Congratulations! White Lotus Summer Market & Portland Folk Festival
Scale Up Grantees
2025 Scale Up Grant Awardees Round 5
Portland’s Folk Festival | January 2026
Crystal Ballroom | 1332 W Burnside St
Portland's Folk Festival is an annual all-ages celebration of folk and Americana music at the Crystal Ballroom, with all proceeds going to Sunstone Way. Portland's Folk Festival began in 2018 at McMenamin's White Eagle as a way for Portland musicians to come together to celebrate the burgeoning local scene and enjoy each other's craft. "It's current iteration boasts 30 local and national artists performing on two stages over two days along with local vendors and a charity raffle.
White Lotus Summer Market | June 2026
SF Supermarket - 5253 SE 82nd Ave
The White Lotus Summer Market is a celebration of Portland’s vibrant AAPI community, transforming Southeast Portland into a dynamic hub of culture, creativity, and commerce. The market provides a platform for local AAPI-owned businesses, emerging entrepreneurs, and creative makers to showcase handmade crafts, specialty foods, and unique products. The market also offers a rich array of experiences, including authentic AAPI cuisine, live cultural performances such as lion and dragon dances, and hands-on workshops that highlight arts and traditions. Family-friendly activities and interactive experiences create an inclusive environment where visitors of all ages can engage, learn, and connect with the community.
About the Scale Up Grant Program
The Scale Up Program is offered in partnership with Travel Portland. The Scale Up Grant Program is a competitive grant opportunity designed to provide funding and technical assistance for local Portland events positioned to grow and attract attendance beyond the Portland metro region.
Grants are intended to advance the city’s economic and cultural revitalization, with an emphasis on supporting areas of Portland that have experienced significant declines in the number of businesses and employment, a high increase in office vacancies, and a substantial shift in visitor and employee foot traffic.
Congratulations 2025 Scale Up Grant Awardees
Congratulations 2025 Scale Up Grant Awardees!
In partnership with Travel Portland, The Events and Film Office at Prosper Portland is proud to announce the Scale Up Event Grant Program awardees for Summer and Fall 2025. The awardees are Roux, Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation, and Technology, 5th Annual Central Eastside Muertos Celebration, Lloyd Live: At the Dock, and Snackfest.
The Scale Up Program was conceived in early 2023 to fill a gap in regional support for the events industry and provide resources to mid-sized events poised for growth. The first round of this program launched to support events beginning in January 2024.
Awarded packages are comprehensive programs consisting of up to $35,000 in direct financial support over three years, plus custom technical, marketing, administrative and logistical assistance provided by Prosper Portland and Travel Portland. Custom packages vary per recipient depending on needs requested during the application process.
Scale Up has assisted 10 events grow and attract audiences beyond the Portland metro region while strengthening their organizational capacity. Every event is required to submit an impact report on use of funds, and administer an attendee survey. Highlights from this reporting includes:
On average, Scale Up program events see a 60% increase in attendance in their first year of the program.
All events have completed or are in the process of creating systems to understand the percentage of attendees who travel from 50 miles beyond the Portland metro region to their event.
Technical assistance highlights include:
Fertile Ground’s weekly leadership coaching to provide a disability lens, craft an accessibility statement, add develop and launch access information for each show to their website;
Kickstand Comedy in the Park received marketing support and assistance with navigating city permitting. Kickstand launched their two-day festival on the closing weekend of Comedy in the Park which featured 35 local comedians and attracted thousands of attendees to the park;
Montavilla Jazz Festival presented 48 music events over three days, partnering with 27 venues and businesses in Montavilla and around SE and NE Portland, with assistance from the Office of Events and film on marketing and city permitting navigation.
The five awardees for fall and summer 2025 join the previous three rounds of events supported by the Scale Up Event Grant Program, with a total of 15 events supported since the program’s inception. Congratulations to our Scale Up Awardees!
Roux
Roux is a week-long celebration highlighting women in food and beverage, taking place October 6-12, 2025 throughout Portland. This festival comes to life as an event series featuring panel discussions exploring wellness and cultural heritage in cuisine, a Taste Test Challenge with talented women chefs creating dishes from mystery ingredients (women-owned brands), and citywide experiences including out of town guest chef collaborations, workshops, and a passport program gamifying visits to women-owned businesses. Roux reimagines itself annually to celebrate and redefine what it means to elevate women-owned businesses while providing meaningful experiences to 2,000+ attendees with family-friendly and 21+ events.
