Dear chapter members:
In my past year as President of AIGA Portland, I’ve been honored to learn more about our creative community and the vital role that we play in the cultural landscape of our city.
I’ve met countless Portland residents who have shared stories of their past or present interactions with AIGA. I’ve encountered new designers at our dMob events who are looking to AIGA as a way of expanding their network, meeting people, finding jobs, and building community. And finally, I’ve been able to observe our organization in action and identify opportunities for us to expand our support, value, and inclusion for our members.
At our board retreat last year, we designated 2024 as a “rebuilding and renewal” year for AIGA Portland. Over the past year, I’ve worked to bring focus to the following areas in an effort to support that theme:
- Making AIGA Portland more visible as a participant in the city’s creative and design community
- Providing more direct value to members at all stages of their careers (whether they’re beginners, midweight, senior, or veteran creatives)
- Literally “putting our money where our mouth is” on equity and inclusion by finding ways to contribute and collaborate with groups doing DEI work in our city
- Auditing our existing programs to discover what is most in demand and how we can expand our offerings to meet those needs
That’s why in 2024 and beyond, our focus will be on building structure, support, and resilience within our chapter so that it stands the test of time. In the past year, AIGA National announced that they have stopped providing local chapters with a percentage of national dues. This funding drop has forced us to look at other models for supporting chapter programs, initiatives and activities.
The appetite that has been shown by our community for in-person events has also made us shift our programming — and there’s no bigger programming effort than the 2024 Portland Design Month.
Building on the effort of Portland Design Festival 2022, Design Month 2024 is our contribution to amplify the cool, creative, boundary-pushing projects that people are doing across the city. Rather than cramming everything into a week as we have in the past, Design Month allows attendees more opportunities to expand their knowledge and skills over a full month of programming. This event is also intentionally decentralized so that we can reach quadrants and parts of the city that might not typically be showcased for a signature event.
Since the initial announcement, we’ve happy to share that we have received overwhelmingly positive feedback. In the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing more details about the festival, specifically confirmed events from groups, organizations and individuals all over the city. (Got an idea for the festival? It’s not too late to submit an event!)
Beyond our usual programming, made possible by our chapter committees, chairs, and volunteers, we’ve got a bunch of really rad stuff in the works for the rest of this year beyond just Design Month — including work on a new website (stay tuned for more on that soon!).
Speaking of volunteering, we’ve welcomed over 20 new volunteers across our various committees this year. These creative folks are helping with marketing, website, design, communications, programming, and mentorship. If you’re a “doer” who wants to get involved, meet neat folks, and contribute to the city’s creative culture, drop us a note and we’ll get you connected!
Lastly, we will be electing a new Board President in 2025 (as my term will end this year). To make the transition easier, the new President will spend up to six months as President-elect, shadowing and getting on-boarded to the gig before taking over when my term ends. Interested in learning more? Look for the job description on our website in the next few weeks.
Yours in service,
Ron Bronson
AIGA Portland President
P.S. – Do you follow us on Instagram? Did you know that most of our event photos are archived on Flickr? Now you do.
