If you are able to support our work, thank you for supporting the creation of vibrant, green, and healthy places for everyone!

Also check out other Festivals in Portland, Arts events in Portland, Workshops in Portland.