“The Scale Up Grant from Prosper and Travel Portland is instrumental to the growth of Roux because it provides the essential resources needed to continue to elevate our long-term vision of amplifying women and Portland as a culinary destination. This support allows us to expand our reach to new audiences, enhance the quality of our programming, and create a deeper economic impact for women and underrepresented voices in the Portland food & beverage community. With this grant, we further highlight women-owned businesses, create sustainable opportunities for local vendors, and establish Roux as a signature Portland experience that draws visitors year after year.”
Delia Tethong and Jenna Winkler, House of Commons PDX Co-Founders
Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation, and Technology (PFCAT)
The festival will be held at OMSI from Aug. 6th - 10th, 2025. During the 5 days, 150+ films and animations by independent filmmakers will be screened, both from local artists as well as those across the globe. Presentations also include dome films in the Kendall Planetarium, Virtual Reality showcases, Q&A sessions with filmmakers, augmented reality demos, and educational panels and seminars. The festival is designed to be enjoyed by all ages from age 6 to seniors.
“Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation & Technology, “PFCAT” for short, has become one of the top animation-focused festivals in the country, while also showcasing visionary cinema that challenges conventions and sparks new ideas. We are so grateful for the support provided by the Scale Up grant, as it will help us spread the word in new ways, reaching fresh communities and expanding our audience beyond Portland. It will give even more people the chance to celebrate local talent and experience the incredible creativity and energy that make our city truly unique.”
Marisa Cohen, PFCAT Festival Director
5th Annual Central Eastside Muertos Celebration
Attendees of the 5th Annual Central Eastside Muertos Celebration will have the opportunity to experience authentic Mexican art, culture, and heritage events centered around the traditions of El Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)--an ancestral celebration. In this district-wide event, which includes altars, performances, lectures, and workshops, Latino artisans share the true meaning of the traditions of this important cultural holiday. Taking place October 11 – November 9, 2025.
“I love how much we put smiles on people’s faces, as we all ride down the street with our bicycles decorated in brightly colored marigolds and the warm reception we receive from the participating businesses. It’s the most singularly unexpected thing in our neighborhood, and it is a very low-impact ride, so even if you haven’t ridden a bike before, check out a Nike bike, and come join us on November 1, 2025!”
Dañel Malán-González, Executive Director, El Centro Milagro
Lloyd Live: At the Dock
Lloyd Live at the Dock is a free, all-ages summer event series that will expand to Wednesdays (DJs) and Thursdays (live music) in 2025. Held on Portland’s central city riverfront, guests swim, dance, and enjoy sunset performances at Duckworth Dock. Amenities include towel service, hydration stations, and shaded seating. Local vendors offer snacks, drinks, and rotating pop-up shopping. The event draws tourists, families, and locals ages 10–60+ for a uniquely Portland experience steps from the Oregon Convention Center—mixing recreation, music, and community in one of the city’s only swimmable downtown waterfronts. Taking place all summer long 2025.
"The expansion of Lloyd Live: At the Dock could not happen without the support of Scale Up. This program is making this event's growth possible to include both Wednesday and Thursday night live music events, high-quality amenities, and a custom-wrapped container activation hub for storage, information, and vendor engagement throughout the summer. We'll see you at Duckworth Dock!"
Kristin Leiber, Executive Director, Lloyd EcoDistrict
Snackfest
SnackFest is food-focused festival featuring all your favorite treats from Portland restaurants, food trucks, and purveyors. Alongside our 100+ vendor market featuring packaged goods and F&B products. Attendees experience live entertainment, chef throwdowns, demos, educational breakout sessions, tastings and opportunities to meet the makers of your favorite foods and products. Attendees will also have the ability to experience special, one-off pop-up's from chefs near and far. This event is free to all ages and primarily attended by ages 17-40. Taking place September 19 – 21, 2025.
"Snack Fest has had the pleasure of bringing the city of Portland together around the common love of food and beverage. We have seen thousands of people show up to Portland's Central Eastside to celebrate the diversity that represents our world class food scene here in the Pacific Northwest. With the generous support of Prosper Portland, through the Scale Up grant, we will be able to offer additional support to brands that otherwise may not have the means to participate in an event like Snack Fest. In addition, we will also be able to help host chefs from outside of Portland giving those inside our city the ability to experience culture through food that they may not have access to otherwise."
