The last bell rings for you: photo by Chelsea Petrakis

Dear friend of Performance Works NorthWest & Linda Austin Dance,

Last year at this time I wrote that we “tingle with excitement and confidence as we embark into another 15 years of avid experimentation in the live arts.” One year later, it is difficult, as we navigate a poisonous atmosphere where hate and disregard for human rights and has emerged from lurking in dark corners to flaunting themselves triumphantly, to look upon the future with the same confidence. Nonetheless, we gather ourselves, reassert our values, and move forward. One of the things we do is spend time together participating—as collaborating witnesses and colleagues—in the work of artists who continue to prod us; open us up to to the apprehension of danger, inequity, beauty, awkwardness, injustice, bliss; provoke uneasiness, pride, joy, camaraderie, alienation, hope…keep us, in short, ALIVE, and ready to stand up for our ourselves, our friends and our ideals.

Here at PWNW we pledge to continue to do our part, and hope you will join us and other organizations whose existence and actions provide a needed counterbalance to and a bulwark against the powers that deny science, place profits over people, and threaten to undermine freedom of expression, as well as any progress we have made towards equity, safety and opportunity for people of color, LGBTQ, women, people with disabilities, believers and non-believers.

To support our efforts in the coming year, send a check to PWNW, 4625 SE 67th Ave., Portland OR, 97206, or visit pwnw-pdx.org/support.

PLUS, receive a direct tax credit against your Oregon tax bill by making a matching contribution to the Oregon Cultural Trust by Dec. 31! www.culturaltrust.org/donate

Be with the people you love these holidays!