Emma Evans - Founder of Snack Fest
Congratulations Scale Up Event Grant Awardees January – June 2025
Congratulations Scale Up Event Grant Awardees January – June 2025
In partnership with Travel Portland, the Events & Film Office at Prosper Portland is proud to announce two awardees for the Scale Up Grant, a competitive grant program providing funding and technical assistance for local Portland events that are positioned to grow and attract attendance beyond the Portland metro region. The awardees are Portland Track Festival and HOLI – Portland Color Festival.
Portland Track Festival – June 14-15, 2025
Subject: Yared Nuguse, photo credit: Ryo Gokita
The Portland Track Festival is a world class professional track meet viewed around the world that also includes races for high schoolers, masters runners, middle schoolers, special needs athletes, and sub elite runners from around the country. There is music, acts between races (Unipiper, drum line), food trucks and a vendor village. Olympic champions race at PTF, athletes from dozens of countries and the best runners in the local scene. The broadcast from 2024 PTF was viewed in over 30 countries. It is a track meet unique to Portland that showcases the culture of the city. Keep Portland Running!
Portland Track is incredibly honored to receive the Scale Up Grant. The generous support will allow us to level up the status of the event, bringing the world's best athletes to Portland to compete, while keeping the event accessible to Portlanders. It will also help us double down on showcasing the culture, beauty and uniqueness of Portland through the event to an international audience.
-Jeff Merrill, President, Portland Track
HOLI – Portland Color Festival – March 22-23, 2025
We will celebrate the coming of Spring at Holi - Festival of Colors, one of India’s biggest festivals that also takes place under different names within the South Asian diaspora across the globe such as Phagwah in Trinidad. People come dressed in white and cover each other in colorful powder. There will be a variety of vendors and performers showcasing local goods and talents with a strong focus on South Asian culture sharing. It will be a multi day festival where people will connect with each other, and experience the culture in our community in a joyful and inclusive way.
Winning this grant is more than an exciting moment for me, it’s an achievement in representation for all of the South Asian community in Portland and surrounding areas. It means a lot to have support in showcasing the culture here, this grant is key in helping produce India’s Festival of Colors, HOLI at an iconic downtown Portland location while keeping it free/accessible for all. I’m so looking forward to celebrating this most joyous South Asian spring-time celebration with the greater Portland community & visitors.
– Prashant Kakad, Festival Producer
Scale Up Grants are intended to advance the city’s economic and cultural revitalization, with an emphasis on supporting areas of Portland that have experienced a significant impact from COVID, including high losses in number of businesses and employment, high increase in office vacancies, and significant change in visitor and employee foot traffic.
Award packages are comprehensive programs consisting of up to $25,000 in direct financial support plus custom technical, marketing, administrative, and logistical assistance provided by Travel Portland and Prosper Portland. Packages are customized for each recipient depending on needs requested during the application process. Awardees can also connect with other grant recipients as a part of a cohort model. Applications are slated to open in spring 2025 for the next round of Scale Up Grants to support eligible 2025 events.
Prosper Portland and Travel Portland support and fund this program.
Congratulations Scale Up Event Grant Awardees July-December 2024
In partnership with Travel Portland, the Events & Film Office at Prosper Portland is proud to announce five awardees for the Scale Up Grant, a competitive grant program providing funding and technical assistance for local Portland events that are positioned to grow and attract attendance beyond the Portland metro region. The awardees are Sneaker Week PDX, the 11th Annual Montavilla Jazz Festival, Lan Su Chinese Garden’s Mid-Autumn Moonlight Market, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s Time-Based Art Festival, and the 2024 Portland Book Festival.
Commissioner Carmen Rubio said, “Scale Up Event Grants build on Portland’s reputation as a creative and eventful city. By helping mid-sized events grow to attract more audiences — especially visitors — this program greatly benefits our community and our economy.”
Sneaker Week PDX – Friday, July 26 – Thursday, August 1
Sneaker Week PDX is a seven-day, all-ages celebration of sneaker culture and its economic impact throughout Portland. Enthusiasts, designers, and brands are given the platform to exchange ideas and explore sneaker culture. The weeklong festival includes workshops, panel discussions, collaborative demonstrations, skill challenges, a consumer summit, and many exhibits. Cultural celebrations will include food and drinks from local vendors, as well as live music and performances. During the week, participants will network and support local businesses by participating in Open Houses offering exclusive glimpses into the opportunities in the sneaker industry beyond footwear design and production.
“The receipt of the Scale Up grant from Prosper Portland is not only a crucial asset for expanding our operational capacity but it also symbolizes the recognition of our potential to generate more employment, tourism, and economic opportunities for Portlanders and aspiring footwear professionals across the globe."
Herbert Beauclere, Co-founder, Sneaker Week PDX
11th Annual Montavilla Jazz Festival – Friday, August 30 – Sunday, September 1
Photo by Kathryn Elsesser. All rights reserved.
The 11th Annual Montavilla Jazz Festival (MJF) celebrates local artistry, food, and shops in a village-style event for the whole family. In a mix of venues, the festival presents 3 days of ticketed and free concerts indoors and outdoors in iconic locations such as Mt. Tabor Park, the Historic Downtown Montavilla Street Plaza, and other notable indoor venues such as Strum, The 1905 and Alberta Rose Theatre. Award-winning Montavilla businesses such as Yaowarat, Vino Veritas, Threshold Brewing, The Observatory and many others will help showcase what makes Portland, Oregon special, with nightly food and drink specials, live music, and DJ sets.
“Montavilla Jazz is immensely excited to receive Prosper Portland’s Scale Up Grant for summer 2024. This significant funding and technical support from Prosper Portland and Travel Portland will help us realize our grand vision for a fun and inclusive event that reaches more people, boosts the local economy, and most of all celebrates Portland’s creative spirit.”
Neil Mattson, Executive Director, MONTAVILLA JAZZ
Mid-Autumn Moonlight Market – Sunday, September 1 – Tuesday, September 3
Lan Su celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival with a three-day bustling marketplace of local Asian businesses open to all ages. Visitors indulge in mouth-watering culinary delights, and captivating cultural performances. As dusk falls and the moon glows, they’ll witness the enchanting spectacle of illuminated lion dances and lanterns adorning the garden while engaging in interactive activities like the rabbit meet & greet and enchanting story time. We'll also have the world debut of adorable rabbit lantern sculptures from China that add a finishing touch of whimsy to this unforgettable celebration of culture, community, and the luminous beauty of the Mid-Autumn Festival!
"At Lan Su Chinese Garden, we are deeply honored to receive the Scale Up Event Grant, which enables us to extend the Mid-Autumn Moonlight Market beyond the walls of Lan Su and into the heart of our community. This pivotal support from Travel Portland and Prosper Portland not only allows us to showcase and celebrate Asian culture more broadly but also helps us bring more visitors to Old Town, positively impacting our local business partners. We are excited about the potential to transform our festival into a larger, more inclusive celebration that draws the community closer, both to our traditions and to each other."
Elizabeth Nye, Executive Director, Lan Su Chinese Garden
Time-Based Art Festival 2024 – Thursday, September 5 – Saturday, September 14
Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) will present the 21st edition of the Time-Based Art Festival (TBA), our annual contemporary art festival, in September 2024. TBA:24 is a multi-day, in-person festival, supporting local, national, and international artist projects representing various artistic mediums, including performances, visual art, film, and more. Many projects will be presented by BIPOC and QTPOC artists. While we include content warnings for some of our programs, all ages are welcome to the Festival. Food and drink are available at all TBA:24 events and we partner with local food and drink vendors, with priority for working with BIPOC and Queer-owned businesses.
“PICA’s Time-Based Art Festival, lovingly known as TBA, is a celebration bringing together groundbreaking artists, engaged audiences, and vibrant communities. Grants like the Scale Up Grant are essential in sustaining this creative ecosystem and enables us to support and present visionary artists. Join us this September to experience the unexpected and the extraordinary at TBA.”
Leslie Vigeant, Director of Marketing and Communications, PICA
2024 Portland Book Festival – Monday, October 28 – Sunday, November 3
Portland Book Festival is a regional festival that features ~148 authors and moderators in discussions, readings, writing workshops, story times, book fair, local food trucks, and more with ~58 stage events, ~18 readings, ~87 book fair vendors, and four partner bookstores. We have 11 stages at the Portland Art Museum and nearby venues. The Cover-to-Cover series features ~37 literary events put on by ~40 partner bookstores, coffee shops, restaurants, etc. throughout the city before and after the Festival. The Friday Night Book Market kicks off the weekend, with book fair vendors; food, beverage and craft vendors; and live music.
"Portland Book Festival is a cornerstone annual event at the center of art and civic life, bringing readers and writers of all ages together to exchange stories about the world’s most important ideas. We are honored to be a recipient of Prosper Portland’s Scale Up Grant, which will provide much needed marketing resources and publicity support to expand our reach throughout the region. We will be able to engage experts and create new assets to use across our website and social media that will support targeted marketing to attract new audiences to Portland Book Festival, the largest general interest book festival in the PNW."
Senior Artistic Director, Amanda Bullock
Scale Up Grants are intended to advance the city’s economic and cultural revitalization, with an emphasis on supporting areas of Portland that have experienced a significant impact from COVID, including high losses in number of businesses and employment, high increase in office vacancies, and significant change in visitor and employee foot traffic.
Award packages are comprehensive programs consisting of up to $25,000 in direct financial support plus custom technical, marketing, administrative, and logistical assistance provided by Travel Portland and Prosper Portland. Packages are customized for each recipient depending on needs requested during the application process. Awardees can also connect with other grant recipients as a part of a cohort model. Applications are slated to open in fall 2024 for the next round of Scale Up Grants to support eligible 2025 events.
Prosper Portland, Travel Portland, and the City of Portland Office of Arts and Culture support and fund this program.
2024 Round 1 Scale Up Event Grant Awardees
In partnership with Travel Portland The Events & Film Office at Prosper Portland is proud to announce the Scale Up event grant recipients: Fertile Ground Festival of New Works, Kickstand Comedy in the Park, and Good Food Awards Weekend. For more info on the awardees and selection process, read on!
Fertile Ground Festival of New Works
Fertile Ground Festival of New Works is an 11-day festival featuring new performances by local artists including world premiere projects, staged readings, developing works, and a myriad of other arts events from the Portland creative community.
After a strategic hiatus, the Portland Area Theatre Alliance (PATA) is presenting their first in-person Festival since 2020.
Fertile Ground showcases new and local "acts of creation" at various stages in their development. In 2020, the Festival included 52 unique projects by 46 different producers, including fully staged world premieres, readings of new scripts, songs from new musicals, solo shows, puppetry, dance, circus arts, and panel discussions with local artists. In 2024, the Festival will expand to include local restaurants and bars near venues and invite them to offer a discount for Festival attendees.
Kickstand Comedy in the Park is a series of free Friday evening comedy shows curated for an all-ages audience. The event was created in 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic-related closures of comedy and performing arts venues and has continued every summer. Hosted in Laurelhurst Park from late June to early September, Comedy in the Park regularly attracts 4,700 Portlanders and out-of-town guests to the park each week.
The Good Food Awards Weekend is a nationally recognized three-day celebration of sustainable, socially responsible, and delicious food and drink makers from all over the country. The first day features a welcome dinner that bring together local Portland and Oregon leaders in food and farming for a special dinner highlighting local agriculture and small food businesses. The second day includes an Oscars-style awards ceremony where 200 top national food makers will be awarded medals and give inspiring acceptance speeches, followed by an after party. The third day is the Good Food Mercantile, where 240 local and national sustainable food makers sample their products for grocery store owners, food media, and distributors from all over the country.
The office received 18 applications and each application was scored based on the following five criteria:
Long Term Vision: What is the applicant’s vision for the long-term growth and potential of this event?
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Does this event center historically marginalized communities? (i.e. communities who have experienced systemic barriers to business/property ownership, affordable housing options, high-wage income, access to capital, quality education, safe transportation options, or other access barriers)
Location Investment: Does this applicant prioritize areas that have experienced a significant impact from COVID (including high losses in number of businesses and employment, high increase in office vacancies, and considerable change in visitor & employee foot traffic such as in the Central City)?
Creative Spirit: Does this applicant exemplify Portland’s culture, spirit, and creativity?
Attendance: Does this event attract between 750-7,500 attendees with proposed capacity to attract more?
Applications open in spring 2024 for the second round of Scale Up Grants to support eligible events happening July – December 2024.